Rio+20, the UN Conference on Sustainable Development, culminated on Friday 22 of June, with a conservative agenda and without contemplating a chapter on women.

With the backing of UN Women, United States and Brazil the final resolution on Sustainable Development refused the female conquest to freely decide about motherhood and there was no clear mention on their rights.

The Vatican, Egypt and Syria led a bloc of countries that promoted that in the final resolution will be terms like «family planning» and instead of “sexual rights”. The governments of Chile, Honduras, Nicaragua, Russia, Dominican Republic and Costa Rica also supported this position.

This is a backward motion in historical terms. The final resolution of Rio+20 contrasted with the achievements in favor of the rights of the female population 20 years ago, during the UN Earth Summit, also held in Rio de Janeiro. At that time the women’s movement succeeded in the inclusion of a chapter exclusively for women in the final document, known as Agenda 21.

From RedTraSex we believe that within this context of regression, we should rethink strategies and self-criticism within the organizations working for the rights of women. This speaks of a necessary opening in the demands for a broader approach on issues of women, with new voices and perspectives of work.

In this sense, from the RedTraSex we support the Campaign for an “Inter-American Convention on Sexual Rights and Reproductive Rights” whose general objective is that governments are committed for establishing guidelines guaranteeing Sexual and Reproductive Rights.

In this way our voice —the one from female sex workers— will be dedicated to defending the rights of women, coordinating with other regional views and works. We’re confident that must be placed in the public discussion of sexuality and reproduction as a matter of rights, eliminating myths and prejudices.

We will put all our work and experience with the conviction of the need to warn about the human rights violations in these areas as well as in relation to possible institutional and policies reversals and respond against them.