by Susana Chavez (above), Executive Director of Promsex
“Despite the tough context, we continue fighting for sexual and reproductive rights, gender equality, non-discrimination – and Promsex”
Dear all,
Warm greetings from our team at Promsex. At this time I would like to share my reflections about the complex political situation we currently find ourselves in, in our country.
With an adverse political context for sexual and reproductive rights, Peru is between democracy and dictatorship. A situation promoted by a candidate from the extreme right, who aspired to the presidency backed by a political party investigated for corruption issues and with a historical debt to women due to their serious history of human rights violations and forced sterilizations.
On the other hand, we have a candidate whose vote counts on his favours, and everything indicates that he will shortly be declared president. However, this designation does not guarantee the support for the women’s rights agenda, sexual diversities, and other dissidents, since far from recognizing these human rights, it declares itself against, including the gender approach that, in the country, is already part of State policy.
The times ahead are adverse, without a scenario that builds trust to move forward. As a society we must redouble our efforts and defend the… autonomy of the institutions that are threatened today, such as the National Elections Jury, the Constitutional Court, the Ombudsman’s Office, and the independent press (with less presence), which at decisive moments like this are guarantors of respect for fundamental rights.
We believe that democracy is the support to guarantee the sexual and reproductive rights of all people. In this sense, we are aware that in this difficult context, times of hope will overlap and, in the midst of what this terrible pandemic has meant, we will come out of our pain and uncertainty to finally have a country where each person, including our massive migrant community, can live in freedom, equality, and respect.
SOURCE: E-mail, 8 July 2021.
SEE ALSO: Promsex Institutional Report 2020 (en español), an account of the work carried out in a year marked by the health and social emergency nation and global-wide produced by Covid-19. Newsletter #1 2021. PHOTO