Johanna Westeson - The ICHRP

METHODOLOGY
The WHO project on sexual health and human rights aims at mapping and analyzing legal
practices that bear on sexual health, focusing in particular on laws and jurisprudence that
through their intent, design, outcome, and reasoning have positive effects on sexual health.
Criteria for selecting ‘good practices’ have been that the laws or cases a) promote sexual
health, b) explicitly use a human rights framework, or implicitly make references to
established human rights principles, and c) do not violate other human rights standards and
norms, by intention or effect. By the application of these criteria, many times legal
materials that have been included have both positive and problematic aspects. Strengths as
well as potential weaknesses have been highlighted in the discussion of the material or in
remarks concluding each chapter. As mentioned in the introduction, this project does not
intend to analyze or evaluate implementation or practical impact of laws. Notes on
implementation have been included occasionally, if there is reliable information about
negative impact on sexual health emerging as a consequence of the implementation of a
law, which was unintended by the legislature but may highlight weaknesses of the law
itself (see for instance Chapter 8: Sex work).
As also noted in the introduction, this report does not intend to be exhaustive in its
presentation and analysis of laws and jurisprudence surrounding sexual health in Europe.
Rather, its aim is to be illustrative – giving examples of how legislatures and courts in the
region have approached issues related to sexual health, with a particular focus on models
that use a human rights framework, based either on international, regional or
national/constitutional human rights standards. Thus, this report does not necessarily claim
to have selected ‘the best’ European laws and cases in their application to sexual health,
nor does it single out some countries as ‘superior’ or more ‘rights-promoting’ than others
in regard to protection of sexual health. Instead, like the rest of the WHO project of which
it is a part, this report focuses on legal standards that enhance sexual health by the use of a
human rights framework. Material has been selected primarily to demonstrate how, in
diverse parts of the region, law is used as a tool to, inter alia, respect and protect sexual
autonomy, fight discrimination on sexual or sexuality grounds, offer adequate protection
against sexual violence, and promote access to sexual health services while respecting the
integrity and self-determination of the individual. In limited cases laws or jurisprudence
have also been highlighted that may control or restrain sexuality or compromise sexual
health. These materials have been selected to illustrate conflicting trends in the region or to
draw attention to issues that are particularly problematic from a human rights standpoint.
However, the reader should keep in mind that the aim of this project is not to highlight
human rights violations nor systematically to document practices that prejudice sexual
health.
The information in this report has been obtained by extensive research on legal materials
from the European region. This includes regional material from the Council of Europe and
the EU, and domestic laws and case law related to sexuality and sexual health from across
the region. The author has been assisted by researchers in Russia, Hungary, and Moldova,
and has also on an ad hoc-basis consulted experts in the region to clarify specific issues. To
the extent possible primary sources have been consulted, through the use of official
databases. Attention has been drawn to relevant legal material through concluding
observations by UN committees, Council of Europe and NGO publications, academic
studies, and news reports.
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