NEWS
WOW LAUNCHED IN MALAYSIA
November 4, 2006 -- The Asian-Pacific Resource & Research Centre for Women (ARROW) launched the Women of the World: East and Southeast Asia report in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. WOW: East and Southeast Asia is joint venture between the Center, ARROW, and four NGO partners in East and Southeast Asia. WOW: East and Southeast Asia provides an extensive compilation of laws and policies influencing women’s reproductive health in Malaysia, and draws attention to specific issues that require legal and policy reform. It serves as a resource for those interested in advancing and protecting women’s reproductive health and rights through legal advocacy, and ensuring that states comply with their obligations to respect, protect and fulfill women's reproductive rights under international law. The countries featured in the report include China, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam.
PUBLICATIONS
Reports
Women of the World: East and Southeast Asia.
Learn more by reading the Malayasia chapter (PDF) of Women of the World: East and Southeast Asia > >
Our Women of the World reports document laws and policies which impact women’s reproductive and sexual health and shape their reproductive choices. Reproductive rights are internationally recognized as critical to both advancing women's human rights and promoting development. In recent years, governments worldwide have acknowledged and pledged to advance reproductive rights to an unprecedented degree. Formal laws and policies are crucial indicators of government commitment to promoting reproductive rights.
The Women of the World reports are the product of collaboration between the Center for Reproductive Rights and NGOs around the world. Each volume presents regional and national information about the following:
- Laws and policies regarding health, population, contraception, abortion, sterilization, safe pregnancy, HIV/AIDS and other sexually-transmitted infections;
- Women's legal status within marriage, including divorce, custody and property; labor rights; access to credit and education; and the right to physical integrity;
- Reproductive health and rights of adolescents, including the legal status of adolescent marriage, sex education, and sexual offenses against minors;
- Customary and religious laws and practices that influence the status of women and girls.
The reports show that although governments have adopted laws and policies to promote women's reproductive health and rights, such instruments have not always had the desired effect. In fact, oftentimes, the problem lies with the law or policy itself. The reproductive rights of women in the region continue to be violated with impunity due to the lack of enforcement of potentially beneficial laws and the lack of accountability for governmental failure to remove barriers to health care and to end gender-based discrimination.
Reporting to Treaty Monitoring Bodies
Organizations like the Center for Reproductive Rights and its partners play an essential role in providing credible and reliable independent information to international human rights treaty monitoring bodies regarding the legal status and real-life situation of women and the efforts being made by governments to comply with human rights treaties. Shadow reports work to supplement, or "shadow," governments' reports on human rights issues by calling attention to their strides, as well as their setbacks.
Articles
Regional Partner Organizations
