News

The video message by Rutgers, the Netherlands centre of expertise on sexuality, which features LGBTQI+ activist Jairo from Guyana, has won the High Flyer Award. This prize for best communications tactic by a development organisation is awarded by the Expertise Centre Humanitarian Communication. The video message is part of the Right Here Right Now programme. A partnership in which Rutgers, Hivos and young impassioned activists from different countries work on sexual rights.

Five years ago Right Here Right Now set out with a clear vision. A world where all young people are able to access quality and youth-friendly health services. And where they are unafraid to express who they are and who they love. Across three continents, eleven diverse platforms and over 1600 young people played key roles in achieving those goals. Now, we reflect on their results and successes in a new digital magazine.

The Centres of Excellence programme is happy for Colombia-based Profamilia and the Planned Parenthood Association of Ghana (PPAG) to strengthen the reach of this programme in Latin America, the Caribbean and Anglophone-Africa. They will join Rutgers and Togo based Association Togolaise pour le Bien-Etre Familial (ATBEF) in the facilitation of South-South knowledge exchange and the dissemination of best practices, tools and the latest standards for comprehensive sexuality education, youth‑friendly services and the youth‑centred approach.

As spring is setting in, the annual UN Commission on Population and Development (CPD) took place in New York. This year, United Nations member states came together virtually to discuss to what extent they are able to respect, protect and fulfil human rights, including sexual and reproductive health and rights and the rights of women, adolescents and youth as part of the ICPD agenda. The 54th session of the CPD took place from 19 - 23 April.

My body is my own. How many women and girls can freely make that claim? Each of us has a right to bodily autonomy and should therefore have the power to make our own choices about our bodies, and to have those choices supported by everyone around us, and by societies at large. Yet, millions of people are denied their right to say no to sex. Or yes to the choice of a partner in marriage or to the right moment to have a child. Many are denied this right because of race, sex, sexual orientation, age or ability.

The indirect impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the measures to curb it, have had a huge impact on all aspects of young people’s lives. This has a detrimental effect on their sexual and reproductive health and rights, a new Rutgers study has found. Research shows that all negative effects are interlinked, laying bare and worsening existing inequalities.

Rutgers and Dance4Life have entered into a full merger on 1st January 2021 whilst retaining their own brands. Both Supervisory Boards have agreed to this. Rutgers and Dance4Life have been working together for years to improve the sexual health and rights of young people worldwide. Combining the strengths of both organisations offer opportunities to make greater impact together.

Gender inequality is one of the most pressing barriers to global social and economic progress and the fulfilment of human rights. One of the most prevalent symptoms of gender inequality is gender-based violence (GBV), with one in three women worldwide experiencing physical or sexual violence in their lifetime. The root causes of GBV and gender inequality are deeply embedded in patriarchal values and power structures within societies, policies, and legislation.

Today Rutgers launches two reports which reveal often untold perspectives and realities of young Indonesians and their sexuality – as told by young people to young people.

We probably all remember our own first sexuality education lesson. At least I do! When I was 12 my male teacher told us that sex was actually about having respectful relationships. I remember feeling flabbergasted. Wasn't it about (not) having sex and babies, and the birds and the bees?