Katherine Campbell
Iganga, Uganda
Women Alliance and Children Affairs (WAACHA)
With the clock ticking, and the countdown on, let me tell you about my summer plans:
As a Gallatin Global Fellow in Human Rights, I am aiming to develop a comprehensive sex education curriculum to implement with a local NGO, Women’s Alliance and Children’s Association, (WAACHA), in Iganga, Uganda. From January 2013, up until my departure for Uganda on May 23, I have been and will continue to work on an effective and comprehensive sex education applicable to all the integrated members of the WAACHA community, and more broadly within Iganga. This summer I will spend ten weeks in Iganga, working with WAACHA to implement this curriculum as a sustainable education program by training other educators to teach this curriculum.
Sex education is fundamental to human development. Sex is a powerful tool. I have found sex to have great power in our world, fundamentally because it is an act that requires consent, without which it becomes an act of power and submission; sex in the form of rape is used as a weapon of degradation and control, violating human rights and inhibiting peaceful relations. It can be a powerful exchange of love and trust through consensual choices to engage in it, or it can be a tool for destruction. I believe sex education is one of the most influential lessons one person can give to another in helping him/her shape his/her own future because knowledge is power. Education on sex and sexual health allow individuals to take control of his/her sex life, and to be proactive about his/her sexual health by providing the knowledge and skills needed to make independent decisions as they relate to sex and health. Education on sex and sexual health empowers individuals to be autonomous beings.
Furthermore, human sexuality is a large component of human personality, so much so that a persons’ sexuality can impact a persons day-to-day interactions with others.
International law asserts and upholds the human right to comprehensive sex education. Several international human rights treaties, including the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights, (ICESCR), the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, (ICCPR), and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, (CRC), assert this governmental obligation.
The right to sex education is also expressed in inexplicit terms in the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, (UNUDHR).
The right to comprehensive sex education probably derives its greatest legitimacy as a human right through the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and specifically through articles 3, 13, 19 and 24. Article 3 to the CRC asserts that all actions taken for children must be in best interest of the child. National governments need to address the educational needs of its youth population to the best interest of each child, thus including comprehensive sex education and largely eliminating the concerns of parents or religious organizations. Article 13 establishes that children have a right to seek, receive, and impart information of all kinds regardless of outwardly imposed limitations. This is clearly making it a direct violation to withhold or deny students information on their sexual health and educational needs.
Article 19: “State Parties shall take all appropriate legislative, administrative, social and educational measures to protect the child from all forms of physical or mental violence, injury or abuse, including sexual abuse, while in the care of parent(s), legal guardian(s) or any other person who has the care of the child,” (CRC, Art. 19).
Comprehensive sex education has been found to be a key element to protecting children from sexual violence. It has been found that education, particularly for young children, about sex and sexual boundaries gives people the knowledge and skills they need to identify sexual abuse, feel comfortable discussing it with others, and potentially lower their risk of sexual violence. Sex education provides a safe environment for children who are or have been victims of sexual violence to recognize the abuse they have experienced and seek protection with authority figures who hopefully have the child’s best interest in mind. The above article recognizes this, and goes so far as to directly call for the implementation of educational measures for the prevention of sexual abuse.
Finally, Article 24 addresses the child’s right to health, specifying what is included within that right, and clearly identifying the need, “To develop preventive health care, guidance for parents and family planning education and services,” as an essential health care service that children should have access to, (CRC, Art. 24, (f)). The Committee on the Rights of the Child has concluded that the rights to health and information require states to provide children with adequate, appropriate and timely HIV/AIDS and sexual health information. Additionally, in consistency with their commitment to ensure the right to life, survival and development of the child (art. 6), State parties must ensure that children have access to the knowledge and skills they need to protect themselves and others as they begin to express their sexuality.