sexual health and human rights in the african region - The ICHRP

information that is relevant to the protection and promotion of their sexual
health not just as a negative right that requires non-interference on the part of the
state, but more significantly, as a socio-economic right that imposes a positive
duty on the state. The pandemic levels of HIV in the African region accentuate
the import of the duty to provide information about sexual health.
[9] A number of provisions of the African Women’s Protocol support the right to
information and education about sexual health. Article 5, which prohibits
harmful traditional practices, requires the state to take legislative and other
measures, including the ‘creation of public awareness in all sectors of society
regarding harmful practices through information, formal and informal education
and outreach programmes’. 831 It follows, for example, that a state party in which
female genital mutilation and early marriage are prevalent has a duty to raise
awareness about the harmful effects of such practices. Article 12, which
guarantees women a right to education and training, is implicitly applicable to
sexual health. Article 14 guarantees women the right to health, including ‘sexual
and reproductive health’. 832 This scope of the right to sexual and reproductive
health includes the right of women to: control their fertility; 833 decide whether to
have children, the number of children and the spacing of children; 834 choose any
method of contraception; 835 and protection against sexually transmitted
infections. 836 As part of discharging the obligations attendant to the right to
sexual and reproductive health, states are requires to provide, inter alia,
educations and communication programmes to women. 837
7.3 Domestic Laws: Information and expression
[10] The constitutions of the sampled countries have provisions that can be relied upon
to enforce the respect, protect and fulfil the right to information, education and
expression about sexual health. The right to information is found in virtually all
the constitutions of the sampled countries but as a negative right and in tandem
with, or as an integral part of, the right to freedom of expression. For example,
section 20(1) of the Constitution of Zimbabwe provides that ‘no person shall be
hindered in the enjoyment of his freedom of expression, that is to say, freedom to
hold opinions and to receive and impart ideas and information without
interference, and freedom from interference with his correspondence’. An
equivalent of this provision is found in all the constitutions of the sampled
831 Article 5(a) of the African Women’s Protocol.
832 Article 14(1) of the African Women’s Protocol.
833 Article 14(1)(a) ibid.
834 Article 14(1)(b) ibid.
835 Article 14(1)(c).
836 Article 14(1)(d).
837 Article 14(2)(a).
222