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17 April 2025 - Rutgers, the Netherlands’ leading sexual and reproductive health expert and IPPF’s Member Association, has today secured a landmark legal win against an ultra-conservative group notorious for fuelling online hate and spreading disinformation. This ruling is a crucial step forward in protecting young people’s health, safety and well-being from harmful narratives designed to undermine their rights. Rutgers took legal action against Civitas Christiana, due to the persistent lies and slander that Civitas continued to spread about Rutgers and the Spring Fever Week. This is an annual campaign in the Netherlands, held in Spring, focused on resilience, heathy relationships and sexual health. The court ruled entirely in favour of Rutgers; all statements must be rectified. The statements by Civitas - made through their social media channels, mainstream media and direct outreach efforts - were not only found to be false, but also harmful and unlawful. This important decision affirms support for parents, teachers, and schools, all who are committed to ensuring children to grow up healthy, safe and happy and protected from disinformation and misinformation. Schools participate voluntarily in Spring Fever Week by providing structured, age-appropriate lessons on these topics to their primary school students. Rutgers took these legal steps to support parents, teachers, and schools, and to combat misleading and vexatious misinformation, as our work is unapologetically about child safety and protection. It’s about giving young people agency and keeping them safe from perpetrators. Young people without information and without bodily autonomy are unsafe. This case was about standing with and for the young people, parents, caregivers, educators and communities who are targeted and harmed by these toxic campaigns run by ultra-conservative groups. The court’s ruling sends a clear message: there is no place for hate and misinformation in public discourse, especially when it endangers the lives, safety and health of young people. “This legal case was not about a difference of opinion on education,” says Rutgers deputy director Luc Lauwers, “but about the spreading of fake news that puts children in danger rather than protecting them. Everyone has the right to their own values, beliefs, opinions, religious convictions, and way of life - including in matters of education and parenting. That is a fundamental pillar of our democratic legal system in the Netherlands. However, the freedom of expression and freedom of religion that Civitas Christiana appeals to are not without limits.” Victories like this matter deeply.  At a time when sexuality education is under coordinated attack by alt-right movements globally, this victory speaks volumes about the power of civil society organisations to stand firm, fight back, and defend truth, science and young people’s rights. Anti-rights groups work to erode trust, sow fear and promote regressive narratives that do real harm - particularly to young people.  Staying silent is not an option. Every time we speak up, seek justice and share the truth, we help build a society where young people are safe, informed and healthy. This ruling is a meaningful step, but our shared global responsibility continues.  For media inquiries, please contact: n.hoeve@rutgers.nl or media@ippf.org.About the International Planned Parenthood Federation  IPPF is a global healthcare provider and a leading advocate of sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) for all. Led by a courageous and determined group of women, IPPF was founded in 1952 at the Third International Planned Parenthood Conference. Today, we are a movement of 158 Member Associations and Collaborative Partners with a presence in over 153 countries.  Our work is wide-ranging, including comprehensive sex education, provision of contraceptive, safe abortion, and maternal care and responding to humanitarian crises. We pride ourselves on being local through our members and global through our network. At the heart of our mission is the provision of – and advocacy in support of – integrated healthcare to anyone who needs it regardless of race, gender, sex, income, and crucially no matter how remote. About RutgersRutgers is the Dutch centre of knowledge and expertise on sexual health, safety and well-being for young people. We work to improve the sexual and reproductive health and rights of all (young) people in the Netherlands and in more than 29 countries around the world. In partnership with other organisations we advocate for sexual and reproductive health and rights, promote public support and do (scientific) research.Together with partners, we work within countries and internationally to improve sexual rights, access to sexuality education and information, access to contraception and safe abortion services and to prevent sexual and gender-based violence.

25 July 2024 – The International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) laments the missed opportunity by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) to ensure that the human rights of sex workers are respected, protected and fulfilled by all European Member States, in accordance with the European Convention of Human Rights.  The ruling comes after 261 sex workers, many of them migrants and/or gender minorities, filed a complaint to the ECHR in December 2019 to challenge the French Prostitution Law 2016, upheld by the French Constitutional Court earlier in 2019, which criminalizes the clients of sex workers and led to human rights violations of the sex workers.   IPPF and its Member Association in France, Le Planning Familial, were among the numerous communities, health, human rights and feminist organizations that supported the sex workers’ application to the ECHR, noting the extreme deterioration in the living and working conditions of sex workers since the criminalization of clients came into force.  We are disappointed that the ECHR has chosen to neglect its duty to ensure the protection of human rights of all people, without discrimination. In doing so, the leading human rights norms and standards on sex workers rights remain in the recommendations of the major UN agencies including the World Health Organization, UNAIDS and the UNDP, as well as by major international human rights organizations such as Amnesty International, the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, and Intersex Association (ILGA) World, Human Rights Watch, and Transgender Europe, as well as IPPF.  The court’s decision was an opportunity for the European region to establish a precedent in human rights jurisprudence that reaffirms what sex workers themselves have demanded for decades: that sex workers are entitled to the respect, protection and fulfillment of their human rights, free from discrimination, including the right to privacy and autonomy, the right to be free from violence and discrimination, and the rights to physical integrity and life.  Micah Grzywnowicz, Regional Director of the IPPF European Network, said:  “Rather than seizing a critical opportunity to protect human rights, we are disappointed that the European Court of Human Rights has instead deferred the issue to legislatures, despite recognition that the Swedish Model infringes on sex workers rights. Rather than ensuring the human rights of sex workers in Europe are guaranteed by States, their human rights are now dependent on their geographic location and the country in which they live.  Strong evidence demonstrates that criminalization laws have negative consequences for sex workers and their families, and lead to violations of their human rights. We are disappointed that the voices, human rights, and autonomy of sex workers have been deferred by a Court established exactly for the purpose of guaranteeing the human rights of all people, without discrimination.”  In 2022, IPPF adopted a Sex Work Policy which focuses on evidence-based policies which best respect, protect and fulfill the human rights of sex workers. Informed by the lived experiences of sex workers globally, our policy strongly supports decriminalization, together with social policies that address structural inequalities that manifest in all areas of society including sex work. Notably, the policy notes that “widespread criminalization, stigma and discrimination not only violate their human rights to live free from violence and discrimination, the right to health, and sexual and reproductive rights, but also limit sex workers’ capacity to self-organize, access funding for service provision and advocacy, and meaningfully engage with civil society organizations (including unions) and policymakers.”   It is essential that we stand with sex workers to support their continued advocacy to be free from discrimination and exercise their human rights. IPPF stands in solidarity with all sex workers around the world and calls on all governments to take immediate steps to guarantee sex workers’ human rights.  For media inquiries please contact media@ippf.org  About the International Planned Parenthood Federation  The International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) is a global healthcare provider and a leading advocate of sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) for all. We are a movement of 150 Member Associations and Collaborative Partners with a presence in over 146 countries.  Building on a proud history of 70 years of achievement, we commit to lead a locally owned, globally connected civil society movement that provides and enables services and champions sexual and reproductive health and rights for all, especially the under-served.  We advocate for a world where people are provided with the information they need to make informed decisions about their sexual health and bodies. We stand up and fight for sexual and reproductive rights, and against those who seek to deny people their human right to bodily autonomy and freedom. We deliver care that is rooted in rights, respect, and dignity - no matter what. 

IPPF condemns the multiple school arsons across the French-speaking Wallonia region in Belgium over the past week, which have been connected to public protests against the compulsory “education in relationships, affective and sexual life” (EVRAS) program. These targeted attacks are evidence of a growing movement opposed to Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) curricula, and the duty of states to support and protect children in their sexual development. IPPF is deeply concerned that a small cadre of those with extremist views are targeting schools with violence, which serve as vital safe spaces for children and young people to become educated, empowered citizens.  In the face of global misinformation campaigns and attempts to silence the organizations and institutions providing high quality comprehensive sexuality education, IPPF affirms that these programs empower children and young people to protect their health and well-being and support them in developing healthy and positive relationships throughout their lives.  Dr. Alvaro Bermejo, IPPF Director General said:  “The violent attacks on schools in Belgium are proof of how anti-rights campaigners are multiplying around the world and fuelling divisions by spreading false or misleading information about existing education curricula. We know from decades of research and our own programmatic experience in this area that comprehensive sexuality education helps children and young people to understand and enjoy their sexuality, take responsibility for their own sexual and reproductive health and rights and respect other people’s. We stand with the educators in Belgium who are delivering on a sex education curriculum that promotes children and young people’s rights.”  Research shows that parents and young people agree that sexuality education should be offered in schools, and that parents are willing to join these programs, particularly as they help their children to navigate relationships and sexuality amid the complex challenges of the digital era. Many governments around the world, including Belgium, are making sexuality education programs a national priority to protect all children and young people from harm.  IPPF stands with the schools and educators delivering this vital education in Belgium and around the world, and we remain committed to providing children and young people with the knowledge to protect and promote their safety, health and wellbeing.  For media inquiries, contact media@ippf.org   Banner image: Shutterstock

The unmet need for contraceptives is estimated to have soared to nearly 50% in some parts of Turkiye, including Hatay province, following the earthquakes on 6 February 2023. This is a worrying trend, as the unmet need had already been on the rise from 6% in 2013 to 12% in 2018 in Turkiye.  The Association of Public Health Specialists (HASUDER), IPPF’s local partner in Türkiye, is the only provider of contraception in some camps for internally-displaced persons (IDPs) following the devastating 7.8 and 7.6 earthquakes that killed more than 50,000 people in Turkey and displaced millions. Professor Bülent Kılıç, head of HASUDER, said that while government services are mandated to deliver contraceptive supplies to health clinics inside IDP camps, services have generally focused on pregnancy and birth services. He said: ”Physicians who provide contraceptive methods, including inserting intrauterine devices (IUDs) are rare or fully absent. There is no awareness about this service gap.” Kılıç also describes serious hygiene problems for women in the camps, where basic needs such as clean toilets and bathrooms are not being met. Kılıç continued: “We have seen that contraceptive services are only provided in gynaecology clinics in hospitals, and even then it is offered very little and only if requested. This issue is related to the government's perspective on women and women's rights.” HASUDER’s reproductive health unit, which was established with support from IPPF and Hatay Municipality in Lions and Mersin Municipality Tent City in Hatay, has been providing sexual and reproductive health services to 3,000 people since March 2023. These services include maternal and neonatal care, contraceptive care, safe abortion care, and counselling for sexual and gender-based violence. HASUDER is providing contraceptive methods including intrauterine devices, oral contraceptives and condoms, but reports that underwear, sanitary pads, birth control pills, emergency contraception pills and condoms are still among the most needed items for women. HASUDER has also reported a rise in unplanned pregnancies due to the dearth of contraceptives available. Violence against women and girls - already a serious issue in Turkey - is exacerbated in every humanitarian emergency, and persists in the IDP camps. IPPF estimates that 3.9 million women of reproductive age, over 175,000 pregnant women, and more than 1.2 million adolescent girls (aged 10-19) were affected by the earthquakes in Türkiye. We anticipate more than 8,700 currently pregnant women will experience delivery complications. For media enquiries, please contact media@ippf.org or Nerida Williams, Senior Humanitarian Communications Advisor, newilliams@ippf.org  About the International Planned Parenthood Federation The International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) is a global service provider and advocate of sexual and reproductive health and rights for all.  For 70 years, IPPF, through its 118 Member Associations and seven partners, has delivered high-quality sexual and reproductive healthcare and helped advance sexual rights, especially for people with intersectional and diverse needs that are currently unmet. Our Member Associations and partners are independent organisations that are locally owned, which means the support and care they provide is informed by local expertise and context. We advocate for a world where people have the information they need to make informed decisions about their sexual health and bodies. We stand up and fight for sexual and reproductive rights and against those who seek to deny people their human right to bodily autonomy and freedom. We deliver care that is rooted in rights, respect, and dignity - no matter what.  

Today, on International Women’s Day, France has made it clear to the world that they stand shoulder to shoulder with women and girls in support of their non-negotiable freedoms by committing to enshrining abortion as a fundamental human right within the French constitution. We applaud President Macron for this decision.  We want to thank our Member Association, Mouvement Français pour le Planning Familial and the feminist movement for never giving up the fight for women and people who want to end their pregnancy on their own terms with dignity, care and respect.  This momentous decision comes at a time when safe abortion care is under attack at an unprecedented level in the global north. We hope this decision inspires other nations to do more to protect the privacy, dignity and human rights of women and girls from political extremists who seek to force women and girls into giving birth.  We need more courage and action from the national leaders to protect and support women and girls. If you are a politician who believes in human rights; act now without fear. If you are someone who can vote or organize; demand more of your government, take to the streets, let them hear your voice, take your pen to the ballot if they do not listen.  IPPF will continue to work with activists, feminist movements, politicians and communities to protect and advance abortion care without apology and without fear. Today and every day we stand with women and girls, everywhere.    

If you are covering the UK autumn budget and reporting on foreign aid, you may find the below statement from  the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) helpful: “The UK government has already decimated the aid budget and its reputation through severe economic mishandling, cutting billions from the very things that protect people during economic, political and social upheaval, including life-saving sexual and reproductive healthcare. “It is also the only country to be spending the majority of its dedicated overseas aid budget within its own borders, taking advantage of legislation to pay for refugee and asylum costs in the UK rather than increasing domestic and overseas budgets accordingly. “The UK government cannot continue to fight the fire of one humanitarian crisis by diverting much-needed resources from other vulnerable people, nor continue to balance its books on the backs of the poorest people in the world - who, as MP Andrew Mitchell stated, will be damaged, maimed, or die as a result. “This government promised to give women and girls the freedom they need to succeed and prevent the worst forms of human suffering worldwide. If it is to deliver on its promises and revive its sunken reputation, it must spend dedicated budgets correctly, support people in the UK and beyond appropriately, and MP Andrew Mitchell and the Chancellor must ensure a return to the 0.7% as soon as possible.”  

Three leading women’s rights defenders are facing eight years in prison in Poland for exercising their right to peaceful protest.  Prosecutors in Warsaw filed the indictment against Marta Lempart, Klementyna Suchanow and Agnieszka Czerederecka-Fabin of the All-Poland Women’s Strike (Ogólnopolski Strajk Kobiet, OSK), a partner of the International Planned Parenthood Federation, European Network, for allegedly organizing protests during the COVID-19 pandemic.  Massive protests were prompted back in October 2020 by the decision of the illegally appointed Constitutional Tribunal to impose a near-total ban on abortion care. Peaceful protesters were met with excessive force, with authorities using tear gas, pepper spray and physical assault. Now, two years on, women human rights defenders (WHRDs) are still being attacked by Polish authorities, with defenders facing violence from law enforcement and far-right groups, including bomb threats, as well as smear campaigns in state-controlled media, detention and excessive criminal charges orchestrated and encouraged by the government. In the case of the All-Poland’s women’s strike members, these charges include “causing an epidemiological threat”, endangering public health and publicly praising crimes.  The new indictment against the women’s rights defenders came just days before the second anniversary of the near-total ban on abortion, which has killed six women so far. It also comes in the same month that a court hearing was held in the trial of Justyna Wydrzyńska.  Justyna, a member of Abortion Without Borders and the Abortion Dream Team, is facing up to three years in prison for facilitating an abortion that didn’t happen. Her case marks the first in Europe where a WHRD is being prosecuted for helping ensure abortion care by providing abortion pills. Justyna’s trial is ongoing. Irene Donadio of the International Planned Parenthood Federation, European Network, said:  

Today, the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) published its provisional statistics report on UK aid spending for 2021.  The total overall aid spend was £11.5 billion, down from £14.5 billion in 2020 following the UK government's reduction to overseas development aid (ODA) from 0.7 per cent to 0.5 per cent of gross national income (GNI), citing the economic challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.  ODA improves the lives of people around the world, helping them access the healthcare they deserve, including lifesaving sexual and reproductive healthcare. It also helps tackle global disease, eliminate poverty, provide humanitarian assistance during conflict and reduce the impact of climate change.  Dr Alvaro Bermejo, Director-General for IPPF, said: “While not surprising, the provisional UK aid spend for 2021 shows the grim reality of making such severe cuts during the tremendous global upheaval of a pandemic, when continued solidarity, support and humanitarian assistance from the wealthiest nations is most needed. “The government already knew from the equalities impact assessment that these cuts to promised funds would be devastating for women, girls and diverse groups, who disproportionally experience the effects of poverty, disease and climate change while also bearing the burden of violence, especially in conflict. “Not only that, but the government also chose to distribute the dedicated aid budget to other government departments. This includes a staggering £915 million to the Home Office and counting so-called ‘donations’ of excess COVID vaccines to other countries, which could have been given to those in need instead. The aid cuts left millions of women in Ukraine with no control over their bodies, their futures, or their lives, just as it did in Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Yemen, Sudan and Syria. Today, the role of the UK in building a better, safer world is more critical than ever if there is any hope of reversing the impacts of the cuts and the government must return to the 0.7% as soon as possible – the lives and futures of people depend on it”. Key statistics include: The provisional ODA:GNI ratio for 2021 was 0.5 per cent, or £11.5 billion. In 2021, UK Official Development Assistance (ODA) was £11,496 million, a decrease of £2,982 million (20.6 per cent decrease) on 2020. In 2021, UK bilateral ODA was £7,086 million (a decrease of 25.7 per cent) while U.K. multilateral ODA was £4,411 million (a decrease of 10.8 per cent). The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) spent £8,308 million in 2021, compared with £10,664 million in 2020 (a decrease of £2,356 million).  Non-FCDO5 spend on ODA in 2021 was £3,189 million, compared with £3,815 million in 2020 (a decrease of £626 m). The non-FCDO share was 27.7 per cent, up from 26.3 per cent in 2020. In 2021, £550 million of UK ODA was spent on activities to address the COVID19 pandemic². The Home Office spent £915 million of ODA in 2021 (an increase of 53.3 per cent). This was mostly due to increased accommodation costs for asylum seekers to ensure the measures set out in law were adhered to in limiting the spread of COVID-19. For media enquiries, please contact Karmen Ivey on kivey@ippf.org or media@ippf.org  About the International Planned Parenthood Federation The International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) is a global service provider and advocate of sexual and reproductive health and rights for all.   For over 65 years, IPPF through its 118 Member Associations and 15 partners, has delivered high-quality sexual and reproductive healthcare and helped advance sexual rights, especially for people with intersectional and diverse needs that are currently unmet. Our Member Associations and partners are independent organizations that are locally owned, which means the support and care they provide is informed by local expertise and context. We advocate for a world where people are provided with the information they need to make informed decisions about their sexual health and bodies. We stand up and fight for sexual and reproductive rights, and against those who seek to deny people their human right to bodily autonomy and freedom. We deliver care that is rooted in rights, respect, and dignity – no matter what.  

The Government’s Equalities Assessment shows that the government was well aware that the scale of the 2021 aid cuts to specific gender interventions, including Violence Against Women and Girls and Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights, would disproportionately impact women, girls and people with protected characteristics such as those living with disabilities.  The U.K. government were also aware that the aid cuts would reduce services available to survivors of sexual violence, including sexual exploitation, abuse and sexual harassment. Dr Alvaro Bermejo, Director-General of the International Planned Parenthood Federation, said: “We are pleased to see the long-awaited equalities assessment and are hopeful that public scrutiny will encourage the Government to double down on its efforts to champion and support equality. Government commitments are especially significant for 2022, given the scale of the 2021 aid cuts to specific gender interventions, including those helping to end Violence Against Women and Girls, Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights programmes and targeted interventions aimed at reaching those left furthest behind – including people living with disabilities. “Today, the role of international aid in building a better, safer and equal world is more relevant than ever as the Ukrainian people look to governments across the globe to support them during the most severe humanitarian crisis Europe has seen in years. With the EU predicting up to 7 million displaced people and vulnerable refugee populations requiring distinct and personalised care, we ask the U.K Government to step up for the international community and return to the 0.7% aid target as soon as possible – the lives and futures of people across the globe depend on it.” Manuelle Hurwitz, Director of Programmes for IPPF, added:   "The government knew the reduction to development programmes would completely contradict its priorities of getting 40 million more girls into education by 2025 flies in the face of achieving gender equality and yet it chose to proceed with them anyway.   For media enquiries, please contact media@ippf.org  

Over the past few days, the world has watched in horror and disbelief at the events unfolding in Ukraine. It is estimated that over 500,000 people have now fled – many of whom are women and children – into neighbouring countries such as Poland, Hungary and Romania. The UN anticipates 4 million refugees by July 2022. During Humanitarian crises, sexual and reproductive healthcare is often overlooked. But the reality is daily sexual and reproductive healthcare needs such as essential care for pregnant people, access to menstruation products for people who menstruate, as well as ensuring people who need sexual and reproductive health assistance have access to the right information, remains an urgent priority. IPPF is working with partners on the ground in Poland to link those fleeing the conflict with critical sexual and reproductive health services as well as provide them with essential items.  Julie Taft,  Director of Humanitarian for the International Planned Parenthood Federation, said "As we mark one week since the invasion of Ukraine, the complex humanitarian situation has become even more apparent. Right now, millions across the country are fighting for their survival, while food, medical supplies and essential hygiene products run dangerously low, including equipment needed to provide life-saving sexual and reproductive healthcare. The destruction of healthcare infrastructure also means that women are forced to deliver their babies in bomb shelters. At the same time, sick and vulnerable new-borns must receive care in the basements of hospitals.   "In response to the growing humanitarian crisis, the International Planned Parenthood Federation has partnered with the All-Poland's Women's Strike, a Polish women's rights movement currently supporting people displaced by the war. The $50,000 USD grant will go towards dignity kits, consisting of basic hygiene supplies, menstrual-hygiene products, blankets, food, diapers and baby clothes. Items will be distributed to Ukrainians who have fled into Poland as well as transported cross-border into Ukraine. The funds will also support the All-Poland's women's strike to link refugees who have crossed the Ukraine-Poland border with essential healthcare services. "IPPF is proud to partner with such a brave and unyielding organisation on the frontline and will continue to work closely with other NGOs to facilitate care for those who need it most. However, NGOs cannot operate efficiently without the support of the international community, which must guarantee the safe passage of humanitarian aid into Ukraine. The urgent need for unhindered humanitarian access is especially significant for unaccompanied minors and those left behind, who are often the most vulnerable populations and who will require distinct care during this tragic situation." Marta Lempart, Founder of the All-Poland Women's Strike, said: "We are deeply committed to helping displaced people flee the invasion of our neighbour, Ukraine. Our teams across Poland are working around the clock to support vulnerable people crossing both at the border, including unaccompanied minors at-risk of trafficking and those left behind or heading back to Ukraine. Both groups will require personalised care and support. "We are pleased to partner with the International Planned Parenthood Federation, so we can continue delivering dignity kits to those who need them most; for displaced people arriving with just the clothes on their back, access to even simple necessities are a lifeline. We are also thankful for the outpouring of support from across Europe - the funding will help care for exhausted families who have made it safely across the border, covering transport, rent, bills and other expenses as they begin to build their futures outside of Ukraine. "Disasters reinforce, perpetuate, and increase existing inequalities, making bad situations even more tragic and resulting in consequences that will carry down for generations. But with the international community's support, we can ensure that organisations like Women's Strike and IPPF are there for people every step of the way." Click here if you would like to donate to IPPF's Ukraine Appeal.  For media enquiries, please contact Karmen Ivey on kivey@ippf.org or media@ippf.org