Sexual rights are the principles and protections that enable us to live our lives to their full potential. However, many people do not live in an environment that is supportive of sexual rights, so these rights are too often denied. Governments can fail in their duty to uphold and protect such rights, and when individual citizens are not aware of their rights they are unable to hold their governments to account. Vulnerable and marginalized groups are at greater risk of having their rights denied. Such denial leads to disempowerment and inequality: those who most need their rights to be protected are the least able to demand and exercise their rights. The denial of sexual rights has significant consequences for an individual’s health and emotional well-being. For example, barriers that prevent access to information, education and services; discrimination on the basis of gender or sexuality; and the failure to protect against sexual-related harm, all prevent people from attaining the highest standard of physical and emotional health. But when states, service providers and individual citizens respect, protect and fulfil the sexual rights of all, the result is a healthier, happier and more empowered population.

Sexual rights do not just represent lofty ideological rhetoric. They are fundamental, indivisible, universal and inalienable and they place everyone on an equal footing. When sexual rights are integrated into health care, advocacy and communications programmes they have practical implications for individual citizens, health service providers and government policy. This integrated approach can be particularly effective when addressing issues considered to be sensitive and taboo that often provoke emotive and value-laden responses from the public and government.

Promoting sexual rights is an approach increasingly used in programmes designed to address a range of sexual and reproductive health issues. The Innovation Fund projects featured in this publication show how it is possible to apply a sexual rights framework to effectively address three very different issues: barriers to accessing safe abortion services, the absence of specialized sexuality education and services for people with disabilities, and human trafficking for sexual exploitation. All three projects raised the awareness of stakeholders of the universality of sexual rights. In doing so, change was secured in government policy and service provider practice, and individuals were empowered to expect, demand and protect their own sexual rights.

Sexual Rights, From Rhetoric to Reality brings together lessons learned from three Innovation Fund projects that successfully used a rights-based framework to create a more favourable environment that recognizes, protects and advances sexual rights. By emphasizing the universality of sexual rights and calling for these rights to be upheld, each project implemented an innovative approach to challenge previously accepted norms.