intersectionalities

climate change

ARROW has recognized that as the world continues to experience incremental yet unpredictable climate change, the inter-linkages with sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) is an emerging issue that needs to be addressed in the context of sustainable development. The links between SRH and climate change are complex and indirect, and yet there is a resurgence of the population discourse that attempts to make simplistic connections between climate change and population growth.

food security, food sovereignty, nutrition

We have published resources that explore the interlinkages of SRHR with food security, right to food, and food sovereignty. We have also brought together representatives of various organisations and networks working on poverty, food sovereignty, food security, women’s rights, gender justice, and SRHR issues in and across Asia.

migration

Migrant workers are in a unique, but difficult position. They are expected to adhere to the cultural norms, practices and values of their state origin, even as they are ensconced in the realities of their adopted environment. Straddling a transnational existence also means simultaneously maintaining social, emotional and sexual relations in both locations. We recognize that this has implications on their sexual and reproductive health and implies the necessity for them to navigate the boundaries of a temporary existence and remote location vis-à-vis their bodily desires, behavioural intentions and subsequent actions.

religious fundamentalism

ARROW, together with our national partners located in the Global South, is committed to addressing the growing influence of religious fundamentalism, and fundamentalist thinking and organising on the dimensions of the SRHR agenda in the Global South. We call on all governments to remove legal and policy barriers based in political, religious and cultural conservatism and make available universal access to SRHR services for all.

conflict

Some are the result of struggles for self-determination and for recognition of rights of minorities, while others are struggles over control of land and natural resources. Many states also confront internal conflicts and communal riots. In such an environment there is a climate in which growing numbers of people find themselves stripped of their rights. These include their SRHR.

disasters

According to the World Disaster Report 2009, 40.5% of global disasters between 1999 and 2008 occurred in Asia, and 84.5% of those affected during the same period lived in the region. While comparative statistics for the Pacific is low given these island nation’s smaller sizes, their fragile economies and other factors make them vulnerable to the impact of disasters. Most are also vulnerable to rising impacts of climate change.