News

The United Nation’s Human Rights Council (HRC) is meeting in Geneva this week for its 38th regular session, where Rutgers is showcasing its Prevention+ programme with partners, on what engaging men and boys in violence prevention looks like in practice.

Across the Prevention+ programme, we engage men and women to end the cycle of gender-based violence (GBV). Fathers can play an important part in that process. We see this in rural Uganda, where 61% of women experience GBV. Our partner Reproductive Health Uganda (RHU) engages fathers in positive parenting trainings and encourages them to support women’s economic empowerment. Sharing the realities of family life together, helps change attitudes these men may have and ultimately strengthens gender-equal parenting.

After long negotiations, the 51st Commission on Population and Development unfortunately ended without the adoption of a resolution. The 2018 edition, which took place from April 9 to 13 in New York, focused on urbanisation and international migration. Member States tried their best to close the gaps in views on migration and SRHR – which were the most contentious topics during this year’s debates.

New research in Rwanda reveals engaging men as they become fathers helps to transform male attitudes towards women, reduce gender-based violence (GBV) and increase time spent on unpaid care work. These promising results come two years after the MenCare+ programme, the precursor of Rutgers’ current Prevention+ programme that engages men and boys to end GBV.

Explore4Action is a pioneering research programme, exploring how adolescents experience ‘growing up’ at three locations in Indonesia (Sumatra, Bali and Java) and what can support their positive and healthy sexual development. These important insights will be used to make the case for better services and health education. Young people will be at the forefront of the research and play a central role in the advocacy for better services and health education.

In the Netherlands young people these days start to have sex later, according to the research ‘Sex under 25’ carried out in 2017. Recent qualitative research by Rutgers among young people showed that social media in many ways plays an important role. The fact that the legal drinking age was raised in the Netherlands is also of influence. It appears that young people also attach great importance to the experience of first-time sex, and would rather experience this within a relationship.

UN member states will be meeting in New York between 9-13 April to evaluate the extent to which they have realised the agenda of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD). It will be the 51st gathering of the Commission on Population and Development (CPD). This year’s theme focuses on urbanisation and international migration, and will include discussions on sexual and reproductive rights of marginalised groups in slums, as well as of migrants and refugees.

Rutgers joins over 200 global human and women's rights groups today in voicing its deep concern about the further restriction of women’s reproductive rights in Poland. The organisations call on members of the Polish parliament to listen to the voices of women across Poland and not to adopt the new “Stop Abortion” bill. This draft bill further limits the already restricted grounds on which women can legally access abortion in Poland, endangering lives and violating human rights obligations.

The 62nd Commission on the Status of Women is about to start at the United Nations in New York. Member state delegates will come together at this annual conference to evaluate the progress made regarding women’s rights and gender equality, to identify challenges, to agree on global norms and to formulate specific policies to promote gender equality and the position of women across the globe.

Sexual and reproductive health and rights are increasingly under pressure. More than 214 million women need contraceptives but do not have access to contraception of their choice. 39% of pregnancies in developing countries are unintended. The unmet need for contraception leads to negative health consequences for women and girls and has a devastating effect on educational and economic opportunities for women and girls worldwide.