On August 3, 2011, the United Nations General Assembly received the interim report prepared by Anand Grover, the Special Rapporteur of the Human Rights Council on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, in accordance with Human Rights Council resolutions 15/22 and 6/29.

The interim report of the Special Rapporteur, entitled “The human right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health,” addresses international human rights law and the right to sexual and reproductive health as well as the impact of criminal laws and other legal restrictions on sexual and reproductive health, with an emphasis on the practice of abortion. The Special Rapporteur also considers conduct during pregnancy, contraception and family planning and the provision of sexual and reproductive education and information. The report specifically indicates that “some criminal and other legal restrictions in each of those areas, which are often discriminatory in nature, violate the right to health by restricting access to quality goods, services and information. They infringe human dignity by restricting the freedoms to which individuals are entitled under the right to health, particularly in respect of decision-making and bodily integrity.”

Furthermore, the report adds: “Realization of the right to health requires the removal of barriers that interfere with individual decision-making on health-related issues and with access to health services, education and information, in particular on health conditions that only affect women and girls. In cases where a barrier is created by a criminal law or other legal restriction, it is the obligation of the State to remove it” (emphasis added). Therefore, in its recommendations, the report maintains that States can and should take the necessary measures ensure full enjoyment of the right to health by all, without for the exception, and ensure that no barriers, such as those indicated above, hinder the full and effective exercise of this right.

The undersigned networks, coalitions, groups and organizations – historically committed to an agenda that promotes and defends the right to health as a human right and as a social good for all women, free from discrimination based on age, socio-economic status, race or ethnicity, sexual orientation or gender identity, religious belief, place of residence, disability, health status or any other characteristic – enthusiastically and wholeheartedly applaud the spirit of this document, which is the result of efforts by high-level experts, developed with complete independence from any government or religious or ideological position.

As a result, we embrace this report as an indispensable tool for political action and citizen monitoring efforts, with which to challenge the governments of Latin American and Caribbean, demanding that they ensure the best possible conditions for the exercise of the right to health with dignity and integrity, free from all forms of violence, coercion or discrimination.

And finally, we draw attention to the fact that at the presentation of this report only the Argentinean delegation to the UN expressed active support for its content, including the content on abortion and the recommendations calling for the revision of laws that criminalize the interruption of pregnancy, while the rest of the Latin American and Caribbean delegations failed to express their support and some even rejected the recommendations on this particular issue, demonstrating their unwillingness to recognize the critical and urgent needs of women in terms of of sexual and reproductive autonomy and voluntary motherhood.

These reactions clearly demonstrate that even in the 21st century, the women’s right to comprehensive health care, especially for women who are poor, adolescent, indigenous, of African descent, of different sexual identities, immigrants, residents of rural areas, HIV +, displaced, victims of violence, etc., these women are still overlooked in the hot national and regional debates of today and in public policymaking in our countries, which must not fail to guarantee women's human rights and fundamental freedoms.

Santiago, Chile, November 2011

Latin American and Caribbean Women’s Health Network (LACWHN)
Alianza Nacional, Bolivia
Alianza Nacional por el Derecho a Decidir, Mexico
Área de Géneros de Apostasía Colectiva, Argentina
Articulación Feminista Marcosur
Articulación Feminista por la Libertad de Decidir, Chile
Articulação de Mulheres Brasileiras (AMB), Brazil
Asociación de Mujeres de Jalapa contra la violencia, Oyanka, Mexico
Asociación Milenia Comunicaciones, Peru
Balance, Promoción para el Desarrollo y Juventud, Mexico
Base Educativa y Comunitaria de Apoyo (BECA), Paraguay
Campaña 28 de Septiembre por la Despenalización del Aborto en América Latina y el Caribe
Campaña 28 de Septiembre por la Despenalización del Aborto, Santa Cruz, Bolivia
Campaña 28 de Septiembre por la Despenalización del Aborto, Punto Focal Nicaragua
Campaña 28 de Septiembre por la Despenalización del Aborto, Punto Focal Chile
Campaña Nacional por el Derecho al aborto legal, seguro y gratuito, Argentina
Campaña por una Convención Interamericana de los Derechos Sexuales y Derechos Reproductivos
Católicas pelo Direito de Decidir, Brazil
Católicas por el Derecho a Decidir, Bolivia
Católicas por el Derecho a Decidir, Chile
Centro de la Mujer Peruana “Flora Tristán”, Peru
Centro de Investigación para la Acción Femenina (CIPAF), Dominican Republic
Centro Ecuatoriano para la Promoción y Acción de la Mujer (CEPAM), Guayaquil, Ecuador
CLADEM Regional
CLADEM, Argentina
CLADEM, Honduras
Colectiva feminista Comunas, Argentina
Colectiva Mujer y Salud, Dominican Republic
Colectiva Mujeres Libres, Equipo de Redes Sociales & Comunicaciones, Peru
Coletivo Feminino Plural, Brazil
Colectivo Cons-pirando, Chile
Colectivo Feminista Mujeres Universitarias, Honduras
Colectivo Juvenil “DECIDE”, Bolivia
Comité de Servicio Chileno (COSECH), Chile
Comunicación, Intercambio y Desarrollo Humano para América Latina A. C. (CIDHAL), Mexico
Consorcio para el Diálogo Parlamentario y la Equidad A.C., Mexico
Coordinación de Mujeres del Paraguay (CMP)
Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era (DAWN), Global Secretariat, Manila, Philippines
Diálogos Feministas, Bolivia
Educación Popular en Salud (EPES), Chile
El Closet de Sor Juana, Mexico
Equidad de Género, Ciudadanía, Trabajo y Familia, Mexico
Equifonia, Colectivo por la Ciudadanía, Autonomía y Libertad de
las Mujeres, Mexico
Federación Argentina de Lesbianas, Gays, Bisexuales y Trans
Feministas en Resistencia, Honduras
Feministas Feas, Chile
Foro de Mujeres y Políticas de Población, Mexico
Foro de Mujeres por la Igualdad de Oportunidades, Salta, Argentina
Foro Red de Salud y Derechos Sexuales y Reproductivos, Chile
Fundación Arcoiris por el respeto a la diversidad sexual, Mexico
Fundación La Paz, Bolivia
Fundacion Oriéntame, Colombia
Fundación para el Estudio e Investigación de la Mujer (FEIM), Argentina
Gestos- HIV, Comunicação e Genero, Brazil
Ideas sin Género (ISIG), Chile
Infinitas, Asociación Civil, Córdoba, Argentina
INSGENAR, Instituto de Género, Derecho y Desarrollo, Rosario, Argentina
Instituto de la Mujer, Chile
International AIDS Women's Caucus (IAWC)
International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, Latin American and Caribbean Region (IGLHRC-LAC)
International Lesbian and Gay Association, Latin American and Caribbean Region (ILGA-LAC)
International Planned Parenthood Federation, Western Hemisphere Region (IPPF/WHR)
Ipas
Ipas Bolivia
Isis Internacional, Chile
Jóvenes por la elección y el Placer, Argentina
Kolektiva Rebeldías Lésbicas, Peru
La Ciudad de las Diosas, Chile
Las Juanas y las otras, Colectiva Feminista, Mendoza, Argentina
Liga Humanista Secular do Brasil
Mesa de Concertación LTGB y TS de Lima, Peru
Mesa por la Vida y la Salud de las Mujeres, Colombia
Movimiento pro Emancipación de la Mujer Chilena (MEMCH), Chile
Mujer y Salud en Uruguay (MYSU)
Mujeres en Resistencia, Guatemala
Multisectorial de Mujeres de Santa Fe, Argentina
Núcleo de Género y Sociedad Julieta Kirkwood, Departamento de Sociología, Universidad de Chile
Observatorio de Sexualidad y Política, Brazil
Observatorio de Equidad de Género en Salud, Chile
Red Chilena contra la Violencia Doméstica y Sexual, Chile
Red de Educación Popular entre Mujeres para América Latina y el Caribe (REPEM)
Red Dominicana por la Salud de las Mujeres, Dominican Republic
Red Latinoamericana de Católicas por el Derecho a Decidir
Red Mujer y Hábitat de América Latina
Red Nacional de Mujeres, Colombia
Rede Feminista de Saúde, Direitos Sexuais e Direitos Reprodutivos, Brazil
SI MUJER, Nicaragua
SI Mujer, Cali, Colombia
Solidarité Fanm Ayisyen (SOFA), Haiti
Tierra Viva, Guatemala
Women's Global Network for Reproductive Rights (WGNRR)

Individual Signatories:

Susana Lerner, Argentina
Mario Pecheny (Grupo de Estudios sobre Sexualidades, Instituto Gino Germani, Universidad de Buenos Aires y CONICET), Argentina
Alejandra Pérez Scalzi, abogada y profesora Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Argentina
Soledad Cutuli, Antropóloga FFyL-UBA, Argentina
Elizabeth Jelin, Argentina
Irene Ernest Dias, Brazil
Susana Lerner, Argentina
Lupe Camino Diez Canseco, Argentina
Viviana Della Siega, Argentina
Joana Nunes, Brazil