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| Ipas Bolivia's Malena Morales hands out information on the importance of speaking out against sexual violence at a public march on Nov. 25. |
| Ipas Bolivia |
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Ipas Central America joined a crowd marching in the streets of Nicaragua’s capital, Managua, on Nov. 25 to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. And on the same day in Bolivia’s capital, La Paz, more than a thousand people—including Ipas Bolivia team members—marched against gender-based violence.
Raising awareness about sexual and reproductive rights as fundamental human rights is part of Ipas’s ongoing work in Latin America:
- On Nov. 25, while taking part in the march in La Paz, Ipas Bolivia handed out information about the importance of speaking out against sexual violence. That day women’s rights advocates across Bolivia were encouraged when two proposed laws to protect women from violence were formally presented before Bolivia’s vice president and senior government officials. Recognizing the need to curb gender-based violence, Bolivian President Evo Morales declared Nov. 25 as the “National Day Against All Forms of Violence toward Women.”
- Ipas Central America published a landmark report in October reviewing the existing laws and further opportunities to protect sexual violence victims in four Central American countries.
- Ipas representatives testified alongside other women’s rights groups on Oct. 24 to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights about the dire need for Nicaragua to bolster its legal protection and treatment of sexual violence victims.
- Ipas Mexico’s director recently spoke to the National Meeting of Hospital Directors on the importance of reducing maternal mortality to guarantee all Mexican women their right to health.
During the last week in November and first week in December, advocates around the world staged public-awareness events spotlighting violence against women as a violation of human rights. The 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence is an international campaign that begins on Nov. 25 with the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women and ends on Dec. 10, International Human Rights Day, thereby symbolically linking violence against women and human rights.
Ipas has long worked in Latin America and globally to make clear the inextricable connection between sexual violence and human rights. In Central America, Ipas works to integrate sexual and reproductive health and rights into university curricula and the professional training programs for nurses and doctors. A boon for reproductive rights advocates came in October when the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health called on U.N. member states to eliminate laws that create barriers to sexual and reproductive health. Specifically, the report calls on governments to decriminalize abortion and to ensure access to legal health services.
For more information, contact media@ipas.org