This report is the result of a five-month consultation with activists, CSOs, researchers and survivors of FGM/C from across the Asia region. Activists and stakeholders have called for greater political will to end FGM/C, including legislation and its implementation and enforcement, as well as broad awareness raising, direct work with affected communities, and work to […]

The ICPD PoA acknowledges that adolescents have sexual and reproductive health (SHR) needs that must be addressed. It urges the governments to address adolescent SRH issues, including unwanted pregnancy, unsafe abortion and sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV/AIDS, through the promotion of responsible and healthy reproductive and sexual behaviour, including voluntary abstinence, and the provision of […]

On 21-23 March,  youth advocates and youth-serving organisations from the region convened in Bangkok for the Pre-APFSD 2019 Youth Forum, which continues the discussion from last year’s Youth Forum, focusing on the implementation of the Agenda 2030 in Asia-Pacific. This call to action echoes the voices, concerns and demands which were discussed over three days. […]

Sexuality is a central aspect of young people’s lives, and yet it largely remains taboo. At the same time, sexuality is very much political and beyond the personal, and sexuality intersects with various aspects of our lives, whether at school, at work, and at the policy level. Multiple intersecting factors are influenced by and influence […]

The current paper explores the concept of “Bodily Integrity” for young Egyptian women and men primarily within the family system and the effect of religious fundamentalism and social conservatism discourse that seeks to limit the control of young women and men over their bodies and rarely hold parents accountable for harmful practices. Due to traditional […]

Agenda 2030 and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) opens the door for sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) agenda to move forward on the global stage; in line with recent developments, this edition provides an up-to-date primer on universal access to Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) and universality of Sexual and Reproductive Rights (SRR); […]

The world is seeing a resurgence of religious extremism at national, regional, and global levels, which renews the threat to many of the rights that would be achieved and concretised such as equality of women, of citizens who belong to ethnic and religious minorities, and of sexual minorities. Amid this troubling development, ARROW has published […]

This study explores the barriers and impediments that women and girls in Bangladesh are facing that make it difficult for sexual and reproductive rights (SRR) to be realized. While the country mandates inclusion of curricula on sexuality and reproductive health (SRH) in formal and non-formal education sectors, the matter is generally weakly addressed, resulting in […]

This policy brief aims to provide an overview of the situation of sexual and reproductive rights (SRR) within Maldives and to give recommendations to relevant stakeholders based on the findings of this brief. The brief uses key indicators mentioned in the Asian-Pacific Resource and Research Center for Women (ARROW)’s publication “An Advocates’ Guide: Strategic Indicators […]

This country report looks at the state of Vietnam, the world’s 14th-most-populous country, which has one of the most progressive legal framework in the region when it comes to sexual and reproductive rights (SRR). Aside from being among the first to sign the International Conference of Population and Development (ICPD) Programme of Action in 1994 […]