Rights and Empowerment Principles for Family Planning
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
TRANSPARENCY AND ACCOUNTABILITY Individuals can readily access meaningful information on the design, provision, implementation and evaluation of contraceptive services, programs and policies, including government data. Individuals are entitled to seek remedies and redress at the individual and systems level when duty-bearers have not fulfilled their obligations regarding contraceptive FAMILY PLANNING 2020: information, services and supplies.9 Policy and Programming: Measurement: Markets: RIGHTS AND EMPOWERMENT Ensure national family planning Incorporate indicators into monitoring Identify potential accountability and strategies and plans include that reflect the community and redress mechanisms, which might be accountability and redress mechanisms, service users’ point of view regarding applicable in the contraceptive delivery PRINCIPLES FOR including monitoring and evaluation, availability, accessibility, acceptability, space, including those in the private which are in place and functioning and quality of information and services, sector. Where these mechanisms already regarding the provision of contraceptive as well as awareness of their rights, exist, ensure that they are effectively FAMILY PLANNING information, services and supplies. entitlements, and mechanisms available implemented and enforced. Functioning monitoring and for them to have input and seek redress. accountability mechanisms should integrate community input and share findings with all relevant stakeholders, The fundamental right of individuals to decide, freely The rights principles outlined in this document must including beneficiaries. and for themselves, whether, when, and how many be realized in order to reach and sustain goals for children to have is central to the vision and goals of meeting contraceptive needs. These rights principles VOICE AND PARTICIPATION Family Planning 2020 (FP2020). The international are informed by and build upon existing human rights community has agreed that the right to health principles and resources that seek to integrate rights- Individuals, particularly beneficiaries, have the ability to meaningfully participate in the design, provision, implementation, and evaluation of contraceptive services, programs and policies.10 includes the right to control one’s health and body, based approaches specifically for family planning into including sexual and reproductive freedom. 1 However, programming. Ensuring that human rights principles Policy and Programming: Markets: more remains to be done to ensure that human rights are at the center of family planning policies, programs, Ensure the meaningful participation of Identify potential accountability are in fact treated as the cornerstone of any family measurement and contraceptive markets represents diverse stakeholders in the formulation and ensure that manufacturers and planning effort: from global initiatives to national some of our most challenging work. However, as a of policy, and in the design, delivery and distributors of contraceptives seek oversight of programs, including women and incorporate diverse consumer programs to community-based projects. global initiative, FP2020 recognizes that investing and adolescents, poor, vulnerable perspectives in their planning and in human rights is critical to growing sustainable, and marginalized populations as part market strategies. In order to ensure that FP2020 and its mechanisms equitable and effective programs with lasting impact. of a supportive policy and program embody and espouse the ideals grounded in existing environment. rights agreements and frameworks, the Rights By securing and fulfilling the rights of an additional and Empowerment Working Group (RE WG) has 120 million women and girls to access family planning established a common understanding of rights information and services by the year 2020, FP2020 9. Center for Reproductive Rights and UNFPA. Briefing 10. United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). Paper: The Right to Contraceptive Information and Programme of Action of the International principles as they relate to ten dimensions of efforts will result in fewer unintended pregnancies, Services for Women and Adolescents. New York: Conference on Population and Develop- Center for Reproductive Rights, 2010. ment. New York: UNFPA, 1994. family planning: fewer women and girls dying in pregnancy and childbirth, including from unsafe abortions, and • Agency and autonomy fewer infant deaths. Moving this agenda forward will • Availability rely on fostering meaningful partnerships among • Accessibility governments, civil society, the private sector and This product was conceptualized and developed by FP2020’s Rights & Empowerment Working • Acceptability beneficiaries. Rights violations must be brought Group and informed by input from members of the FP2020 Country Engagement, Performance • Quality to light and addressed when they occur. Yet equal Monitoring & Accountability and Market Dynamics Working Groups. In particular, this product • Empowerment attention needs to be paid to empowering and benefited from the leadership of Suzanne Ehlers and Kim Ocheltree of Population Action International • Equity and non-discrimination informing clients so they know, understand, claim their and contributions by: Muhammad Aslam, Bayer Healthcare; E. Tyler Crone, ATHENA Network; • Informed choice rights, and can become pivotal partners in ensuring Rodio Diallo, Population Services International; Christine Galavotti, CARE; Krishna Jafa, Population • Transparency and accountability the realization of rights in future family planning and Services International; James Kityo, International HIV/AIDS Alliance; Karen Newman, Population • Voice and participation health development initiatives. and Sustainability Network; Grethe Petersen, Marie Stopes International; Sara Seims, Senior Fellow, David and Lucile Packard Foundation; Sivananthi Thanenthiran, ARROW; John Townsend, Population 1. United Nations. Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. General Council; Ravi Verma, International Center for Research on Women; and the FP2020 Secretariat. Comment No. 14 on Article 12 of International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. New York: United Nations, 2000. CORE PARTNERS WWW.FAMILYPLANNING2020.ORG WWW.FAMILYPLANNING2020.ORG @FP2020GLOBAL @FP2020GLOBAL AGENCY AND AUTONOMY EMPOWERMENT Individuals have the ability to decide freely the number and spacing of their children.2 To exercise this ability, individuals Individuals are empowered as principle actors and agents to make decisions about their reproductive lives, and can execute must be able to choose a contraceptive method voluntarily, free of discrimination, coercion or violence. these decisions through access to contraceptive information, services and supplies. Policy and Programming: Measurement: Policy and Programming: Measurement: Markets: Implement national and subnational Develop better measures to capture the National and subnational family planning Conduct periodic collection and analysis Ensure that marketing strategies as family planning plans and programs to right to reproductive self–determination, plans and programs ensure contraceptive of community–based data designed to well as product and service promotion ensure that women and girls can access including indicators that touch use or non–use as a right that contributes capture changing perceptions of and generate awareness of and promote and use contraceptive methods of their on community norms and service to empowerment and gender equity, not barriers to women’s and girls’ ability women’s and girls’ right to access the choice without third-party authorization providers’ attitudes around reproductive simply a high–impact health intervention to access contraceptive services. contraceptive services, information (e.g. spousal consent, parental consent, autonomy, as well as women’s and or contributor to other development and supplies of their choice. religious leaders or other persons) girls’ awareness and confidence in their goals. These policies, plans and programs or other restrictions based on age, ability to access and use family planning. should also acknowledge and prioritize ethnicity, marital or other status. Such indicators may require special where appropriate interventions beyond investments such as special studies, the health sector that enable women to in-depth monitoring, and collection exercise reproductive decision–making and analysis of qualitative indicators to (e.g. life skills, comprehensive sexuality support quantitative measures. education, girls’ education, creation of employment opportunities for women, etc.). AVAILABILITY Health care facilities, trained providers and contraceptive methods are available to ensure that individuals can exercise full choice from a full range of contraceptive methods (barrier, short-acting, long-acting reversible, permanent and emergency EQUITY AND NON-DISCRIMINATION contraception). Availability of services includes follow-up and removal services for implants and IUDs. Individuals have the ability to access quality, comprehensive contraceptive information and services free from discrimination, coercion and violence.6 Quality, accessibility, and availability of contraceptive information and services should not vary by non-medically indicated characteristics, such as age, geographic location, language, ethnicity, disability, HIV status, sexual ACCESSIBILITY orientation, wealth, marital or other status. Health care facilities, trained providers and contraceptive