UNFPA Launches Report on Young People and the Law: 2020 update
The UNFPA has launched a report highlighting recent legal and policy trends and developments affecting the SRHR of young people in Asia and the Pacific. It is titled as “Young People and the Law: Laws and Policies Impacting Young People’s Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights in the Asia-Pacific region: 2020 update”. The report provides an update to the 2013 Young People and the Law report.
Asia and the Pacific region cover nearly half of the world’s 1.8 billion young population. These young people are entitled to sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services to ensure their physical and emotional health, safety, and well-being. Yet significant legal and policy barriers persist in this vast region which prevent young, particularly adolescents in need from seeking and accessing essential services, with damaging consequences that can affect them, even for an entire life.
This review report considers recent legal and policy developments that are supporting or impeding countries in meeting the goals and targets of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development relating to SRHR, which include achieving universal access to SRH services and ending the HIV epidemic by 2030.
The report has a particular focus on whether countries recognize the evolving capacities of adolescents in their laws and policies on the age of access to contraceptives, access to safe abortion services (where legal), STI and HIV testing services, and age of consent to sex and the minimum age of marriage.
To better understand the complexities of the policy environment within countries, the report also includes case studies in six countries that provide a more detailed view on specific policy environments. There are several positive examples from countries where policy makers have taken steps to ensure that both laws and policies provide an enabling environment for sexually active adolescents to access the SRH services they need.
The report is product of a collaborative effort between the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Youth LEAD – the Asia-Pacific Network of Young Key Affected Populations and Y-PEER Asia Pacific Center.
Read the full report by clicking the link below: