HRLN attends the 6th Annual SARJAI Workshop in Kathmandu, Nepal

Post Date: Thursday, May 31, 2018

From May 16-19th 2018, HRLN attended the Centre for Reproductive Rights' 6th Annual South Asia Reproductive Justice and Accountability Initiative Workshop in Kathmandu, Nepal. As an organisation that fervently advocates for reproductive rights in India, HRLN has been attending this workshop since its inception. The workshop was attended by the former Chief Justice of Nepal, Hon. Kalyan Shreshta; Nepalese Supreme Court Judge, Hon. Justice Sapana Pradhan Malla; and HRLN's Founder and Director Dr. Colin Gonsalves, as well HRLN's Director of the Reproductive Rights Initiative, Sarita Barpanda; and Senior Researcher Zahra Wynne.

 

HRLN was incredibly fortunate to be sitting alongside participants from India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and the Philippines. A myriad of issues were discussed and debated, including commercial surrogacy, whether child marriage should be void ab initio or voidable, the language surrounding the intersection between abortion rights and disability rights, the Rohingya refugee crisis and its relation to reproductive rights, and martial rape. Between us, we spent our days strategising further steps to use the law, activism, and research to harness a collective South Asian effort to advocate for and defend reproductive rights, in a region that is experiencing shrinking spaces for dissent. 

The relationship between HRLN and CRR continues to support our most important work, including recent litigation regarding contraception and abortion.