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ACCELERATING PROGRESS TOWARDS THE REDUCTION OF ADOLESCENT PREGNANCY: Towards a comprehensive approach - Policy Brief

ACCELERATING PROGRESS TOWARDS THE REDUCTION OF ADOLESCENT PREGNANCY: Towards a comprehensive approach - Policy Brief

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of young people, hampering their psychosocial development, contributing to poor health outcomes for the girls and their babies, negatively affecting their educational and employment opportunities, and contributing to the perpetuation of intergenerational cycles of poor health and poverty. Pregnant adolescents 10-19 years old often face heightened health risks, compared to women aged 20 to 24 years, including eclampsia, puerperal endometritis and systemic infections. Pregnancy and childbirth complications are the leading cause of death among girls aged 15 to 19 years globally.

Pregnancy also has an impact on adolescent girls’ employment. For example, in Guyana, adolescent mothers were 13% more likely to retreat from the labour market than the adult mothers, have a 45% higher rate of unemployment than adult mothers, have a 10% lower monthly median income (representing USD 29.98 per month for each adolescent mother in 2019) and lower levels of educational attainment. This represents an estimated US$4,593,481 in losses with a consequential loss of US$1,036,244 in tax revenue and an additional US$420,108 lost due to maternal mortality. Unwanted adolescent pregnancies are a creature and progenitor of poverty and economic inequality with significant fiscal impacts for countries within the region. There is a need to respond not only through a human rights lens but also considering national and regional development, especially in achieving Sustainable Development Goals 3 and 5.

In the Caribbean region, adolescent fertility rates (AFR) were one of the highest in the world at 60.2 births per 1,000 girls aged 15-19 between 2010 and 2015. Despite a fall in the rate over the years, wide variations persist between sub-regions, countries, and within countries. To sustain the progress in reducing adolescent pregnancy, there needs to be a comprehensive approach.

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TOWARDS A BETTER FUTURE: Enacting policy and legislation to guarantee comprehensive sexuality education for youth in and out-of-

TOWARDS A BETTER FUTURE: Enacting policy and legislation to guarantee comprehensive sexuality education for youth in and out-of-school - Policy Brief

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Comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) is a curriculum-based process of teaching and learning about the cognitive, emotional, physical and social aspects of sexuality. It aims to equip children and young people with knowledge, skills, attitudes and values that will empower them to: realize their health, well-being and dignity; develop respectful social and sexual relationships; consider how their 2023 choices affect their own well-being and that of others; and understand and ensure the protection of their rights throughout their lives. It is scientifically accurate (content is based on facts and evidence related to sexual and reproductive health (SRH), sexuality and behaviors) and developmentally appropriate and responsive to the evolving capacities of the child and adolescent.

CSE plays a central role in the preparation of young people for a safe, productive, fulfilling life in a world where HIV and AIDS, sexually transmitted infections (STIs), unintended pregnancies, gender-
based violence (GBV) and gender inequality still pose serious risks to their well-being. At the 2012 Global Youth Forum of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), young people
specifically called on governments to ‘create enabling environments and policies to ensure that they have access to CSE in formal and nonformal settings, through reducing barriers and allocating adequate budgets’. Despite clear evidence on the benefits of high-quality, curriculum-based CSE, few young people receive it.

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Strengthening the Legislative Framework governing Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) in the English and Dutch spea

Strengthening the Legislative Framework governing Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) in the English and Dutch speaking Caribbean - Policy Brief

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English and Dutch-speaking countries in the Caribbean have made signifi cant gains in efforts to secure the right to sexual and reproductive health (SRH). In many instances, however, state efforts are hampered by laws
and practices that nullify or impair the ability of some individuals and groups from accessing the full range of sexual and reproductive health facilities, services, goods and information.

This policy brief highlights the status of the law on 12 issues affecting the realisation of the right to sexual and reproductive health in 20 English and Dutch-speaking Caribbean countries: Anguilla; Antigua and Barbuda; The Bahamas; Barbados; Belize; Bermuda; British Virgin Islands; Cayman Islands; Dominica; Grenada; Guyana; Jamaica; Montserrat; St. Kitts and Nevis; St. Lucia; Sint Maarten; St. Vincent and the Grenadines; Suriname; Trinidad and Tobago; and Turks and Caicos Islands. It explores the gains and gaps in laws governing (1) minimum age of consent for sexual activity; (2) minimum age to access sexual and reproductive health services without parental consent; (3) contraception; (4) termination of pregnancy; (5) criminalization of HIV and legal protection for people living with HIV; (6) minimum age for marriage; (7) protection from discrimination; (8) sexual abuse and violence – incest, statutory rape, sexual abuse of minors, grooming, child pornography, marital rape, sexual harassment, female genital mutilation, and domestic violence; (9) traffi cking in persons; (10) transactional sex; (11) comprehensive sexuality education; and (12) pregnant learner retention and re-entry.

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EMPOWERING YOUNG PEOPLE: Eliminating legal barriers that limit access to SRH information and services for young people - Policy

EMPOWERING YOUNG PEOPLE: Eliminating legal barriers that limit access to SRH information and services for young people - Policy Brief

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Young people aged 10-24 years account for a quarter of the Caribbean population. Across the region, adolescents aged 12-16 years continue to experience disproportionate policy and legal barriers in accessing health information and quality services that respond to their needs. This, alongside inequitable gender norms, contributes to a lack of awareness and knowledge about basic human rights, puberty, and sexuality and may lead to risky sexual practices. These barriers can have serious implications for health, economic development, and poverty reduction.

According to a UNFPA, child sexual abuse is endemic in the region and large numbers of children are believed to be affected.4 The Caribbean has the second earliest age of sexual “debut” in the world. Statistics show that the first sexual experience of young girls is frequently forced (42.8 % of girls younger than 12 years). Such abuse increases adolescents’ risk and vulnerability to HIV and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and pregnancy. Providing adolescents with appropriate information and services to support healthy development and agency, including the right to informed decision-making about their bodies and consent (or not) to sex, will lead to empowerment and realization of their rights.

UNICEF, UNFPA and WHO define ‘young person’ as those between the ages of 10-24 years of age.

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SEXUAL AND REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH LANDSCAPE IN THE CARIBBEAN: Situational monitoring report

SEXUAL AND REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH LANDSCAPE IN THE CARIBBEAN: Situational monitoring report

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This Situational Monitoring Report on the State of Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) in the region is the first annual report for the Caribbean Observatory on SRHR. It will pave the way for subsequent
annual reports. The objective is to examine crucial issues against key indicators and to establish a baseline for monitoring Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) and Gender-Based Violence (GBV) in the
region, allowing assessment of progress, gaps, and opportunities.

The Caribbean region has made significant progress towards creating an enabling environment for SRHR and to address GBV. To date, progress has been made primarily in the areas of legislative change and development of policies to improve universal access to quality sexual reproductive health information and services and laws to enhance protection for survivors, expansion of the categories of persons protected against gender-based violence (GBV) and increase d penalties for perpetrators of GBV. Overall, despite progress at the legislative and policy level, implementation in most countries has been somewhat limited, uneven, and insufficient to ensure everyone has access to the information and services to ensure their SRHR and live a life free from violence. And where there is progress, it is unevenly distributed among different population groups. Addressing disparities in health and social outcomes, and having the disaggregated data to guide evidence-informed policy and programmes to do so, is one of the most
urgent needs identified in this situational analysis.

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PROTECTING THE MOST VULNERABLE: Importance of policy and legislation to prevent compulsory withdrawal of pregnant learners and g

PROTECTING THE MOST VULNERABLE: Importance of policy and legislation to prevent compulsory withdrawal of pregnant learners and guarantee re-entry - Policy Brief

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Worldwide, one in five girls has given birth by the age of 18. In the poorest regions of the world, this figure rises to over one in three girls. Adolescent births are more likely to occur among the poor, less educated, rural and indigenous populations. In the Caribbean region, adolescent fertility is at 60.1 births per 1000, which is above the desired benchmark of 40 births per 1000. Teen pregnancy and early motherhood represent a cost of opportunity for women, given that they often have to interrupt or drop out of their formal education4, which compromises girls’ development opportunities.

Low levels of educational attainment and early childbearing affect girls’ life trajectories in profound ways.5 Girls who are married, have had children, or have dropped out of school early are more likely to have more children over their lifetime and earn less in adulthood. This makes it more likely that their household will live in poverty.6 A PAHO/WHO, UNICEF and UNFPA 2018 report found that in most countries, adolescent girls with no education or only primary education are up to four times more likely to get pregnant than girls with secondary or higher education. Low education attainment is a cause and a consequence of teenage pregnancy.8 Other consequences for women associated with a lack of educational attainment and early childbearing include higher risk of intimate partner violence and a lack of decision-making ability within the household.9 These girls are at higher risk of being disempowered in ways that deprive them of their basic rights. Adolescent pregnancy also hinders girls’ psychosocial development and is linked to poor health outcomes and higher risks of maternal mortality.10 In addition, their children are at higher risk for poor health and social outcomes.

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THE IMPACT OF CHILD MARRIAGE AND EARLY UNIONS: Raising the minimum age of consent to marry - Policy Brief

THE IMPACT OF CHILD MARRIAGE AND EARLY UNIONS: Raising the minimum age of consent to marry - Policy Brief

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Child marriage is considered one of the factors that lead to an increase in the adolescent fertility rate as it provides a legal space within which women under 18 can become pregnant. Early unions in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) often take the form of an informal union, in which a girl lives with a partner, rather than a formal marriage.1 The legal recognition of cohabiting unmarried couples in several of these countries makes this a relevant consideration distinct from marriages made formal within civil registries when measuring the extent to which the practice has been eliminated.

Child marriages and early unions constitute “harmful practices” (see Box 1) under International Human Rights law, with harmful implications for the child, the spouse, as well as broader developmental and social consequences. The elimination of harmful practices such as child marriage is one of the targets under Sustainable Development Goal 5; the continuation of the practice puts the Caribbean region at odds with its development goals.

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SEXUAL AND REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH LANDSCAPE IN THE CARIBBEAN: Situational monitoring - Policy Brief

SEXUAL AND REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH LANDSCAPE IN THE CARIBBEAN: Situational monitoring - Policy Brief

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Together communities, organized civil society, governments, and development partners can achieve national goals and meet regional and international commitments to end gender-based violence (GBV) and fulfill the sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) of all. The Caribbean Observatory on SRHR is a virtual platform for information sharing and monitoring to advance evidence-informed advocacy and responsive laws, policies and practices.

This is a living document1 that seeks to provide an evidence-base for ongoing dialogue between communities, subject matter experts, and national governments to review and track progress. Such dialogue and mutual accountability is an effective practice for translating human rights commitments into substantive national change that promotes women’s ability to exercise their human rights.2 This is an open invitation to strengthen relationships of mutual trust and communication between civil society, governments and development partners to iteratively collect and share data, improving the evidence- base on SRHR and GBV in the Caribbean region
and to make that data available to inform and monitor the progress towards our common goals.

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Essential Services Package (ESP) Implementation Guidance Note Cover Image

The Implementation of the Essential Services Package (ESP) for Women and Girls Subject to Violence in the English and Dutch-speaking Caribbean: Implementation Guidance Note

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The United Nations (UN) Joint Global Programme on Essential Services for Women and Girls Subject to Violence was launched in 2013, in a partnership co-led by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and UN Women, in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO), UN Development Programme (UNDP) and UN Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC). It aims to provide greater access to a  coordinated set of essential multi-sectoral services for survivors of Gender-Based Violence (GBV), by the health, social services, justice and policing sectors. It provides a roadmap and best practice guidance in the coordination of quality essential services and the governance of coordination processes and mechanisms.

During 2022 and 2023, a comprehensive review of the implementation of the Essential Services Package (ESP) was conducted, with the objective to identify and compile challenges, best practices and lessons learned across the English and Dutch-speaking Caribbean. It aims to better understand gaps, capacities and opportunities in responding to GBV, considering a humanitarian-development nexus approach at the national and regional levels in the Caribbean.

The main outcomes of this lessons learned report (add link to the page of the study) have informed the development of an adapted ESP Resource Package to support the implementation of the ESP across national contexts in the Caribbean region, in line with interagency standards and best practices. The report and resource package are intended to support in the operationalization the ESP and via the Caribbean ESP Community of Practice (CoP), where key regional institutions will provide technical support to National Gender Machineries (NGMs) in their respective processes of coordinating the implementation of the ESP.

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ESP Lessons Learned Report Cover Image

The Implementation of the Essential Services Package (ESP) for Women and Girls Subject to Violence in the English and Dutch-speaking Caribbean: A Lessons Learned Report

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The United Nations (UN) Joint Global Programme on Essential Services for Women and Girls Subject to Violence was launched in 2013, in a partnership co-led by UNFPA and UN Women, in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO), UN Development Programme (UNDP) and UN Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC). It aims to provide greater access to a  coordinated set of essential multi-sectoral services for survivors of Gender-Based Violence (GBV), by the health, social services, justice and policing sectors. It provides a roadmap and best practice guidance in the coordination of quality essential services and the governance of coordination processes and mechanisms.

During 2022 and 2023, a comprehensive review of the implementation of the Essential Services Package (ESP) was conducted, with the objective to identify and compile challenges, best practices and lessons learned across the English and Dutch-speaking Caribbean. It aims to better understand gaps, capacities and opportunities in responding to GBV, considering a humanitarian-
development-peace nexus approach at the national and regional levels in the Caribbean1.

The main outcomes of this lessons learned report have informed the development of an adapted ESP Resource Package2 to support the implementation of the ESP across national contexts in the Caribbean region, in line with interagency standards and best practices. The report and resource package are intended to support in the operationalization the ESP and via the Caribbean ESP Community of Practice (CoP)3, where key regional institutions will provide technical support to National Gender Machineries (NGMs) in their respective processes of coordinating the implementation of the ESP.

Full review

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