June 2019

Jun 13, 2019

...No Longer Without Us!

Dear aidsfocus readers,

Young people can pinpoint what is going wrong with politics and society – as the German Youtuber Rezo recently demonstrated in a video he released shortly before the European elections which mercilessly took stock of the failings of politics and ensured in record time that everyone was talking about politics. Whether or not he influenced the outcome of the election (which, with 14 million clicks, is entirely possible), it once again became clear that young people are fed up with politicians and a society that overlooks their interests and needs; they want far-reaching changes; they’re getting involved; they’re provoking and challenging society.

This was something equally demonstrated by the young speakers at our symposium where we discussed the sexual and reproductive rights of adolescents and young adults. The young activists made their vision of a self-determined and healthy sexuality unequivocally clear. Anyone who believed everything there is to say on this subject had already been said was certainly put right.

And so when, for example, Indian activist Vithika Yadav presented her unconventional ideas about sex education and her now award-winning, internationally famous internet platform “Love Matters”, it became clear that we have, to date, comprehensively failed young people in their sex education. Sex education by incompetent teachers – “My teacher didn’t even dare to mention the clitoris while he explained the genitals in detail on a slide” – must stop, something also demanded by Noemi Grütter from the youth network Sexual Health Switzerland. In an impressive manifesto, the youth network declares what it understands as an appropriate approach in this day and age: “We young people want to be involved in the design of sex education.”

Innovative Strategies Are More Urgent Than Ever

During the course of our symposium, it became increasingly clear to us that young people are no longer willing to let the older generation continue with business as usual: they want new approaches and they want to be heard! And thus, Director of MMS Martin Leschhorn rightly enquired in his summing up at the end of the symposium: “Do we include and listen to young people within our organisations? And do we give them the resources they need?”

We all know how much is at stake: the denial of sexual and reproductive rights is not only – in spite of decades of struggle – a threat to our democracies (take, for example, the case of Trump) but also to a young generation between the ages of 10 and 24 across the globe, a group which is growing at a record-breaking rate. We continue to put them at risk of HIV/AIDS, child pregnancy, sexual violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation if we deny them access to a comprehensive sex education, contraception, education and equal opportunities. In doing so, we deny them the human right to sexual health!

The presentations from our speakers are available online and we will publish a summary of the conference in the MMS Bulletin in September.

Our symposium was not the only important event to be held recently: at about the same time, a high-level meeting took place in Geneva which also placed the human right to a comprehensive access to health at the centre of a discussion with high-profile representatives such as WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and Executive Director of the Global Fund Peter Sands. In our Topic of the Month, you can read more about this event which was organised by bodies including Aidsfonds and Medicus Mundi Switzerland.

Martina Staenke
Communication Manager, Medicus Mundi Switzerland
mstaenke@medicusmundi.ch