– As VP Taylor Calls For Collective Efforts
By: Leila B. Gbati
The Vice President of Liberia, Chief Dr. Jewel Howard-Taylor, has sent out a clarion call to every Liberian that the issues of sexual, reproductive health and rights (SRHR) are not the work of one person.
VP Taylor made the call on Friday, May 26, 2023, when she spoke at the opening of Liberia’s first conference on Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) held at the Ministerial Complex in Congo Town.
The SRHR Conference, which started on May 26, 2023, and ended on May 28, 2023, brought together 400 delegates, including adolescent girls and boys, men and women, persons with disabilities, sexual minorities, and other groups from rural and urban Liberia. The conference was organized by the Amplifying Rights Network (ARN), a coalition of ten (10) civil society organizations from diverse backgrounds.
The three-day conference brought together SRHR actors and rights groups to discuss and build consensus for the critical need for access to comprehensive sexuality education and other age-responsive sexual reproductive health (SRH) practices and influence SRH practices with evidence-based and human rights-based approaches for improved access to reproductive health commodities.
However, VP Taylor said in his remarks that the conference has marked SRHR as an important issue that has come to the forefront.
VP Taylor emphasized that there is still much more that needs to be done to address the issues of SRHR across Liberia.
She thanked all partners, local and international, and members of the Diplomatic Corps for continuing to secure the voice over the past years so that access and opportunities and the fact that SRHR is now a human rights organization should be looked at in their critical view.
“In Liberia and all over the world, the Ministry of Gender, Ministry of Health, and partners have been gearing toward a comprehensive investment in gender equality, which is critical to sexual reproductive health and rights, and all other issues like sanitary pads, how girls stay in school while on their period, and everything else that helps enhance the lives of humans. On the other side, if those things are not handled, then we continue to stay under the red line,”, VP Taylor added.
“I want to send out a clearer call to every Liberian that SRHR is not a work for one person. I think the more you are involved, the better it is because there are thousands of girls across this country. If we say that education is important and that girls and young people should follow and do the right thing and not have children early, then we have to look at other resulting processes. The purpose of education is not the race to the end, but education keeps you away from power theft and violence and secures the next generation, so anything that will keep our young people in the circle of violence and doing something over actually affects the productivity of our country,” she stated.
She also noted that the reproductive life circle of young people must be a priority for all, emphasizing that the government of Liberia remains committed to working to ensure that all barriers, legal and social, are removed so that the people of Liberia, regardless of their age, can exercise their fullest rights.
The Vice President of Liberia further said that the GOL in 2019 made a commitment to the ICPD 25 in Nairobi, pledging to create access to family planning services and ensure that sexual reproductive rights and everything accompanying them are more available.
She used the medium to congratulate all partners, stakeholders, the government, and the young people for hosting the conference.
For her part, Dr. Tlaleng Mofokeng, UN Special Rapporteur on Rights and Health, said in a keynote address that SRHR enables us to also realize other human rights.
Dr. Mofokeng indicated that there are many obstacles in the way of us realizing SRHR, and these obstacles are interrelated and operate at many different levels, including healthcare when you are trying to get services.
She highlighted that the right to health is an inclusive right that extends not only to appropriate healthcare but also to the treatment of health, and some of the amazing campaigns she has been following over the years raise the point that the right to health is an enabling right, including access to safe water and sanitation.
“Sexual health information, including reproductive health, is key. Sexual and reproductive health is not a woman’s only issue. The right to health gives you freedom and entitlement, and one of the most fundamental freedoms is to ensure one’s own health. You determine what you want in your body and what you don’t want. It also includes the right to be free from non-conceptual context. Your entitlement to the right to health means that you have a right to accessible health protection, which means healthcare, but also underlines the different kinds of health”, Dr. Mofokeng stated.
She asserted that young people, adolescents, girls, boys, women, and men have the right to express themselves in all ways relating to their health and sexuality and to access free and confidential sexual reproductive health services, information, and education both online and in person.
“We must access health services that are comprehensive and holistic”, she said.
In a remark, Madam Aminata Kamara-Sneh from RFSU said the conference took place at a very strategic moment where they needed to come together as a community of advocates to ensure that SRHR was central to their advocacy for human rights and gender equality.
Madam Sneh stated that, though there has been some progress on SRHR, the pace remains far too slow. As such, SRHR must be maintained in Liberia to address the structural causes of discrimination and marginalization, leaving women, adolescents, people with disabilities, and people with different sexual orientations, gender identities, expressions, and sex characteristics (SOGIESC) disproportionately affected.
She noted that RFSU has worked at the Human Rights Council for a long time, actively engaged in the promotion of SRHR under two main premises.
“We need to strengthen health systems, and we need comprehensive sexuality education, gender-responsive healthcare, and rights-based healthcare, but we also need to improve the legal and justice systems, the education system, the political, labor market, and financial systems to deliver for those disproportionately affected”, she said.
Giving an overview of the conference, Madam Naomi Tulay-Solanke said that SRHR is the bedrock for growth and prosperity for all individuals, societies, and countries that invest in people’s rights and choices and promote well-being, wealth, and sustainable development.
Madam Solanke mentioned that though Liberia has made some progress around maternal mortality, girls’ education and improved access to contraception, the pace remain too slow while the government current efforts include a reduction in maternal and infant mortality, prevention of sexual and gender-based violence and teenage pregnancy has undertaken actions towards reviewing the public health law to address gaps, improving gender-responsive budgeting to support improved public financing for healthcare and most Liberians target groups for intervention still lack sufficient access to information, comprehensive sexuality education and gender-responsive services and inclusive policies, laws and commodities to enable people take control over their lives and opportunities.
She said Liberia, with a very young population of over 60% below age 35, is experiencing widespread barriers in accessing gender-responsive sexual and reproductive healthcare against structural-developmental gaps in education, healthcare, public housing, transportation systems, water, and sanitation, as well as limited economic opportunities, which have manifested in the continuous high prevalence of early pregnancies, low contraception usage, SGBV, and high maternal mortality rates.
She articulated that the national conference on SRHR in Liberia, the first of its kind, is a joint effort with Amplifying Rights Network (ARN), the Swedish Association for Sexuality Education (RFSU), and other SRHR actors in Liberia such as Kvinna till Kvinna, the Clinton Health Access Initiative, ActionAid Liberia, WaterAid, UNFPA, and many other partners as a notable and symbolic call to action to the need to center SRHR as a critical priority for accelerating progress for a prosperous Liberian society where everyone can exercise autonomy of their bodies, make informed decisions, and enjoy full equality.
She said the conference is a space for jointly promoting and popularizing SRHR and reflecting on solutions and best practices to SRHR challenges, supporting practitioners, development partners, service providers, civil society, and other state and non-state actors to engage in robust discussions and strategies to advance knowledge of SRHR, amongst other things.
Amplifying Rights Network (ARN) was formed in 2022 in partnership with RFSU with support from the Swedish Embassy. ARN comprises ten diverse community-based and national SRHR actors in Liberia. Community Healthcare Initiative; West Point Women for Health and Development; Youth Alive Liberia; PAYOWI, RWRS, CoSARL, LIPRIDE; Inclusive Development Initiative; NHR Advocacy Platform; Women in Media and Development
ARN aims to contribute to advancing SRHR and promote social justice through evidence-based advocacy and accountability by a diverse group of experts and rights holders with the vision to achieve SRHR for all Liberians.
The conference was well attended by officials of government, including the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Gender, Embassy of Sweden, DKT, CHAI, UN Women, INCHR, and OHCHR.
