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CSBR Featured, News from Member Organizations, News on Sexual & Bodily Rights, ODOS

One Day One Struggle 2019! Conversations on Bodily Autonomy, Digital Security, Sex Workers Rights, Consent, Self Expression, Paternity Leave and more

Every 9 November communities around the world come together in celebration of sexual and bodily rights as human rights, as part of the One Day One Struggle! campaign (ODOS), coordinated by the Coalition for Sexual and Bodily Rights in Muslim Societies (CSBR).

By highlighting the pressing political developments impacting sexual and bodily rights across our local and national contexts, the campaign demonstrates that sexuality is a site of political struggle and seeks to build solidarity to support everyone’s right to choose freely on matters of sexuality, fertility, bodily autonomy, gender identity and self expression.

In 2019, One Day One Struggle actions are planned across Bangladesh, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Morocco, the Philippines, Tunisia & Turkey, with some cross-regional solidarity actions as well.

See a brief listing of the planned actions below, and keep up with us using on Twitter (@SexBodyRights, #OneDayOneStruggle), Instagram (@csbrsexbodyrights) and Facebook (facebook.com/CSBRonline) on November 9th for more details and updates as the actions occur!

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BANGLADESH

In Bangladesh, Bandhu Social Welfare Society will engage youths in a series of workshops on the theme of “Love Our Difference”, using discussion groups, experience sharing and self-expression through the use of arts, colors and paint. The outputs in the forms of videos will be shared online on 9 November as part of the ODOS campaign.

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Inclusive Bangladesh joins One Day One Struggle by sharing a ‘story book’ of everyday life of a Trans Woman in Bangladesh through their facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/INCLUSIVEBD/. This campaign will be termed as #মনেকিদ্বিধা (in English #MindStruggle). They’ll also hold an offline group discussion in a safe space with young queer people who are struggling to cope up with their identity. Leading from there, after 9 November a second online campaign will be launched under #মনেকিদ্বিধা where queer people can share their stories of struggle using the hashtag.

Inclusive Bangladesh is a youth led community organization based in Dhaka. Since 2013, Inclusive Bangladesh has been promoting gender equality, diversity, peace and religious literacy among the youths of Bangladesh. The storybook will be available on 9 November at Inclusive Bangladesh’s Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/INCLUSIVEBD/

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EGYPT

This year بث نسوي / Feminist Podcast celebrates One Day One Struggle with the launch of “How Do You Take Your Coffee?“, a podcast exploring consent.

Silence is not consent, communication is (supposedly) ideal to arrive at an agreement appealing to everyone involved. Common as it sounds, we’re stuck with how to pursue consent within intimate relationships. Are there common rules? There are more questions than answers in this podcast! Follow our two hostess reflecting on consent both within intimate relationships and for the ‘right’ sip of coffee.

#onedayonestruggle #التراضي #الموافقة

About بث نسوي / Feminist Podcast: We’re a group of feminists using this space to share thoughts, conversations and perspectives on sexual and reproductive rights in Egypt and the whole world.

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EGYPT & SUDAN

Mesahat Foundation will launch an art poster that explores the daily strength, resistance and resilience of breaking conformism through our bodily representations and psyches.

Whether we are queer, trans bodies, intersex, persons in drag, bodies with showing or hidden different ability, plus size, minus size, people who survived abortion, who survived FGM, who choose selective stages of transness; our arrays of non-conformism surely bring “conformism” into question, but while doing that, we acknowledge the struggle it holds within. What keeps us and our struggles continuing, across regions where access to proper psychological and wellness care is scarce, is our collective healing, care and support.

Stay tuned!

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INDIA

In India, the Queer Muslims Project, will host an Instagram Live discussion from at 6PM IST (India Standard Time) on Saturday 9 November, on the topic “Best Practices for Trans Rights in Muslim Contexts”.

TQMP will be in conversation with Dr. Aqsa Shaikh, a Muslim trans woman from Delhi, India, who is a Medical Educator and Advocate for trans and intersex persons’ rights; as well as Amar Alfikar, a Muslim trans man activist who has been working on interfaith and queer groups in Indonesia. He also teaches at the Nurul Hidayah Islamic Boarding School in Central Java.

Tune in & follow the Queer Muslims Project on Instagram: @theQueerMuslimsProject

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INDONESIA

GAYa NUSANTARA and Voices of Youth are hosting a discussion on sexual and gender diversity from within an Islamic perspective on 7 November 2019 to celebrate One Day One Struggle.

Arif Nuh Safri is a lecturer of Tafsir and Pemikiran Hadist (Interpretation and Hadist Metholodogy) in Quranic Science Institute, Yogyakarta. He is also an Imam in Pesantren Al Fatah, an Islamic Boarding School for transgender women. He is very supportive and progressive in creating safe space for queer people to talk and share their experience as well as looking for interpretation and spiritual space for them.

Amar Alfikar is a transman muslim activist who has been working with interfaith community and queer groups particularly those who seeks reconciliation between their gender/sexuality and their faith. He also teaches in Nurul Hidayah Islamic Boarding School in Central Java.

M Rizky (Eky) is youth activist mainly working on issues of diversity, law and human rights, as well as politics. He is deputy secretary of Gaya Nusantara and program staff of Strong in Diversity which has been focusing on strengthening relation among diverse identities in Indonesia.

Follow GAYa NUSANTARA on Twitter @GAYaNUSANTARA and Instagram @YayasanGAYaNusantara for updates.

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MALAYSIA

In Malaysia, Cempaka Collective hosts a workshop series on the issue of technology related violence, specifically so-called “revenge porn”.

The term ‘revenge porn,’ though frequently used, is somewhat misleading. Many perpetrators are not motivated by revenge or by any personal feelings toward the victim. Is there any more accurate term for it and most importantly, how can we protect ourselves when the cyber law is not protecting us enough? Come and join Cempaka Collective workshops on law literacy, digital security and mindfulness altogether this November!

Follow Cempaka Collective on Twitter @Cempaka_Co & Instagram @Cempaka_Co to find out more.

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Women’s Aid Organization (WAO) advances their on-going campaign #7DaysforDads to introduce 7 days paternity leave in the private sector in Malaysia. WAO has launched a petition: https://www.change.org/p/ministry-of-human-resources-malaysia-introduce-7-days-of-paternity-leave-in-malaysia — already signed by over 37,000 Malaysians — which will be delivered to Parliament in Kuala Lumpur on 13 November 2019.

Follow WAO on Twitter: https://twitter.com/womensaidorg and Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/womensaidorg/ for updates on the campaign.

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MOROCCO

In Morocco, Kasbah Tal’fin will host one of the on-going Sip Coffee & Talk Gender Roles (STGR) workshops. The workshop series uses creative means to raise awareness about gender roles & expand the discussion specifically with young people, women and the LGBTQ+ community in the southern regions of Morocco. Kasbah Tal’fin works to promote LGBTIQ+ and women’s freedoms, participation in public life & gender equality.

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PHILIPPINES

From 8 November onwards, Pilipina Legal Resources Center (PLRC) in cooperation with Pilipina Davao will launch Gender Based Relief Efforts in Earthquake Affected Areas in Southern Philippines in light of the 6.6 magnitude earthquake on 28 October 2019 that resulted in thousands of evacuees and damaged homes.

Beginning with Makilala, North Cotabato in the Southern Philippines, the relief efforts include breastfeeding support and counseling to mothers, mobilizing donors to support direct programming addressing the specific needs of women and girls in evacuation areas, and organizing by & for women towards resiliency and sustainable solutions for the provision of essential needs & services in day to day life.

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TUNISIA

In Tunisia, L’Association Tunisienne des Femmes Democrates (ATFD) and partners continue campaigning on the topic of sexual and reproductive health rights in Tunisia and the wider Maghreb region, with a specific focus on the right to #safeandlegal abortion.

ATFD and partners will be in conversation with Moroccan feminists, exploring avenues for solidarity particularly in light of the case of Hajar Raissouni, the Moroccan journalist who received a one-year sentence on charges of “having an illegal abortion and sexual relations outside marriage”–which many feel was orchestrated to silence dissent against the government.

Follow ATFD on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/femmesdemocrates/.

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TURKEY

In Turkey, from 9-10 November 2019, WWHR-New Ways and KAOS-GL are hosting a 2-day workshop in Istanbul with diverse civil society advocates.

The workshop aims to strengthen feminist & cross-movement solidarity, support and pro-active collaboration in the face of heightened attacks on gender equality and human rights across the country.

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This year CSMD (the Association for Struggle Against Sexual Violence) and Y-PEER Turkey join ODOS to raise awareness about the need for comprehensive sexuality education in Turkey. Follow CSMD on Instagram @cinselsiddetlemucadeledernegi

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ACROSS CONTEXTS

IWRAW-AP and CSBR, will be in conversation with All India Network of Sex Workers (AINSW), African Sex Workers Alliance (ASWA), Asia Pacific Network of Sex Workers (APNSW), Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women (GAATW), Project X (Singapore)–for a twitter chat on the struggle for sex workers’ rights, on 9 November, at 6-7 PM Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia time (GMT+8).

Follow CSBR @SexBodyRights and IWRAW-AP @IWRAW_AP on Twitter and join the conversation using #OneDayOneStruggle and #RightsNotRescue!

CSBR News from Member Organizations

Qbukatabu joins CSBR

We are excited to welcome Qbukatabu – Indonesia, as a new member of the Coalition for Sexual and Bodily Rights in Muslim Societies! Qbukatabu is an Indonesian online resource center on sexuality and service provider for people with diverse sexualities. Qbukatabu brings a feminist and queer perspective to its work, specifically working for woman, trans, intersex and people of other non-binary identities.

Collectively formed on 23 March 2017, Qbukatabu means ‘aku buka tabu’ or ‘I open the taboo’, and is an effort to define, to build and sustain the conversation, to reflect upon the spaces and circumstances presumed as taboo by the society and the state.

If you haven’t already, check out the Tutur Feminis coloring book made by Qbukatabu as part of CSBR’s Asia regional program on holistic well-being.

Follow updates and learn more about Qbukatabu through their website: https://qbukatabu.org/.

CSBR CSBR Activities, Featured, News on Sexual & Bodily Rights, Resources & Tools

Tajassodat ~ the Zine: A Documentation of A Cross-Regional Convening

We’re very excited to show you what we’ve been up to!

Earlier this year, Qorras and CSBR – Coalition for Sexual and Bodily Rights in Muslim Societies collaborated on organizing a 5-day cross-regional strategic convening, Tajassodat: Conversations to advance Trans Rights and Justice Across Muslim Societies. Tajassodat brought together 23 activists from 13 countries across South Asia, South East Asia, the Middle East and North Africa, to discuss various topics, from personal experiences, to collective support, and activism history in these regions.

As a result of this convening, we’ve put together a Zine, compiling the illustrations that resulted from the conversations on bodily autonomy, self-determination and community organizing of collaborators. Its contents were collected, produced and edited by the organizers and contributors of Tajassodat, with the aim of documenting the 5 days of exchanges, discussions, and personal reflections. The Zine also consists of a visual and written timeline of the convening, as well as other documents that were used. As such, it is an archival document that situates Tajassodat within a year long trajectory of work, exchanges, and solidarity.

Get Your Copy of the TAJASSODAT ZINE here!

We hope that the Zine translates our experiences within the convening to our trans & non-binary peers and allies, as well as the different conversations that we had together about trans and non-binary activism in our regions.

This work would not have been possible without Tajassodat’s Steering Committee, collaborators, and the support from Hivos and Astraea Foundation.

With solidarity

Qorras & CSBR

CSBR News from Member Organizations

The Queer Muslim Project joins CSBR

We are excited to welcome The Queer Muslim Project – India, as a new member of the Coalition for Sexual and Bodily Rights in Muslim Societies!

The Queer Muslim Project (TQMP) started as a Facebook page in March 2017 with an objective to create awareness and build community online–but over the years, TQMP has grown exponentially as an online and offline movement. TQMP believes in a feminist and intersectional approach to addressing issues of gender, sexuality, religion, language, caste, class, race and nationality in Indian society.

Today, The Queer Muslim Project works through digital spaces–including regular campaigns on their Instagram account: @thequeermuslimproject; arts-based advocacy, capacity-building, and organizing retreats to engage LGBTQI and Muslim communities in safe and nurturing spaces for dialogue, self-introspection, confidence-building, emotional support, and spiritual healing.

CSBR CSBR Activities, Featured, News from Member Organizations, Statements

Women Transforming A World Radically in Crisis: A Framework for Beijing 25+

CSBR joins feminist organizations and networks across the globe to endorse Women Transforming A World Radically in Crisis: A Framework for Beijing 25+, a collective framework for resisting neoliberal capitalism and climate change: the critical, structural obstacles to gender justice and women’s human rights.

Framework

In 1995, the NGO forum of the Fourth World Conference on Women was titled “Looking at the World Through Women’s Eyes.” It placed on the global stage the collective vision of women’s movements worldwide, which was pivotal to advancing the most progressive outcomes adopted by the conference. While we have seen achievements in the twenty-five years since, we have also witnessed backlash against those gains and the consolidation of power imbalances and structures underlying women’s oppression, with dire results.

The world is in a state of profound crisis, laying bare the perverse arrangement of capitalism. The ideologies that have been deployed for centuries to justify the accumulation of capital live on today through neoliberalism and the insidious contemporary incarnations of patriarchy, white supremacy, and colonialism that are central to its functioning. As systemic drivers of women’s oppression and inequality, they form an interlocking system that must be confronted.

In marking the Beijing+25, we must celebrate and affirm gains we have made in countering this system and advancing women’s human rights; harness our rage at the crises confronting our communities and ecologies; build on the hope of women’s mobilization and transformative actions; and take collective action to forge solidarity with other resistance and liberation movements, demanding accountability of states and the private sector.

Neoliberal capitalism is a key driver of current global crises. Its core logic positions “free” markets and profit above people and the planet. Women have long been at the forefront of struggles against this system, understanding it to be fundamentally incompatible with the liberation and empowerment of women, and transgender and gender non-conforming people. As we understand patriarchal structures and white supremacy to be central to the current functioning of neoliberal capitalism—evident in the mountain of unpaid care work on which corporate profits rest—the market cannot be an effective mechanism through which to correct gender, racial, or ethnic inequality. Instead, active policy interventions that seek to restructure the current, unequal state of the economy and society are fundamental to a feminist approach. Neoliberalism attacks regulation and policy interventions that might constrain capital; it is, therefore, fundamentally at odds with gender justice and human rights.

Global capital is more fearsome than ever, shepherded through decades of unrestrained growth and extractivism by neoliberal dominance, and unchecked by neo-extractivist developmentalist models. In its pursuit of profit, it has caused ecological devastation, underdevelopment, violence, and repression through deepening authoritarianism worldwide. At worst, it actively sows division and social inequality where it can profit; at best, it either ignores or co-opts popular struggles to advance its own agenda (evident in recent attempts to advance trade liberalization under the guise of women’s empowerment.) From structural adjustment programs in the 1980s to contemporary debt distress, the neoliberal system has used financial and political tools to keep countries, especially in the global South, tied to the interests of global capital, undermining their right to development, and the agency to imagine and adopt policies that prioritize the needs of their people. While trade liberalization, deregulation, austerity, and privatization have been justified in the name of “economic growth,” these neoliberal policies have failed to improve standards of living for the majority of the world’s poor. Instead they have exacerbated existing inequalities of power, particularly along the fault lines of resource and wealth disparities between countries, between rich and poor, between men and women, and between dominant and oppressed racial and ethnic groups.

In Mexico City, we will converge as diverse constituencies of women across social movements who resist these structures of oppression in their various contexts. In a time of dire crisis, we seek a radical transformation of a world in crisis, putting women, people, and the planet over profit.

Continue reading the full Framework here: http://bit.ly/B25Framework

CSBR Featured, News from Member Organizations, News on Sexual & Bodily Rights, Statements

Joint CSO Statement on Safe & Legal Abortion @ UN HRC42

CSBR joined 316 organizations and 506 individuals to affirm the right to safe and legal abortion at UN HRC 42. Read the statement below.

JOINT CIVIL SOCIETY STATEMENT

42^ND SESSION OF THE UN HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL

INTERNATIONAL SAFE ABORTION DAY – 28 SEPTEMBER 2019

Please note that a shorter version of this statement was delivered orally on 23 September 2019 to fit the time requirements of the Human Rights Council.

Thank you, President. I deliver this statement on behalf of 317 organizations[i] and 506 individuals.[ii]

In the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, States explicitly agreed to prioritize the realization of women’s human rights and recognized that all human rights are universal, indivisible, interdependent and interrelated. Yet, 26 years later, women and girls’ human rights and bodily autonomy continue to be routinely violated, including through the denial, criminalization and stigmatization of access to safe and legal abortion – all of which is rooted in the discrimination, oppression, violence and coercion affecting the material conditions that shape people’s lives and ability to exercise their bodily autonomy and human rights.

In 1994, Black feminists came together as the Women of African Descent for Reproductive Justice, in reaction to the white supremacy, colonialism and capitalism they observed shaping reproductive politics and inherent in the broader population control narratives. Reproductive justice is centered on the rights to bodily autonomy and self-determination, and to parent and not to parent in safe and healthy environments.^[iii] It is rooted in an intersectional analysis and moving beyond an individualistic conception of “choice” to instead place emphasis on the material conditions necessary to exercise reproductive rights. Reproductive justice also addresses the legacy of population control informed by white supremacy and replacement theory, which has resurfaced in current populist politics.

Reproductive justice is achieved when all people are able to enjoy their right to bodily autonomy and sexual and reproductive self-determination. It requires people to enjoy economic, social, and cultural rights and freedoms, and the ability to make and exercise choices not limited by oppression, discrimination, stigma, coercion, violence, lack of opportunities or possible consequences. Treaty bodies and special procedures have echoed this need and recognized that the realization of women’s reproductive rights depends on the material conditions in which they are born, grow, live, work and age, and on power structures and resource distribution at all levels^[iv] – in other words, the social and other determinants of health.^[v] These include access to housing, safe drinking water, effective sanitation systems, access to justice, and freedom from violence, among other factors, and impact the agency that individuals can exercise with respect to their sexual and reproductive health.^[vi] Our discussions on abortion and sexual and reproductive rights cannot continue ignoring these factors.

The realization of reproductive justice, the right to bodily autonomy and substantive equality also requires freedom from control and interference by State and non-State actors, including private companies, donors and multinational corporations, including criminalization of sexual and reproductive behaviors and decisions, restrictive abortion laws, punitive sanctions, and legal restrictions to regulate women’s control over their own bodies.^[vii] These laws, policies and practices typically target and disproportionately impact women of color, women from the Global South, women with disabilities, women living in poverty, migrant women, ethnic minorities and indigenous women, women living with HIV, young women and adolescents, sex workers and gender-non-conforming persons based on racial, class, disability and gender stereotypes.^[viii]

Today, on 28 September, International Safe Abortion Day, we urge States to respect, protect and fulfill women and girls’ human rights and realize reproductive justice for all. We call on states to:

Ensure access to available, accessible, acceptable and quality sexual and reproductive health services as part of universal health coverage and public health systems, including modern contraceptive options, comprehensive abortion and post-abortion care, financed adequately through taxation and free from control from other governments, multilateral agreements and transnational corporations.
Remove all legal and social barriers to safe abortion, including its criminalization, which is broader and including sanctions and no sanction regimes, and commit to providing safe abortion services on request.
Address social and other determinants of health in law and practice from an intersectional perspective to ensure that they enable all individuals to effectively enjoy their sexual and reproductive rights.^[ix]
Hold private companies and multinational corporations accountable for unethical research practices, violations and abuses of women and girls’ reproductive rights and bodily autonomy.

Prioritize the meaningful participation of local movements, women human rights defenders and feminists demanding accountability for sexual and reproductive health and rights violations, and center their demands and recommendations for the realization of reproductive justice.

[i] SIGNED:

Aakanksha Seva Sadan; Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada; Académicas en Acción Crítica; Action Canada for Sexual Health and Rights; Action pour la Lutte Contre l’Injustice Sociale (ALCIS); ADESPROC Libertad; African Sex Workers Academy (ASWA); African Women Rising; Agenda 2030 Feminista; AIDOS Italian Association for Women in Development; Akahatá; Albania Centre for Population and Development; Alberta Pro-choice Coalition; Alberta Society for the Promotion of Sexual Health; Alianza por la Solidaridad; Alliance for Choice; ALRANZ Abortion Rights Aotearoa; ALTSEAN Burma; Amnesty International; Asia Catalyst; Asia Pacific Alliance for Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (APA); Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development (APWLD); Asia Safe Abortion Partnership; Asian-Pacific Resource and Research Centre for Women (ARROW); Asociación Ciudadana ACCEDER; Asociación Ciudadana ACCEDER; Asociacion Civil Mujeres en Linea; Asociación con la A; Asociación de Clínicas Acreditadas para la IVE, ACAI; Asociacion metropolitana de equipos de salud; Asociación Venezolana para una Educación Sexual Alternativa. AVESA; Associação para o Planeamento da Família, Portugal (APF); Association for Women’s Rights in Development (AWID); Association of War Affected Women; Association Tunisienne des Femmes Démocrates; Australian Women Against Violence Alliance (AWAVA); Austrian Family Planning Association; Avenir Jeune de l’Ouest (AJO); Balay Alternative Legal Advocates for Development in Mindanaw (BALAOD Mindanaw); Belize Family Life Association; Beyond Beijing Committee; Brac School of Public Health; Breakthrough; Bridges-puentes.com; Campaña 28 de Septiembre por la Despenalización Bolivia; Campaña 28 de setiembre “por la despenalización del aborto en América Latina y el Caribe” – Paraguay; Campaña Nacional por el Derecho al Aborto, Legal, Seguro y Gratuito. Argentina; Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network; CARAM Asia; Católicas por el Derecho a Decidir (Colombia); Católicas por el Derecho a Decidir (España); CEDES center for the Study of State and Society; Center for Health and Gender Equity (CHANGE); Center for Reproductive Rights; Centre for Independent Journalism (Malaysia); Centre for Sexualities, AIDS and Gender, University of Pretoria; Centre for Women’s Development and Research; Centro de Derechos de Mujeres; Centro de Promoción y Defensa de los Derechos Sexuales y Reproductivos -PROMSEX; Centro integral de Salud Sexual y Reproductivos; Change Action Nepal; CHOICE for Youth and Sexuality; CO Legalife-Ukraine; Coalition Internationale des Femmes Mobiles; Coalition of African Lesbians; Colectiva de Antropólogas Feministas; Colectiva Mujeres Al Derecho; Collectief 8 Maars; Comité de América Latina y El Caribe para la Defensa de los Derechos de las Mujeres; Comité de América Latina y el Caribe para la Defensa de los derechos de las Mujeres – CLADEM Bolivia; Commonhealth; Community and Family Aid Foundation-Ghana; Community Safety and Mediation Center; Community Strength Development Foundation; Consorcio Boliviano de Juventudes – Casa de la Juventud; Corporación Red Somos; Cosmopolitan Affirming Church; CREA; Creación Positiva; Critical Studies in Sexualities and Reproduction, Rhodes University, South Africa; CSBR | Coalition for Sexual and Bodily Rights in Muslim Societies; CWIN Nepal; Deutsche Stiftung Weltbevölkerung DSW; Development Communications Network; Disabled Women Ireland; Domestic Violence Project at the Urban Justice Center; Dziewuchy Berlin; Eastern Caribbean Alliance for Diversity and Equality Inc (ECADE); End FGM European Network; EngenderHealth; Equality Bahamas; Equidad de Género, Ciudadanía, Trabajo y Familia – México; Equipo Jurídico por los Derechos Humanos; E-Romnja Association (The Association for Promoting Roma Women’s Rights); Euroregional Center for Public Initiatives (ECPI); Family Health Options Kenya; Family Planning New Zealand; Family Planning NSW Australia; Federación Feminista Gloria Arenas; Federación Mujeres Jóvenes; Federación Nacional de Asociaciones de Mujeres Separadas y Divorciadas; Federación Planificación Familiar Estatal; Federation for Women and Family Planning; Federation of Reproductive Health Associations, Malaysia; Feminism in India; Feminist Solutions towards Global Justice (FemJust); Femme Forte Uganda; Fondo Lunaria, Colombia; Fondo Semillas; Foro por los Derechos Reproductivos; Forum for Medical Ethics Society, Mumbai, India; Foundation for Innovative Social Development; Foundation for leadership Initiatives; Fundación Angélica Quinta; Fundación Mexicana para la Planeación Familiar, A. C.; Fundación Mujeres en Igualdad; Fundación para Estudio e Investigación de la Mujer; Fundación por una Sociedad Empoderada; Fundamental Human Rights & Rural Development Association (FHRRDA); FUSA Asociación Civil; Gemeinnützige Stiftung Sexualität und Gesundheit (GSSG); GHAROA Assam; Give Hope Uganda; Global Citizen, LLC; Global Fund for Women; Global Health Visions; Global Human Rights Group; Global Justice Center; Global Justice Institute; Global Network of Sex Work Projects (NSWP); Gramin Punarnriman Sansthan; Gramoday Chetna Kendra; Great Lakes Initiative for Human Rights and Development; Groupe Tawhida Ben Cheikh, Recherche et Action pour la Santé des Femmes; Grupo para o Desenvolvimento da Mulhuer e Rapariga (GDMR); Haldimand-Norfolk Pro-Choice Coalition; Health Development Initiative; Herstoire Collective; HPLGBT; Human Rights Project at the Urban Justice Center; Humsafar Bokaro; Humsafar Support Centre for Women; Independent Young People Alliance Foundation; Indigenous Women League Nepal (IWL Nepal); Indonesian Planned Parenthood Association; Iniciativas de Cooperación Internacional para el Desarrollo (ICID); Initiative for Equality and Non Discrimination; Innovations for Development; Instituto de las Mujeres y el Liderazgo en Sinaloa, AC; International Campaign for Women’s Right to Safe Abortion; International Humanist and Ethical Union; International Movement Against All Forms of Discrimination and Racism (IMADR); International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF); International Service for Human Rights (ISHR); International Women’s Health Coalition; International Women’s Rights Action Watch Asia Pacific; International Youth Alliance for Family Planning; International Youth Alliance for Family Planning – Mexico; Ipas; Ipas Africa Alliance; Irish Family Planning Association; Jasy Renyhe; Kamana News Publications Pvt. Ltd.; KARAT Coalition, Poland; Katswe Sistahood; Kazimierz Lyszczynski Foundation (Fundacja Kazimierza Łyszczyńskiego); Kenya Sex Workers Alliance (KESWA); Kisumu Sex Workers Alliance; Korea Women’s Association United; L’ Associació Drets Sexuals i Reproductius; Lady Mermaid’s Bureau; LEGABIBO; Leha Self Help Group; Lok Chetana Samiti; LOOM; Mahila Sewak Samaj; MANAVI; Manushya Foundation; MAP (Migrant Assistance Program) Foundation; Marie Stopes International; Marie Stopes International Nepal; MenEngage Alliance; Men’s Association for Gender Equality, Sierra Leone (MAGE SL); Metropolitan Community Churches; Midwifery Society of Nepal; MINBYUN – Lawyers for a Democratic Society; Minority Womyn in Action; Movimiento Nacional por la Salud Sexual y Reproductiva en Colombia; Mugarik Gabe; Mujeres independientes luchando por sus derechos; Mujeres independientes luchando por sus derechos. MI.L.D PLAPERTS. REGIONAL22; Mujeres Liquidambar; Nalane for Reproductive Justice, South Africa; Namibia Diverse Women’s Association; Nari Gunjan; Naripokkho; National Alliance of People’s Movements; National Association for Women’s Action in Development; National Association of Women and the Law / Association Nationale Femmes et Droit; National Collective of Independent Women’s Refuges; National Council of Women New Zealand; National Council of Women Spain; National Organization of Women of Barbados; NCW Hamilton; Net Organisation for Youth Empowerment and Development (NOYED-Ghana); Network for Adolescent and Youth of Africa; New Zealand Nurses Organisation; No More Shame Gibraltar; North American MenEngage Network (NAMEN); Ntethelelo Foundation; Nujeen for Family Democratizing Organization; One in Nine; Oxfam; PA women’s organisation Alga; Pakasipiti Zimbabwe; Pamflet; PaRiter; Peacs Foundation Pakistan; People’s Empowerment Foundation (PEF), Thailand; Physicians for Reproductive Health; Pilipina Legal Resources Center, Inc.; PION Sex Workers’ Right Organization in Norway; Planned Parenthood NL Sexual Health Centre; Planned Parenthood Regina; PLAPERTS REGIONAL; Plataforma Derechos Aquí y Ahora; Population Connection Action Fund; Population Matters; Pro Femina Association; Promoción y Desarrollo de la Mujer – PRODEMU; Promundo-US; Radha Paudel Foundation; Radha Paudel Foundation; Raise Your Voice Saint Lucia Inc; Red de Mujeres Trabajadoras Sexuales (RedTraSex); Red de Salud de las Mujeres Latinoamericanas y del Caribe; Red por los derechos sexuales y reproductivos en México (ddeser); Regional Coalition of Women Human Rights Defenders in MENA; Reproductive Health Network Kenya; Resource Center for Women and Girls; Right Here Right Now-Kenya; Rights for All Women; Rural Women Rights Structure, RWRS; Rutgers; SAHYOGINI; Sakhi for South Asian Women; SAMYAK, Pune; Sensoa; SERAC-Bangladesh; Seres; Sex og Politikk (IPPF Norway); Sex Workers Project at the Urban Justice Center; Sexual and Reproductive Justice Coalition (SRJC); Sexual Health Centre Lunenburg County; Sexual Health Nova Scotia; Sexual Rights Initiative; Shadhika; Shirkat Gah – Women’s Resource Centre; SHORE Centre; Si Jeunesse Savait; Sinergias Alianzas Estratégicas; Sisterhood Network; Smart Seven Women With Disabilities; Social and Development Research and Action Group; Social Uplift Through Rural Action (SUTRA); Societatea de Planificare a Familiei din Moldova / Family Planning Association of Moldova; Society for Feminist Analyses AnA Romania; Society for Sustainable Development; Society for the Improvement of Rural People; Socio Legal Information Centre; Solidarité des Femmes Burundaises pour le bien-être Sociale et le Progrès (SFBSP); Sonke Gender Justice; Space Allies; SPECTRA; Sruti disability rights centre; STAR-STAR – Association for Support of Marginalized Workers; Stowarzyszenie Łódzkie Dziewuchy Dziewuchom; Stretchers Youth Organization; Sukaar welfare organization Pakistan; Support Group and Resource Center on Sexuality Studies; Surkuna; Swabhimaan; Taller Salud; The Community Agenda; The New Zealand Federation for Business and Professional Women Inc.; The Public Health Association of New Zealand; The Weaving House; The YP Foundation; Trust for Indigenous Culture And Health (TICAH); Urban Survivors Union; Uthema Maldives; Vecinas Feministas por la Justicia Sexual y Reproductiva en América Latina; Vikalp (Womens Group); Vishakha; Voluntary Organization for Vulnerable Community Development (VOVCOD); White Ribbon Canada; Woman Health Philippines; Women and Development Unit, University of the West Indies Open Campus; Women and Harm Reduction International Network; Women and Media Collective; Women Enabled International; Women Help Women – Self-Managed Abortion Safe & Supported (SASS); Women’s Resource Center; Women’s Rights Center NGO; Women’s Global Network for Reproductive Rights; Women’s Global Network for Reproductive Rights, Africa; Women’s Human Rights Education Institute; Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF); Woodhull Freedom Foundation; Working Women’s Resource Centre; Young Bhutanese Coalition of New York; Youth Advocacy Network (YAN); Youth Association for Development; Youth Coalition for Sexual and Reproductive Rights; Y-Peer Albania; Yuwa; YWCA Auckland as of 24 September, 4PM CET.

[ii] Aaron B. Katz; Aarushi Khanna; Adelaida Garcia Codina; Adriana Pérez; Adrienne M Poulter; Agata Szulia; Agnieszka Itner; Agnieszka Kruszyna; Agustin Ramunni; Aiman Khan; Alankrita Anand; Albu Laura; Alejandra Massolo; Aleksandra; Aleksandra; Aleksandra Cichecka; Aleksandra Makara; Alexandrina Wong; Alice Munala; Alina Adhikari; Aloha Lavina; Amal Hadi; Amar Jesani; Ambika Tandon; Amy Andersen; Amy Bosche; Amy E. Alterman; Amy Goudie; Amy Pearl; Ana María González; Ana Maria Palacios; Ananya Banerjee; Anchita Ghatak; Andal Gopalakrishnan; Angélica Cocomá; Angélica Contreras; Anita Drążkiewicz; Anjana; Ann Pomeroy; Ann Weatherall; Anna; Anna Davies-van Es; Anna Hovhannisyan; Anne Sprinkel; Anubha Rastogi; Anubha Singh; Araszkiewicz; Arifa Shakeel; Arkana Khatoon; Ashish Gupta; Assoc. Professor of Law Margaret Drew; Ayesha; Aylen de Florian; Barbara; Barbara B. Crane; Beatriz Sagrado Roberto; Benjamin Nolan; Benu Maya Gurung; Berit Austveg; Bernice Williams; Bertin; Betty A, Reardon; Bishop Pat Bumgardner; Bourez; Caban-Benavides Monika; Carol Bradford; Carrie Hill; Casey Blake; Casteele Anne-Sophie; Catalina Calderon; Chandnisrinivasan; Charu Chaturvedi; Chelsea Keenan; Christine Ball; Christine Denne; Christopher; Claudia Gómez López; Cleone Campbell; Corrinne Oliver; Cynthia Rothschild; Damary Martínez Porras; Dame Carol Kidu; Daniela Colombo; Daniela Draghici; Danuta; Deb Tuchelt; Devalina; Devika Biswas; Devu Parajuli; Dianne Glenn; Dinah Wouters; Disha Mullick; Dolores Fenoy; Dorinda Wider; Dorothy Agalla; Dr Janet Downs; Dr Jessica Rucell; Dr Judy Whitcombe; Dr RN Srivastava; Dr Rohit K Dasgupta; Dr Tlaleng Mofokeng; Dr. Alka Barua; Dr. Laxmi Tamang; Dr. Rosemary Dzuvichu; Ducarme Camille; Durga Sapkota; Dwiya; Eddie Mhlanga; Edith Bardel; Ekaterine Aghdgomelashvili; Elaine Henry; Elena Sajina; Eleonora; Eliseo Yáñez; Elsa Schvartzman; Elspeth Preddey; Elvis Okotete; Emeline Dupuis; Emmanuel Ndabombi; Erick Monterrosas; Esan; Esmae Emerson; Esther J. Spindler; Eva Camps Olmedo; Eva Herrera; Ewa Dabrowska-Szulc; Ewelina Stanczuk; Farhana Alam; Farida Begum; Faryl Palles; Federica; Felicity Jansonius; Fiona Given; Florencia; Frances Bell; Francesca Pérez; Francoise Mukuku; Gabriel; Brettkelly; Gabriela Luchetti; Gabrielle Bush; Gabrielle Le Roux; Garima Shrivastava; Gertrude Wafula; Gina Dao-McLay; Giorgi Tabagari; Giorgi Tabagari; Giulia Virdis; Glenn C M Oliver; Golden Nachibinga; Gopika Bashi; Graciela Séneca; Hansa Naran; Hassairi Rieunier; Hina; Homendra Sah; Huma Khan; Indiana Jimenez; Iratxe García Pérez; Ireen Dubel; Irena Brorens; Iryna Tyshko; Isaias Creig; Iwona; Iza Desperak; J.F. Dolheguy; Jabulile Mary-Jane Jace Mavuso; Jade Maina; Jamila Sale Mande; Jane Cottingham; Jane George; Janet Wong; Javier Maestre Toscano; Jayanthi Kuru-Utumpala; Jean-Philippe Imbert; Jenine J LeCuyer; Jenna Carswell; Jennifer Harper; Jennifer Harris; Jennifer Swinehart; Jennifer Walter; Jenny Durán; Jerónimo Pereyra; Jesica Miño; Jessica Boulet; Jessica Mercer-Short; Jihan Jacob; Jo Scofield; Jo Shearer; Joanna Drozdzewicz; Joanna Dybich; Joanna Maskell; Joelle Basnight; Johan Maritz; John Amanya; Jose Antonio Bosch Valero; Joseline Velásquez Morales; Joshua Mendelsohn; Josué Rangel; Joy Walpole; Joyce Arthur; Juanita Burnett; Judiac; Judith Pellow; Judith Sutherland; Julia; Julie Dorf; Juliet Manning; Justine van de Beek; K.K. Balakrishnan; Kamal; Kamal Gautam; Kamya Arajab; Kapil Kafle; Karen Anaya Cortez; Karin Verbaken; Karolina; Kassoum Coulibaly; Katarzyna; Katarzyna; Katarzyna Gromadzka; Katarzyna Waniek; Kate; Katherine Acey; Kathryn Carruthers; Kathryn Hopkinson; Kathy Dawson; Kerry Davies; Kimberly Lacroix; Kirsty Bourret; Kirsty Campbell; Kirtana Kumar; Kristeen Johnston; Kristina Stockwood; Krystyna Kacpura; Larissa Arroyo Navarrete; Laura Hernández García Defensora de Derechos Humanos; Laurice Botica; Laxman Belbase; Libby; Libby Grant; Liezl Parajas; Liliana Religa; Lina Tatiana Lozano Ruiz; Linda B.; Linda Hill; Linda Kinniburgh; Lisa Adams; Lisa Lawrence; Lois Hampstead; Lori Sudderth; Lorna Mungur; Lourdes Rocio Bustos; Lucía Candeira; Lucia Melgar; Luciana Mignoli; Lucy Jane Gray; Luziano Agirre; LynetteGrave; Lynne Frith; Madelynn Bovasso; Madhumita Das; Magdalena; Magdalena Dlugosz; Majo Corvalán; Malgorzata Danicka; Mamello Makhele; Mara Martínez Monteagudo; Marcelo; Marevic Parcon; Margaret Coe; Maria Alicia Gutierrez; María Cristina Pacheco Alcalá; Maria Fontenelle; Marian Sanz; Marie Jobin Gélinas; Marina Lini Chein; Marta Szostak; Martha Calveyra; Martha I. Rosenberg; Martina Bloch; Mary Hansel; Mary Perrott; Mary Shearman; Marzena; Matilda González; Matokgo Makutoane; Maxine Boag; Maya Sharma; Melanie M Anderson; Melina; Mercedes Mariscal; Michael Brenndorfer; Mira Fey; Miriam Chao Mshimba; Monifa Adebola; Monika Bujak; Monika Piasek; Morgane Boëdec; Muthoni Ngige; Nabin Kumar Shrestha; Nadine Raymond; Nandini; Nandini Ghosh; Narayani Tripathi; Nasreen Jamal; Natalia Gordon; Nataliia; Nerisha Baldevu; Ngozi Nwosu-Juba; Nibha Kumari; Nick Leslie; Nicole Bourbonnais; Nikki Baldwin; Nila Kelly; Nina Sankari; Nirvana González Rosa; Njukia Muracia; Nkeshi; Noemi Grütter; Oishik Sircar; Olive Uwamariya; Pablo Cabrero; Paige Fulton; Palita; Pampa Mukherjee; Paramita Panjal; Paroma Ray; Paul Van Look; Paula Gallegos; Payal Shah; Petitpas; Petra Bayr; Phelister Abdalla; Pilar; Poison; Powhiri Wharemarama Rika-Heke; Prabhakar; Prabina Bajracharya; Pragya Singh; Prakash; Prameswari Puspa Dewi; Prasanta Bandyopadhyay, MD.; Preet; Preeti Vaghela; Prof. Brian Citro; Prof. Dr. Asha Bajpai; Prof. Mohan Rao; Purna Shrestha; Rabeya Sultana; Rae Julian; Raewyn Stone; Ravi Duggal; Rebecca Fogel; Rebecca Gill; Reinhard; Renuka; Rina Roy; Ritz Lee B. Santos III; Robert; Robin Peterson; Rosa Vania Setowati; Roslyn Hiini; Rukmini Sen; Ryszard; Sahil Tandon; Salonie Muralidhara Hiriyur; Samantha Risdon; Sana Contractor; Sana Durvesh; Sana Sharif; Sanjeev Roy; Saraban Tahura Zaman; Sarah Cason; Sarah Kaddoura; Sarah Wood; Schulz Patricia; Serra Sippel; Shabnam; Shambhavi Saxena; Shamim; Shanta Laxmi Shrestha; Sharanya Sekaram; Sharda; Sharon Orshalimy; Sheba Chhachhi; Shevata Rai Talwar; Shilpa Shroff; Shirin Brown; Shraddha Chickerur; Shweta Ghosh; Silvana Weller; Silvia Cartwright; Silvina; Smriti Lamech; Sofia Alessio Robles; Sofía Díaz Echeverri; Sofía Mora Calvo; Sofia Rojo; Sofía Salinas; Sonam Mittal; Sonya Renata; Srilatha Batliwala; Steve; Stuart Halford; Stuti Tripathi; Sudeep Chaudhuri; Sudha Chauhan; Sue Cathro; Sue Smith; Suhel Bidani; Sunil Shrestha; Surabhi Srivastava; Susan John; Susana García; Suveckshya Shah; Swagata Raha; Swapan Mazumder; Sylwia Grabińska; Tanya Jacobs; Taryn Wahl; Theresa Mulenga; Tim Barnett; Tracy Kovalench; Trifin D.; Tshino Ramaite; Ute Herrmann; Uttara S Subramanian; V.S. Elizabeth; Vanisa Dhiru; Vanya Bailey; Varsha; Venus Sood Guy; Verona Valencia García; Victoria Pedrido; Vijay Kumar Singh; Vinay Kulkarni; Viviana Mazur; Viviane Sebahire Maramuke; Vivien Whyte; Wafa Mudawi Ibrahim Adam; Walter Basnight; Wendy Chavkin; William Nicholas Gomes; Woodi Sprinkel; Ying; Zanele Mabaso; Zenande Mcotsho; Zoë Lawton; Zofia; Zoila Paredes; and 58 anonymous individuals as of 24 September, 4PM CET.

^[iii] Ross, Loretta, and Rickie Solinger. 2017. Reproductive Justice: An Introduction. Page 65.

^[iv] WHO, About social determinants of health (2017), available at http://www.who.int/social_determinants/sdh_definition/en (last visited Oct. 16, 2017) [hereinafter WHO, About social determinants of health].

^[v] See, e.g., CEDAW Committee & CRC Committee, Joint General Recommendation No. 31 & General Comment No. 18: On harmful practices, (2014), paras. 68-9, U.N. Doc. CEDAW/C/GC/31-CRC/C/GC/18 (2014) [hereinafter CEDAW Committee & CRC Committee, Joint Gen. Recommendation No. 31 & Gen. Comment No. 18]. See also CRC Committee, Concluding Observations: Mongolia, para. 51(a), U.N. Doc. CRC/C/MNG/CO/3-4; ESCR Committee, Concluding Observations: Australia, para. 28, U.N. Doc. E/C.12/AUS/CO/4 (2009) and ESCR Committee, General Comment 22 on the right to sexual and reproductive health, paras.7-8.

^[vi] ESCR Committee, Concluding Observations: Australia, para. 28, U.N. Doc. E/C.12/AUS/CO/4(2009); WHO, About social determinants of health, supra note 2, see also ESCR Committee, General Comment 22 on the right to sexual and reproductive health, paras. 7-8.

^[vii] Report of the Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and in practice, Discrimination against women with regard to health and safety, U.N. Doc A/HRC/32/44, para. 76, available at https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/G16/072/19/PDF/G1607219.pdf?OpenElement

^[viii] See e.g. Report of the Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and in practice, Women Deprived of Liberty, U.N. Doc A/HRC/41/33, 15th May 2019, available at: http://ap.ohchr.org/documents/dpage_e.aspx?si=A/HRC/41/33, paras. 37-38. ESCR Committee, General Comment 22 on the right to sexual and reproductive health, para 30.

^[ix] WHO, About social determinants of health, supra note 2.

CSBR CSBR Activities, Featured, News from Member Organizations, News on Sexual & Bodily Rights

CSBR & IWE facilitate Asia Region Workshop on Holistic Security for LGBTIQ Defenders

Building on CSBR’s regional program CARE in 2018, our Coordinator Rima Athar and Lin Chew (Institute for Women’s Empowerment) facilitated a 4-day workshop on Holistic Security for LGBTI Human Rights Defenders in Asia, organized by ILGA World as part of the ProtectDefenders.EU mechanism.

The workshop took place from 26-29 August 2019 and brought together 18 activists from 13 countries: India, Indonesia, Jordan, Lebanon, Malaysia, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, Palestine, the Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, and Vietnam.

Participants represented diverse organizations working with focus areas ranging from sex workers rights, sexual and reproductive health rights, interfaith & faith-based advocacy, feminist movement building, digital rights, trans rights, legal justice, mental health support and counselling, and more.

Through 4 days of interdisciplinary methods, activists explored psychosocial and bodily well-being, as well as strategies and best practices to build resilience and strengthen their organizing at home. Along with the bonds of solidarity that were built amongst participants, at the close of the workshop, each person left with concrete steps they would take to address key holistic security needs on both a personal level, as well as in their organizations back home.

A couple of reflections from participants:

“I really had a wonderful time experiencing a training related to our self care, security and our well-being. All the dynamics of well-being, including the physical, mental, sexual, economical, emotional, relational and spiritual. Exploring and understanding more about ourselves and our energy. Acknowledging our privileges and our needs as individuals, groups, organizations and more. I am so grateful.” (Jordan)

“Spent this week in Seoul with a group of amazing queer rights activists, focusing on holistic security training. As always, with activist spaces, there’s a certain love, warmth and a sense of having known each other forever that is unmatched with any other experience. Thank you for this. I spent the past few months spiralling and crashing towards a burnout. This training helped me reconnect with myself, understand the trauma that I have lived through, and has helped me deal with the fact that sometimes a perfect balance is unachievable. Incredibly grateful for this opportunity to be able to pause, learn and refocus.” (India)

CSBR CSBR Activities, Featured, News on Sexual & Bodily Rights, Statements

CSBR at ILGA Asia 2019 + Lesbian Caucus Statement

CSBR was at the ILGA Asia 2019 conference, which took place from 18 – 23 August 2019 in Seoul, South Korea.

On 23 August, we hosted a workshop on “Queer Muslim Movement Building: Our Stories and Narratives“, in collaboration with The Queer Muslims Project, and an audience of about 30 conference participants. The interactive session opened with a short exploration of experiences, needs and questions around queer Muslims movement building in Asia amongst attendees. We then held a short presentation about some of the instagram campaigns run by The Queer Muslims Project as a means to document lived realities and amplify new narratives online, as well as a means to counter homophobia, Islamophobia and hate speech. We also had a short film screening of some of the digital stories on the theme of Faith & Sexuality made with partners in Indonesia. The discussion afterwards touched on questions of solidarity, allies, how to engage the media, how to do outreach, critical approaches to development aid and funding, and the importance of shedding binary and narrow notions of authenticity and Muslim identity.

CSBR members participated in diverse strategizing sessions at the forum, and our Coordinator co-drafted the Lesbian Caucus Statement which documented the issues and demands raised by the participants at the pre-conference on 19 August. Read the statement below, and as a PDF here: LesbianCaucusStatement-23August2019-ILGAAsia.

Lesbian Caucus Statement

On 19 August 2019, ILGA Asia held the first ever lesbian pre-conference at the bi-annual regional conference. It was important to gather as lesbians to create a safer space to address the multiple intersecting human rights challenges we face. Some of the key issues we raised were the following:

How to Reclaim the Family

Family as an institution must have equality, compassion, autonomy and care at its core, and yet in reality we see how traditional families values and patriarchal constructions of the idea of family and gender roles reproduce violence and discrimination against lesbians. These patriarchal values and acts of violence move across private and public spheres, and exacerbate the violence and discrimination that is perpetuated against lesbians in public institutions and society at large. Across our contexts, lesbians are continually at risk of forced marriage, which also leads to economic insecurity, lack of autonomy and social mobility, and being under the control of the family and husband. Lesbians are also targets of so called “corrective rape”, “honor killings”, acid attacks, and other forms of torture intended to dehumanise, by the family, community, and informal courts. We need immediate action to fight against such deeply rooted violence against lesbians.

Many of our strategising includes working towards diverse family structures that reflect our realities. This includes “rainbow families”, with same sex parents, and/or queer and trans children, that exists all across Asia.

Article 16 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and Article 23 of the The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which many Asian states are bound to, mention the right to found a family. However, Asian states fail in their implementation and set limitations and conditions that exclude rainbow families from protection by law and in practice.

Lesbian couples who try to form a family face different ways of direct and indirect discrimination and violation of their right to form a family. Lesbian and single women in Asia cannot access assisted reproductive technology. Even in countries such as Taiwan where marriage equality has been achieved, lesbian couples are still unable to adopt. The rest of Asia has yet to legally recognise lesbian couples. This not only violates the rights of lesbian couples, but it also violates the rights of the children so many of us are already parenting. In addition, the partners of lesbian women with a biological child are not legally recognised as co-parent.

Fundamentalisms and the impact on socio-economic and legal frameworks

There is the interlink between multiple fundamentalisms (religious, economic, nationalist), globalisation, the securitisation and militarisation of states and communities, and patriarchy which together create and reinforce unjust socio-legal systems, through which discriminatory customary laws and practices proliferate with impunity. This impacts on the already limited progressive socio-legal framework (laws, policies and social development programmes) that can be used to protect the lives of lesbians and the LGBTIQ community broadly, including children of LGBTIQ families in many countries in Asia.

For example, we continue to see violence against lesbians, whether cis, trans or intersex, carried out through the informal application of regressive interpretations of religious based laws or ideologies across all major religions in the region (Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim, Christian). We also see an increase in the penalisation of lesbians through the application of the colonial laws criminalising “carnal intercourse against the order of nature” that remain in the formal legal frameworks of many of our countries. Therefore it is impossible to achieve access to justice for lesbians without an integrated and comprehensive understanding of these larger interlinked systems of oppressions. We need to mobilise through multiple avenues, including addressing the root causes of poverty, displacement, migration, and gender based discrimination in order to achieve development justice, human rights for all and a stronger movement towards rights regardless of our sexual orientation, gender identity and expression and sex characteristics.

Education

The lack of comprehensive sexual education at the foundation of school curricula, along with the lack of awareness and access to sexual reproductive health and rights and inclusion of SOGIESC, and stigma on the basis of SOGIESC of young people especially lesbians, lead to a lack of understanding and self-confidence, marginalisation, discrimination, social isolation, school uniform and facility (including bathrooms and changing rooms) policies based solely on legally recognised gender, the normalisation of bullying (including cyber bullying) along with the lack of channels for protection and mechanisms to stop any forms of violence based on SOGIESC, mental health issues, lower academic knowledge and performance, and high levels of drop out amongst lesbian students who cannot identify the school environment as safe spaces. This affects not only students, but also teachers and school professionals. And this leads to increased difficulties in entering the workforce.

Employment

Lesbian women face numerous challenges at many levels in the workplace. And, this is worsened when their sexual orientation and gender identity intersect with other marginalised identities (indigenous women, ethnic minority members, lower caste members, stateless, migrants, living with disabilities, living with HIV, refugees, internally displaced, people using drugs, sex workers, asylum seekers and more).

Firstly, lesbian women are less likely to acquire the necessary academic qualifications and even when this is the case, to be hired after an interview. They have therefore less professional opportunities and progression which in turn leads to poverty, lack of social protection, risk of sexual harassment, lower income, poorer physical, mental and psychological health.

Within companies, lesbians are affected by the gender pay gap: they earn less than men and in some cases earn less than straight women and are often left with hard physical jobs normally performed by men.

Companies are mostly heteronormative environments where lesbian women are disadvantaged and often face discrimination and diverse forms of gender-based violence (including harassment, bullying, mockery, and performance appraisal policies). In many companies there’s a lack of safe spaces, inclusive policies (including access to social welfare and company benefits) and reporting mechanisms. This is compounded by the lack of knowledge and acceptance regarding SOGIESC issues on how to implement policies and codes of conduct, and the absence of SOGIESC awareness which make the working environment particularly hostile for a lot of lesbians in Asia.

Mental Health

Lesbians suffer from social isolation, discrimination, stigmatisation and violence. There is not only external influences but also internal pressures within our own community. We internalise heteronormative frameworks and historical frameworks that discriminate against lesbians. In many contexts, conversion therapy is imposed onto lesbians. The community is also struggling with issues around domestic and intimate partner violence and support for such issues.

This leads to deep physical emotional, psychological and spiritual suffering and mental health problems: distorted self-image, inability to claim body autonomy, emotional anguish, social isolation and depression, worsened by unequal access to health care services and support. The existing system is influenced by historical prejudices, both formal and informal, and impacted by current social and political climates. This prevents lesbians from accessing and owning our own solutions. In order for us to fully live our best lives we need access to mental health services which are catered to our needs for self care and wellbeing as lesbians.

What Do We Want?

As lesbians, we urge the LGBTIQ movement to strengthen support for lesbian led organising across Asia. We simply need more active solidarity across lesbian struggles for rights and justice.

To ILGA Asia, we make the following recommendations for the conference:

1) Ensure pre-lesbian conference equality and equity in timing and resources allocated

2) Increase representation and visibility of lesbian led organising and initiatives through the content

3) Ensure feminist organisers are present and strengthening this approach to make the conference and movement more intersectional and inclusive

4) Ensure the conference accepts more workshops & sessions led by lesbians, that bring an intersectional lens to our organising issues

To ILGA Asia as a network:

1) Ensure that lesbians are represented equally in the leadership structure, and involved in all levels of decision-making.

2) Ensure any program support intended to address LBQ issues, is led by LBQ people.

To Donors supporting LGBTI and Women’s Rights in Asia:

1) Address the reality that grassroots collectives and organisations often cannot register or access formal funding channels, by providing more direct, flexible and core funding support to lesbian-led organisations at the grassroots and community level

2) Address the reality that lesbians face greater challenges in terms of visible organising across Asia, by creating priority strategies to fund movement building work by and for lesbians

3) Strategically provide funding and capacity-building support to lesbian-led networks, organisations and groups, regionally and nationally across Asia, so that as a movement we can fill the gaps in research, analysis, strategies and programming to support lesbians in Asia.

4) To coordinate joint funding support towards the first ever Asia Lesbian Conference, led by the Asian Lesbian Network that we are bringing together.

* * * * * *

CSBR CSBR Activities, Featured, News from Member Organizations, News on Sexual & Bodily Rights

CSBR at the Global Feminist LBQ Women*’s Conference

GlobalLBQClosingPlenary — *(Caption: Global Feminist LBQ Women*’s Conference Closing Plenary Group Photo)*

CSBR Coordinator, Rima Athar, was one of the Content Committee Working Group members that organized the first ever Global Feminist Lesbian, Bisexual and Queer (LBQ) Women*’s Conference, which took place from 6-9 July 2019, in Cape Town, South Africa.

The historic conference brought together more than 500 LBQ women and non-binary people, from 111 countries and 11 global regions. Under the themes of Leading, Healing and Transforming, the forum hosted over 50 workshops, panels and other creative sessions, including writing, films, arts, and dance.

Topics explored by participants covered an expansive range, including sexual pleasure and desire, climate justice, indigenous queer identities, feminist technology and the internet, anti-fascist and anti-racist organizing, experiences of LBQ trans and non-binary peoples, disability rights, sexual and reproductive justice, safe spaces for queer youth, intersex experiences, and much much more.

CSBR held two parallel sessions at the forum. The first was a conversation on “Unpacking Religious Rights: Queer Feminist Resistance to the Politicization of Religion, Sexuality and the Body”, with our networkers from Malaysia, Pakistan, Turkey and Indonesia sharing their experiences and strategies with an audience of about 60 conference goers.

The second was an interactive workshop on “Queer Inclusionary Magical Feminists”, which facilitated a conversation and exploration about the tensions we experience within and across movements for rights and justice, and how feminist responses could strengthen solidarity in our strategies and organizing.

GlobalLBQWG — *(Caption: Global Feminist LBQ Women*’s Conference Working Group Members)*

As one participant summed up in a reflective piece, “The Global Feminist LBQ Women’s* Conference was a precious opportunity to build bridges, coalesce, express solidarity, strategise and to celebrate the beauty in our diversity.”

Read some more reflections on the forum here, Claiming Space for Lesbian, Bisexual and Queer feminists, and here, Have You the Courage to Hear My Story?.

CSBR CSBR Activities, News on Sexual & Bodily Rights

Religious Communities affirming LGBTIQ People around the World

CSBR is a co-sponsor of Religious Communities affirming LGBTIQ people around the World, a side event at the upcoming 41st session of the UN Human Rights Council taking place Tuesday, 2 July 2019, from 2:30 – 4:00pm, at the UN Headquarters, Geneva, Conference Room IX.

To attend this event you will need a valid accreditation to access the UN or a UN grounds pass.

Human rights organizations, including LGBTIQ groups and faith-based actors, alongside State actors and UN representatives, have been working steadily for many years to promote inclusive faith-based messages.

This side event seeks to amplify the efforts of people of faith and share the realities lived by individuals and communities from different contexts around the world, particularly from key affected contexts (mostly in the Global South), and most especially, inclusive religious experiences and interpretations. This side event aims to highlight how different religious institutions, from different traditions and contexts, include and affirm the rights of LGBTIQ people around the world. These stories stand in stark contrast to the regressive and exclusionary narratives often heard at the UN.

Panelists:

Yulia Dwi Andriyanti, Qbukatabu, Indonesia
Rev. Nokuthula Dhladhla, Ashes to Purpose, South Africa Rev. Dr Brent Hawkes, Rainbow Faith & Freedom, Canada
Bochra Bel Haj Hmida, MP, Tunisia
Ankit Gupta, Queer Hindu Alliance, India Father Thomas Ninan, NCCI, India

Moderator: Dr Fulata L. Moyo, WCC

CSBR CSBR Activities, Featured, News from Member Organizations, Resources & Tools

Tutur Feminis: Meluruhkan yang Biner (Indonesian Feminist Voices, Shedding the Binary)

Tutur Feminis: Meluruhkan yang Biner
(Indonesian Feminist Voices, Shedding the Binary)

Tutur Feminis is a coloring book created by Yulia Dwi Andriyanti and the Qbukatabu Collective in Indonesia as one of the activities under CSBR’s collaborative program CARE: Continuous and Responsive Empowerment through well-being initiatives for LGBTIQ human rights defenders in South & Southeast Asia.

Tutur Feminis: Meluruhkan yang Biner (Indonesian Feminist Voices, Shedding the Binary)

This coloring book documents a series of conversations with five women leaders who are allies in realizing Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender female to male (LBT) rights and justice. Each of the women interviewed have long been committed to social transformation, and hold feminist values as their basis and strategy. In a context where politics of hate towards LBT groups is becoming a major challenge, including to consistently living in feminist consciousness, these women leaders share about their efforts to keep up the struggle to shed the binary.

Why a coloring book?

We chose this format of a coloring book as an interactive way to pass the messages through text and visual representation, and to relate them with the readers’ feelings and emotions. We can experience the conversations not only through reading the messages from those allies, and also expressing feelings by coloring the illustrations. It is also a way to support a self-healing process.

When you Buy the Book, you Donate to the Collective

You can buy a copy of the Tutur Feminis coloring book with a minimum donation of IDR 35,000 (USD 2), excluding the post & packaging fee. We want to make our publications available to all supported friends, and we welcome donations of any amount above this as well. When you buy a copy, you are also donating to support Qbukatabu works and the collective works of women (including lesbian, bisexual and queer women), trans, and other non-binary identities to strive for the enjoyment of their rights as Indonesian citizens.

For the first printed edition in Indonesian language, the donation per book will be distributed towards the printing cost of the 2nd edition, the collective works
across in Indonesia (75%) and Qbukatabu’s work (25%).

How to get the book?

Please note for the moment, we are only able to ship within Indonesia.

Request your order by providing your name, mobile number, amount of order, donation amount, and address to (choose any that fits you):IG: Qbukatabu
Twitter: Qbukatabu
Facebook: Qbukatabu
Number (whatsapp only): 0813 2219 7685 or 0878 8190 7310
Qbukatabu will respond your order request via WhatsApp, including the information of the bank account number where you can send the donation and the post & packaging fee.
Qbukatabu will mail you the book after you send the transfer receipt.

CSBR CSBR Activities, Featured, News on Sexual & Bodily Rights, Statements

Brunei: Halt the Implementation of the Sharia Penal Code

4 April 2019

Brunei: Halt the Implementation of the Sharia Penal Code

The Coalition for Sexual and Bodily Rights in Muslim Societies (CSBR) and civil society members across Muslim societies call on the Sultanate of Brunei to immediately halt the enforcement of the Sharia Penal Code (SPC). We believe that any entry into force of the penal code demonstrates a disturbing disregard of basic civil and political rights of the people of Brunei.

We are deeply concerned that the new SPC includes the death penalty and extends its application to a range of supposed moral offenses, including adultery, consensual sexual relations outside of marriage, consensual same sex relations, and statements critical of the State interpretation of Islam. It also introduces public whipping for those who access abortion, amputation for theft, and criminalizes exposing Muslim children to the beliefs and practices of any religion besides Islam.

We are further appalled that the SPC prescribes stoning as a form of execution, and whipping and amputation as corporal punishments, and claims this moral authority from Islamic sharia law. Stoning is not prescribed in the Qur’an, and there is no consensus on these punishments under Muslim jurisprudence. Muslim countries across the world forbid these forms of torture, ill-treatment, inhuman and degrading punishments as fundamental violations of human dignity.

We reiterate that state-imposed violence cannot ever be condoned, and all such forms of penalisation and criminalisation are in contradiction to the Islamic principles of justice, compassion and equality.

Implementation of the SPC would be to move in direct opposition to the government’s expressed intent to “maintain peace and order and preserve religion, life, family and individuals regardless of gender, nationality, race and faith”. Instead the penalties imposed by the law will encourage violence and discrimination on the basis of gender, sexual orientation and religious affiliation, create a climate of fear, limit civic space in the country, and further sow extremism in the region.

We remind the government of Brunei of its commitments to uphold the right to life, freedom from torture, cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment and punishment, and non-discrimination as enshrined in both the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and the ASEAN Human Rights Declaration (AHRD). The UDHR is also the basis of the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against women (CEDAW) and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), which Brunei has signed and acceded to. As a State party to these two Conventions, Brunei has the obligation to respect, protect, and fulfill these rights to all its citizens.

We affirm sexual and bodily integrity, freedom of expression and freedom of religion and belief are fundamental rights of all people, regardless of their gender, citizenship, class, age, mental and physical ability, religion, marital status, ethnic identity, sexual orientation, and sex characteristics.

Signed

Coalition for Sexual and Bodily Rights in Muslim Societies (Global)
GAYa NUSANTARA, Indonesia
VISION, Pakistan
Possibility, Bangladesh
Bishkek Feminists Initiatives, Kyrgyzstan
Rumah Pelangi, Indonesia
Khartini Slamah, Transgender Activist, Malaysia
Rafiul Alom Rahman, Queer Activist, India
The Queer Muslim Project, India
Kazakhstan Feminist Initiative “Feminita”, Kazakhstan
Inclusive Bangladesh, Bangladesh
Baidarie, Pakistan
Kyrgyz Indigo, Kyrgyzstan
Secularism is a Women’s Issue
Rainbow Street, Jordan/USA
Andi Suraidah, Women’s Rights Activist, Malaysia
Kaos GL Association, Turkey
Al-Fatah Islamic Transwoman Boarding School, Indonesia
Cairo Foundation for Development and Law, Egypt
Muslims for Progressive Values (Global)
Alliance of Inclusive Muslims (Global)
Justice for Sisters, Malaysia
SEED, Malaysia
Canadian Council of Muslim Women, Canada
Aun Shahid, Advocate, Pakistan
PLUSOS (People Like Us Support Ourselves), Malaysia
The Healing Circle.sg, Singapore
Women Living Under Muslim Laws (Global)
Rhadem Camlian Morados, Queer Muslim Activist, Philippines
MUJER LGBT, Philippines
TEAM Magazine, Philippines
OUTSpoken Philippines
Dr. amina wadud, Visiting Researcher, Starr King School for the Ministry, US
Persatuan Sahabat Wanita Selangor (PSWS), Malaysia
LINC Foundation, Malaysia
Jejaka, Singapore
The Asian Pacific Resource and Research Centre for Women (ARROW)
Cangkang Queer, Indonesia
Penawar Support Group, Singapore
Beyond The Hijab, Singapore
LighT, Tajikistan
Association for Struggle against Sexual Violence, Turkey
Kazakhstani LGBT-media Kok.team
Youth Interfaith Forum on Sexuality (YIFoS Indonesia)
Indonesia Christian Youth
Amir Shaikezhanov, LGBT activist, Kazakhstan
Social Policy, Gender Identity and Sexual Orientation Studies Association, SPoD, Turkey
Young LGBTİ+ Association, Turkey

If you would like to add your voice to the petition, sign on here: http://bit.ly/SIGNON-BruneiHaltSPC

CSBR Featured, Statements

Make Equality A Reality For All Muslim Women

CSBR joined Musawah and 118 women’s rights and human rights organizations and activists from across Muslim societies, to urge leaders of Muslim-majority countries to stand in unity against the persecution of women’s rights defenders. Add your voice today: https://www.equalitynow.org/musawah

We write as over 100 women’s rights and human rights organizations and activists from the Muslim world, who are deeply concerned over the crack down on women’s rights activists in some countries. We respectfully request leaders of the Muslim world to raise their voices to support equality for women, to recognize the critical role that women’s rights defenders play in this regard, and to condemn the imprisonment and torture of women human rights defenders.

The repression and persecution of civil society organizations and activists, including a crackdown on their funding, is a worrying trend. In particular, we are concerned about the treatment of Iranian women’s rights activists, including Nasrin Sotoudeh, an internationally renowned lawyer who was reportedly sentenced to 38 years in prison and 148 lashes, and Narges Mohammadi, sentenced to 16 years in prison.

Similarly, we are alarmed by the arbitrary detentions of Saudi women’s rights activists, including Loujain Al-Hathloul, Aziza Al-Yousef, Eman Al-Nafjan, Nouf Abdelaziz, Hatoon Al-Fassi, Samar Badawi, Nassima Al-Sadah, Amal Al-Harbi, and Shadan Al-Anezi. These activists have been accused of being a threat to national security. In fact, the opposite is true, it is well documented that the level of gender equality in a country correlates with the level of peace and security.

We – activists, scholars, and advocates for justice – need the leaders of Muslim countries to recognize and promote the message of equality that is inherent in Islam and guaranteed in many of our constitutions. We need political leadership from across the spectrum to make equality a reality for all Muslim women so that we can contribute fully and freely to the development of our societies. A first step is to support women’s rights activists and organizations.

We urge you, as leaders of Muslim countries, to stand in unity against the persecution of women who raise their voices for equality. We urge you to join us in calling for the immediate and unconditional release of the women’s rights activists named above by Iran and Saudi Arabia.

Share the letter in English or Arabic.

Read the full letter with signatures in English or Arabic.

CSBR CSBR Activities, Featured, News on Sexual & Bodily Rights

Tajassodat: Conversations to Advance Trans Rights and Justice in Muslim Societies

Applications are open Tajassodat: Conversations to Advance Trans Rights and Justice in Muslim Societies (26-30 May 2019), which is a joint program by Qorras and CSBR.

The call is open to transgender & non-binary people living and organizing across the MENA and SSEA regions. Please see full details below, and please do share the call with your networks.

Application link: Call for Collaborators-Tajassodat

Deadline to apply: 20 March 2019 (23:59 IST)

Please email the Tajassodat team if you have any questions: tajassodat@gmail.com

ABOUT TAJASSODAT

Tajassodat is a 5-day strategic convening set to take place on 26 to 30 May 2019, in Kathmandu, Nepal.

The goal of the convening is to create the space for trans activists from the Middle East, North Africa (MENA) and South Asia & Southeast Asia (SSEA), to come together and strategize around trans experiences and needs, strategies for proactive networking, resource development and mobilization in support of trans led organizing, and joint-collaborations amongst trans activists and their allies to advance trans rights and justice.

We aim to bring together 25 collaborators, from Lebanon, Tunisia, Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, Iran, Palestine, Algeria, Morocco, Libya, Sudan, Syria, Gulf Countries, Malaysia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia, and India.

BACKGROUND

Who is organizing Tajassodat?

Tajassodat is a collaborative initiative launched by Qorras and the Coalition for Sexual and Bodily Rights in Muslim Societies (CSBR), supported by HIVOS and Astraea Foundation.

Qorras aims to work on knowledge relating to the issues of gender and sexuality in the MENA region. Qorras focuses on collecting, producing, and disseminating crucial knowledge in the broader sense of the word, all other approaches come to feed this main goal. While acknowledging that the work Qorras does is mostly inspired and based in a more Levantine, Lebanese context.

CSBR is an international solidarity network of over 30 member organizations across 16 countries in MENA, SSEA and Central Asia. CSBR supports the integration of a holistic approach to sexual and bodily rights as human rights across Muslim societies, through feminist knowledge building, strategic convenings, and activist capacity building.

In December 2018, the Steering Committee driving the process of Tajassodat, and made up of 6 activists working to advance trans rights across the regions, through various routes of community organizing, human rights advocacy, and legislative policy at national and international levels, came together.

The Steering Committee Members: Iyan Hyadi (Palestine), Maya Zaman (Pakistan), Rebecca Nyuei (Indonesia), Satya Rai Nagpaul (India), Elisabeth Strandberg (Algeria/Sweden), Zakaria Nasser (Lebanon)

What can we expect from the meeting?

General Method

The convening will take place over five days, exploring the three core themes of (a) Personal embodiments, health & well being; (b) Language, culture & histories; and (c) Legal human rights advocacy & trans movement building.

In the first three days, collaborators will create the space to share personal experiences and contextual histories on trans organizing; map out common trends and obstacles across national contexts, as well as unique opportunities for advocacy; The way trans activists build understanding & solidarity to advance human rights, will also be documented.

In the last two days, these reflections will be shaped into a collective visual zine, documenting collaborators’ experiences on bodily autonomy, self-determination and community organizing. We will also explore networking & solidarity questions with allies, to strategize around greater support and resources for trans led organizing across the regions.

Expected Outcomes

The expected outcomes are:

a collectively made publication, documenting trans lived experiences and the conversations from the meeting;
a stronger network of activists connecting their human rights work across the MENA & SSEA regions, and the wider global South;
practical follow-up steps and priority strategies to support community level change at home.

Language of Participation: The primary language of the convening will be English.

Who Can Participate?

Call for Collaborators

We are sharing an open call for collaborators who want to come together and co-create the space with us. The call for participation is open to transgender and non binary individuals with experiences in the medical and legal systems; artists, writers, organizers, workers focused on community support; as well as individuals who have experience with community outreach, networking, and physical and online security.

Individuals should be living or organizing across the MENA and SSEA regions. This includes: Lebanon, Tunisia, Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, Iran, Palestine, Algeria, Morocco, Libya, Sudan, Syria, Gulf Countries, Malaysia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia, and India.

APPLY NOW

Please apply using this link . The information will be kept confidential.
DEADLINE FOR APPLICATION: Applications should be submitted by 20 March 2019 (23:59 IST Time UTC+05:30)

Scholarships: Selected collaborators will be provided scholarships to attend the convening, including economy return airfare, local transportation to/from the airport and home, cost of visa to Nepal, accommodation on a shared (twin) basis, meals during the convening, and basic travel emergency health insurance.

Important Dates: The Call for Collaborators is open from 1 March – 20 March 2019. Applications will be reviewed by the Steering Committee, and we expect to announce acceptances by 10 April 2019.

Tajassodat will take place from 26 to 30 May 2019.

CSBR Featured, News from Member Organizations, News on Sexual & Bodily Rights

Youth Voices: International Women Day 2019 #BalanceforBetter

Sarim, 26 - Member of VISION Pakistan's Youth Council — *Sarim, 26 – Member of VISION Pakistan’s Youth Council*

#BalanceforBetter

Aggregate action and shared duty regarding driving a gender balanced world is vital. International Women’s Day is a worldwide day commending the social, financial and political accomplishments of women, including trans women.

Now when we talk about the Gender Balance and Equality in Sexual and Reproductive Health & Rights programs, we need to pay extra attention to trans women’s sexual and reproductive health and rights. Reproductive health and rights –including the decision to have children or not–are basic rights regardless of gender identity, but gender identity is sometimes another barrier to accessing family planning services due to stigma and discrimination.

Family planning programs should address the unique needs of transgender people for reproduction and planning their families, including egg donation, gestational carriers, sperm donation, etc. I think the family planning needs of transgender people are an understudied but growing area of research. Sexual and gender minorities have family planning needs, both similar to and distinct from their exclusively heterosexual peers. In general, understandings of the distinct family planning needs for transgender people are limited and further research is needed, with particular attention to issues of overlapping health disparities related to status as sexual and gender minorities and other factors, such as race/ethnicity, that may add additional layers of stigma and discrimination. The barriers to overcome are fierce, and include not only lack of access to health services and insurance but also stigma and discrimination, harassment, violence, and violations of rights at every turn.

The SRHR of transgender individuals must be tended to with regard for the social, legitimate, historical, and political settings in which individuals are situated, with social, mental, medical, and lawful gender affirmation as a key need forming any mediation. Making the changes envisioned here is possible but it will require not only the advocacy, policy, programmatic and research directions presented here but also struggle and action locally, nationally, and globally. We can help empowering the transgender people with the knowledge and skills to advocate for their sexual and reproductive health & rights as these are important life decisions that shape their future and boosting a more Gender Balanced World.

CSBR CSBR Activities, Headline, News from Member Organizations, News on Sexual & Bodily Rights, Resources & Tools

Webinar: Resist fundamentalisms and fascisms in Asia-Pacific

Four activists from Asia Pacific share their analysis of the advances of fundamentalist and fascist forces across the region. Listen to the audio below:

This discussion addresses the following questions:

How are anti-rights forces operating in Asia-Pacific? How are they gaining support?
What are the impacts on gender justice and human rights in the region?
What does collective resistance look like and how can we strengthen it?

The conversation was led by :

Rima Athar (Chair): Coordinator of the Coalition for Sexual and Bodily Rights in Muslim Societies (CSBR)

With presentations from:

Cristina “Tinay” Palabay: Secretary General of human rights group Karapatan in the Philippines
Rozana Isa: Executive Director of Sisters In Islam, Malaysia
Chayanika Shah: a queer feminist researcher, teacher, and activist based in Mumbai, India.

CSBR Featured, News on Sexual & Bodily Rights, ODOS

Hope without Fear amidst Suffering with HOPE (Have Only Positive Expectations)

The situation of LBQT people in Pakistan is complex, as most of them face fundamental survival challenges. HOPE is one of those very few non-profit organizations which are providing safe spaces to sexual and gender minorities for socialization. Currently, HOPE is working on building a sense of community through mini get-togethers in a private household, which will allow community members to feel psychologically at ease by sharing their struggles and traumatic experiences with one another. Moreover, in these get-togethers HOPE also plans to hold various fun activities, for example, gaming, watching movies etc. which will further add to the positive psychological effect.

The idea of advancement of psychological health within community brings to the second most important point—which is, taking necessary steps for the treatment of mental health issues directly. HOPE are living in a society where it is difficult to find medical service provider who are even sympathetic to the situation of LBQT people. But from own experiences in transitioning, and through some other relevant connections, HOPE have finally come up with a list of reliable private doctors (including psychiatrists and psychologists) who are friendly and sympathetic to our situation.

HOPE also intends to provide emergency funds to those members of the community who, for example, do not have money to access government or private health care services. It is important to note here that the reason why most of the transgender people do not afford private healthcare services is because they are dysphoric and hence jobless. Their dysphoria, mainly, results from the fact that whatever society deems as normal is all imposed on them. This includes the requirement of dressing in feminine or masculine clothes, non-provision of resources to finish education, restriction on mobility, coercion into early marriages etc. Under these conditions, providing them with emergency funds, short-term shelter or a safe space and a livelihood (by hiring them) is a form of activity in itself. In short, HOPE wants to provide LBTQ people with a healthy lifestyle—leading to self-acceptance and eventually self-confidence. It wants to provide transgender persons with maximum choices they can pick out of in terms of their physical transition. Moreover, it also aims to provide psychological support to lesbians, bisexual and queer individuals.

At government level, HOPE—the members of HOPE—have been part of The Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act 2018. HOPE have been part of meetings held for the drafting of the Act in order to highlight the presence and struggles of transgender men in a country where transgender women are very vocal about their rights unlike transgender men who have remained nearly invisible in the public domain, perhaps because of the fears of female body that society instills into them. The purpose of our efforts had been provision of basic human rights to transgender men in particular and lesbians, queer and bisexual women in general.

In sum, HOPE strongly believes in creating safer spaces for gender and sexual minorities which is extremely important in Pakistan. Our situation constantly reminds us of the fact that HOPE live in a third world country with immense security challenges faced especially by lesbians, bisexual and queer women and transgender people. Hence, it is important to create a safe space for them where they can discuss their issues and socialize in peace. A safe space will not only be of great use to the community activity but will also work as an emergency shelter to the people who are in vulnerable situation and need a place for short stay. Moreover, it will add to the psychological health of the community by providing essential tools to help its people cope with their situation.

CSBR CSBR Activities, Featured, News from Member Organizations, ODOS

Art therapy, Communities of Care, Safe & Accessible SRHR, Self-Defense and ending Bullying–One Day One Struggle 2018 kicks off!

By highlighting the pressing political developments impacting sexual and bodily rights across our local and national contexts, the campaign demonstrates that sexuality is a site of political struggle and seeks to build solidarity across constituencies to support everyone’s right to choose freely on matters of sexuality, fertility, bodily autonomy, gender identity and self expression.

In 2018, actions will take place across Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Pakistan, the Philippines, and Tunisia.

See a brief listing below, and keep up with us on Twitter (@SexBodyRights, #OneDayOneStruggle, #ODOS) and Facebook (facebook.com/CSBRonline) on November 9th for updates as the actions occur!

* * * * *

BANGLADESH

Bandhu Social Welfare Society is organizing a day-long workshop on Art Therapy for Self-Expression & Peer Support, that will bring together young community members (aged 15 – 20) from the Youth & Transgender/Hijra network to explore the power of art therapy as a tool for self-expression, self-healing & self-discovery.

Art and the therapeutic creative process of creating art can be incredibly useful for young people who may have experienced bullying or trauma, as it can provide a safe sanctuary to share our feelings and emotions. Throughout the day, participants will explore various mediums, including different kinds of painting (watercolour, pastels, body paints) & craft-making–linking each activity to personal reflection around sexual and bodily autonomy.

Participants’ creations will be documented and shared within the network. Bandhu will host the workshop in collaboration with community artists & also representatives from UNICEF.

_________________________________________

INDONESIA

This month, Qbukatabu is hosting a series of live Instagram discussions on the theme of “Protect Yourself from Sexual Violence”. As part of ODOS on 9 November, Qbukatabu will be in conversation about self-defense from sexual assaults & violence with Poedji Tan–a women’s rights activist, co-founder of konde.co, and former Taekwondo athlete.

You can join the live discussion on Instagram at: @qbukatabu at 7PM Jakarta time on 9 November.

Want to explore more about ending sexual violence against women & trans people with Qbukatabu? The collective is hosting two additional live Instagram discussions this month:

Prevent and Handle Sexual Violence towards Transgender Man, with Sam (Transman Indonesia). The discussion will take place on 20 November 2018, as part of campaigning on the International Transgender Day of Remembrance.
Safe Working Space to Eliminate Sexual Violence for Women Workers with Mutiara Ika (Perempuan Mahardika). The discussion will take place on 25 November 2018, as part of the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-based Violence

Also keep up with them on Facebook: www.facebook.com/qbukatabu, Twitter: @Qbukatabu and YouTube: Tim Qbukatabu.

* * * * *

Building on their use of video as a tool for community documentation & amplifying progressive narratives, for ODOS 2018 GAYa NUSANTARA Foundation is launching a short set of interviews with gay Muslims, that explore each persons’ individual struggles, challenges, and perceptions around queerness & Islam.

Follow GAYa NUSANTARA on Facebook: facebook.com/YayasanGAYaNUSANTARA/ and Twitter: twitter.com/gayanusantara to catch the videos.

_________________________________________

EGYPT

Nazra for Feminist Studies launches a conversation on “Non-Conforming” for ODOS 2018.

“Non-Conforming” addresses the issue of bullying, with particular attention to the impacts on the psychological health of people bullied because they don’t conform to norms around gender and sexual binaries.

Throughout 9 November, Nazra will launch tools for discussion online, including a video which explores the impacts of bullying on mental health from the perspectives of psychosocial support workers; a set of short comics and infographics on various kinds of bullying and their impacts; and a series of blog posts by people who’ve experienced bullying exploring resilience and resistance.

Catch it all by following Nazra on Facebook: www.facebook.com/Nazra.for.Feminist.Studies/ and Twitter: twitter.com/NazraEgypt

* * * * *

Mesahat Foundation for Sexual and Gender Diversity joins the campaign with two posters, to celebrate “the resistance of bodies against the state’s entrapment and arrest of transwomen, queer men and queer sex workers,we stand against social prosecution of queer women and the exclusion of the LGBTQI+ in Egypt and Sudan.” #OurBodies_OurResistance

_________________________________________

MALAYSIA

Women’s Aid Organisation (WAO) joins ODOS 2018 to amplify the call of the on-going national level campaign in Malaysia to end child marriage, which will culminate on 13 November 2018 with national advocates delivering citizen petitions against child marriage to the parliament.

For ODOS, keep an eye on WAO’s social media–Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/womens.aid.org/ and Twitter: https://twitter.com/womensaidorg–and share/RT to help build momentum for the national action on 13 November.

_________________________________________

TUNISIA

L’Association Tunisienne des Femmes Democrates (ATFD) is hosting a national coalition workshop from 3-6pm at the Golden Tulip Hotel in Tunis, to strategize around the Tunisian’ state’s disengagement from providing safe, accessible and affordable sexual and reproductive care.

Bringing together over 12 national level organizations, the conversation will explore what a citizen’s initiative can look like to promote & ensure the state meet’s its responsibilities and obligations on sexual & reproductive health care across Tunisia.

Collaborating civil society groups include: Groupe Tawhida, Association des Femmes Tunisiennes pour la Recherche et le Développement (AFTURD), Association BEITY, Association de Défense des Libertés Individuelles (ADLI), Ligue Tunisienne des Droits de l’Homme (LTDH), Association Tunisienne de Santé de la Reproduction (ATSR), Association Tunisienne de Lutte contre les Maladies Sexuellement Transmissibles et le Sida (ATL/MST/SIDA Tunis), Association de Prévention Positive (ATP+), Mawjoudin, Association Damj pour la justice et l’égalité, Association Tunisienne de Défense du Droit à la Santé (ATDDS), NESS, and CHOUF.

Follow updates live from Tunisia via ATFD’s Facebook page for the campaign, ‘Un Jour, Un Combat’: https://www.facebook.com/Un-Jour-Un-Combat-996099703765811 and the ODOS 2018 event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/285712255484481.

_________________________________________

PAKISTAN

VISION is holding a discussion on the Transgender Persons (Protections of Rights) Act and its implementation, in conversation with members of the judiciary in Pakistan.

* * * * *

Forum for Dignity Initiatives (FDI) is launching a campaign to raise awareness about the need for women, girls’ and trans people’s access to safe & clean public toilets in Pakistan.

* * * * *

HOPE–Have Only Positive Expectations—is launching a blog piece about the importance of community organizing and creating safe spaces for marginalized communities. HOPE works to create safer spaces for trans men and LBQ women in Pakistan, using both virtual private spaces and physical places to get together, explore peer support and counseling, and build community.

_________________________________________

PHILIPPINES

PILIPINA Legal Resources Center (PLRC) builds upon 5 years of actions through ODOS to move forward the national level Anti-Discrimination legislation, with a round-table discussion to develop policy recommendations by women leaders in Davao City.

The Comprehensive Anti-Discrimination Bill (Senate Bill 948) seeks to penalize discriminatory practices based on age, racial or ethnic origin, religious belief or activity, political inclination or conviction, social class, sex, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity and expressions, marital or relationship status, disability, HIV status, health status or medical history, language, physical features, or other status.

* * * * *

Stay tuned by following us on social media as the campaign actions and events unfold on 9 November 2018!

CSBR on Facebook: facebook.com/CSBRonline , CSBR on Twitter: twitter.com/SexBodyRights

As always, our greatest appreciation to the efforts of the organizers and participants of the campaign!