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HIPPOLYTE BWIZA MUHIRE [ Profil ] |
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UNESCO Guidelines on Sexual Education Report
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Aug 28th, 2009 - 08:50:59 |
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A June report from the United Nations Economic, Social and Cultural
Organization (UNESCO) suggests children of all countries and cultures are
entitled to sexual and reproductive education beginning at age five.
The report, called "International Guidelines on Sexual Education," was
released in June in conjunction with the U.N. Population Fund (UNFPA), an
organization which works for universal access to reproductive health care.
In its rationale for creating the guidelines, the UNESCO report said it is
essential to recognize the need and entitlement of all young people to
sexuality education.
An appendix backed that claim by pointing to a 2008 report from the
International Planned Parenthood Federation that argued governments are
obligated to guarantee sexual rights, and that sexuality education is an
integral component to human rights.
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The guidelines are designed, according to the report, to be age-appropriate,
and break down the suggested curriculum into four age
groups: 5- to 8-year-olds, 9- to 12-year-olds, 12- to 15-year-olds and 15-to
18-year-olds.
SIECUS and Sex Ed
The authors of the report consulted the Sexuality Information and Education
Council of the United States (SIECUS) in building their curriculum
framework. One of the two authors, Nanette Ecker, is a former SIECUS
employee.
Like the UNFPA, SIECUS advocates for ensuring that every person has the
right and access to sexual and reproductive health, so that humanity and the
natural environment can exist in balance and fewer people live in poverty,
according to the organization website.
Their stated concern is the depletion of natural resources, which is reduced
through access to abortions.
The founding director of the organization, Mary S. Calderone, was a director
of Planned Parenthood. SIECUS currently belongs to the National Coalition to
Support Sexuality Education, alongside groups like NARAL, The National
Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League, The Human Rights Campaign,
and the National Council of La Raza.
In its justification for the new U.N. guidelines, the report says that
programs supporting traditional values on marriage and sex are faulty.
Abstinence is only one of a range of choices available to young people, the
authors wrote, describing abstinence-only programs as fear-based and
designed to control young people's sexual behavior by instilling fear,
shame, and guilt.
Mark Richmond, director of the UNESCO Division for Coordination of
Priorities in Education, defended the program in a written statement to
CNSNews.com from the agency offices in Geneva, Switzerland.
"Neither UNESCO nor the International Guidelines is making a case about
sexual activity being a right," he said. Instead, the International
Guidelines are focused on the importance of children and young people
acquiring, through age-appropriate education programmes, knowledge and
information that will enable them to better understand themselves and
others, so that their conduct is not based on ignorance, factual error, or
misunderstanding.
Asked whether UNESCO has a bias against traditional marriage and sexual
values, Richmond pointed to the caveat on page 60 of the report: "It should
be noted that abstinence is often taught as one option for safer sex as part
of a comprehensive sexuality education programmes."
Richmond admitted, however, that the proposed sex-ed curriculum should be
available even to very young children, however.
UNESCO has 193 member nations around the world, including the United States.
Source: cnsnews.com, 25 August 2009
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BWIZA MUHIRE HIPPOLYTE
Central Africa Regional Focal Point
Global Youth Coalition on HIV/AIDS
P.O 30 Huye- Butare/Rwanda
Cell Phone: +250 788 60 42 94
hippolyte (at) youthaidscoalition.org
www.youthaidscoalition.org
www.iAIDS.org
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