Packer, Corinne

This article first highlights the principal challenges which adolescents may face in obtaining information on sexual and reproductive matters and in gaining access to contraceptive methods and services. The author then attempts to clearly identify which human rights are relevant in the prevention of unwanted pregnancy among adolescents, with particular attention to the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). The article also addresses, and endeavours to resolve, the apparent conflict between the competing interests and rights of children and their parents or guardians.

The article notes that while the notion of a prescribed set of reproductive rights has been advanced in various contexts, particularly in the agendas for action adopted at the United Nations conferences held in Cairo (1994) and Beijing (1995), these rights as a group remain controversial. In this article, the definition of reproductive rights in the Beijing Platform for Action is critically scrutinized, leading to the conclusion that only four of the so-called reproductive rights are provided in existing international human rights instruments.