Copyright She Decides Five years after the successful international She Decides conference, launched in response to the reinstatement of the Global Gag Rule (GGR) under former US President Donald Trump, Belgium and the She Decides Support Unit reconvened sexual and reproductive health and rights advocates from around the world in Brussels, 19-20th May.
The conference allowed to take stock of the international developments regarding SRHR and look forward at the challenges ahead. The, at the time, still pending overturn of Roe v. Wade – which had granted US citizens a federal right to abortion since 1973 – cast a shadow over the many positive developments since January 2017, such as the MeToo movement, Biden’s administration’s decision to rescind the GGR and the ‘green wave’ of abortion rights’ activism in Argentina.
New DGD Executive Director Heidy Rombouts, who opened the conference, made it clear that such a reversal of women’s rights is like a “recession being joined by a she-cession” and emphasised the importance of women’s autonomy, pleasure and their right to live free from any kind of violence. Rombouts, Belgian Prime Minister De Croo and Minister of Development Cooperation Meryame Kitir all reiterated Belgium’s strong support for the promotion of sexual and reproductive health and rights worldwide. Minister Kitir expressed particular concern with the lack of attention for SRHR in humanitarian crises, pointing at the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the armed conflicts in Ukraine, DRC and Tigray on the SRHR of women and girls. Rombouts clearly stated that “'Belgium is strongly committed to political, financial, programmatic and advocacy support for SRHR”.
The conference gathered UN agencies, heads of state, implementing agencies and civil society activists and focused particularly on the themes of abortion, comprehensive sexuality education and ways forward in holding governments accountable for their international SRHR commitments at the 2019 Nairobi Summit and the 2021 Generation Equality Forum. Sensoa International took part in the exchanges.
New DGD Executive Director Heidy Rombouts, who opened the conference, made it clear that such a reversal of women’s rights is like a “recession being joined by a she-cession” and emphasised the importance of women’s autonomy, pleasure and their right to live free from any kind of violence. Rombouts, Belgian Prime Minister De Croo and Minister of Development Cooperation Meryame Kitir all reiterated Belgium’s strong support for the promotion of sexual and reproductive health and rights worldwide. Minister Kitir expressed particular concern with the lack of attention for SRHR in humanitarian crises, pointing at the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the armed conflicts in Ukraine, DRC and Tigray on the SRHR of women and girls. Rombouts clearly stated that “'Belgium is strongly committed to political, financial, programmatic and advocacy support for SRHR”.
The conference gathered UN agencies, heads of state, implementing agencies and civil society activists and focused particularly on the themes of abortion, comprehensive sexuality education and ways forward in holding governments accountable for their international SRHR commitments at the 2019 Nairobi Summit and the 2021 Generation Equality Forum. Sensoa International took part in the exchanges.
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