I hope you will find out what SRH are
means at the end of this talk but I like
the struggle continues and the hashtag
but let me start with three years ago
where I was attending a summer course
and bioethics in the beautiful Italy and
there was a gynecologist from Chile that
yes there we are so three years ago in
the beautiful Italy I was at a bioethics
course to to talk about it with
different students and there was a
gynecologist from Chile who took the
stand to talk to us about the ethical
decision that changed her life she took
us back to a day when a young woman came
into her practice bleeding crying and
hopeless the young woman had attempted
an abortion and had damaged her own life
and body the gynecologist was in doubt
because she was stuck between doing her
profession and saving the woman’s life
but also between the law and Chile which
criminalizes abortion but she didn’t
have a lot of times think about it so
she decided to finalize the abortion and
save the woman’s life we were all
shocked to hear the story and we were
astonished by the choice that she made
and then she joked about how she ended
up in jail for a year but that gave her
the time to think about her decision
although she never regretted it for me
it was very weird to hear because how
how can you end up in jail for saving a
woman’s life for a decision that she
made I think there in Italy the seed was
planted for my passion and ambition to
work on SR HR which stands for sexual
reproductive health and rights and it is
about a lot of things
it’s about it so it combines a lot of
things it’s about sexual health it’s
about sexual diversity it’s about an
abortion or your choice and let me
introduce myself then I am melody –
Marcy owns the Youth Ambassador on SR HR
so I work within the Dutch Ministry
which is in collaboration with NGO
choice
and my job is to talk to young people
from all around the world about their
sexual and reproductive health and
rights and I use all those examples and
experiences to push for policies that
the young people believe is important to
them at the national but also at the
international level and before I started
to work as a youth ambassador I saw HR
felt as a topic that is quite far away
in countries with poverty social
injustice inequality but I found out
throughout the last months that I worked
on this job that is actually quite close
it’s happening every day I sorry char is
it’s the topic that affects us all every
day in every country because it’s simply
about love sex and life but I have a
question for you I hope I find out how
yes who in this audience by showing
hands things that they are affected by
yes oh like 25% okay let’s see how you
answer that at the end of the talk I
will take you back within my experience
that I’ve had but in my role so far in
the past eight months and I want to do
that by introducing you to three very
inspiring people I met so far and the
quotes that they that really hit me when
they told me about it
let’s start in Ethiopia I was there last
October in Addis Ababa and I met amazing
young feminists working on girls rights
at the end of the meeting we had a young
girl and called Nadia came up to me and
she asked me how did you felt my new hat
your first period I didn’t really know
where she was going with a question but
I shared my experience and Nadia nodded
and said you want to hear mine so she
told me all about how ashamed and
disgusted she was when she had her first
period and that she tried to hide it
from the family with very weird
materials that she would find and she
was so embarrassed by what was half
after a few days she get adore her
courage picked her words very carefully
to go up to her mom and and tell her or
ask her basically ugh what is going on
down there but and she panicked and she
just yelled mom there’s blood coming out
of me and a very first thing that her
mom said to her was well then you are
not allowed to play with boys anymore
which is weird to hear because that’s
not the first thing I’ve heard for the
first years that Nadia had her
menstruation and again with a lot of
girls in her community she was ashamed
she was disgusted not allowed to play
with boys anymore
and also there were no sanitary pads or
tampons available so she would drop out
of school once a month and eventually
drop completely out of school because
she was far behind I mean you can
understand why that hit me because of
course I was also very ashamed very
disgusted and and struggling with
sanitary pads when I first had my period
but I didn’t drop out of school I kept
hanging out with my friends female and
male and nothing really changed that
much it’s just uncomfortable and I mean
if you’re young and you have your period
you just try to find ways that no one
will find out and you think that it’s
written all of your forhead that
everyone knows it but I didn’t have that
many struggles so Nadia must have seen
the shock at my face and she said well
you know what I’m doing now I am making
organic pets out of organic materials
because when my little sister couldn’t
go to school anymore I thought I should
do something
I lost my future but she should not but
that was in 2010 and now Nadia is this
young entrepreneur or collecting tampons
making organic pads to keep young girls
where they belong in schools and she
really hit me with that story and I
believe that we can talk we should talk
about it more because in the Netherlands
I mean sanitary pads are available but
there is still a little taboo on it it’s
hard to talk about it definitely when
you’re young and but do realize that in
other countries such as Ethiopia there
is this big
boom on something so normal for the half
of the population and that’s why a lot
of girls it takes them by surprise they
can’t go to school anymore because they
don’t have any accessibility to pass
which means that it’s very hard for them
to ever read social or economic
independency if they’re not able to go
to school because of this simple thing
so I want to ask all of us from here to
make this commitment together to not
make it more uncomfortable or awkward
than it already is I mean half of the
population is having it every month and
it is what it is so let’s not secretly
get the tampon on your way to the toilet
but just make it a walk of Pride and we
owe that to Nadia and her little sister
because she they are even having heard
her struggles to get through and we can
at least do that for them but that was
just one person I met that inspired me
then all the way back to the Netherlands
where I met a Syrian guy Yousef 21 years
old when he left Syria during the war I
ran into him at this refugee community
community space kind of thing in
Amsterdam and there was an evening
organized about sexuality and love for
every person with other beliefs
religions lives but now living in the
Netherlands and the evening was ended
and I ran into Youssef we started
talking we walked together to the Metro
so I asked him how he felt about evening
and it talks we had he giggles and he
responded with I always thought I am a
boy and I like girls but I didn’t know
there were so many flavors in sexuality
we burst into laughter and said our
goodbyes but I kept thinking about what
Youssef had said so two weeks later I
went back and I wanted to catch up with
him so we talked about the Dutch cold
weather about sexuality how things were
back in Syria and he really opened up
and taught told me how he was struggling
with his identity and that evening
really got stuck in his head he had so
many questions left what are the choices
is it safe to use condoms
because sometimes he was used it being
pierced and not working anymore
can you get tested for sexually
transmitted diseases where how much does
it cost and he was really struggling and
I want to ask you guys how many of you
have had sexuality education now well
that’s quite a lot and how many of you
sometimes I have to look back because
I’m not sure if it’s interlined how many
of you have felt that the sexuality
education you got has made you well
prepared to make decisions about your
sexuality oh that’s for you still happy
to see some hints though there is one
other word I would like to introduce you
a little abbreviation that’s the last
one it’s comprehensive sexuality
education CS E which means that
sexuality education should be
comprehensive like it should be it
should be speaking to the young people
it should include a lot of topics not
only the sex part and in the Netherlands
every school is applicated to provide it
to their students but obviously it
doesn’t always happen in an appropriate
way and I even found out that in the
Bible Belt which is a very conservative
religious part in the Netherlands
sometimes kids are told how to persuade
homosexuals to become hetero happening
in the Netherlands well that is that is
not comprehensive I would say that’s
more propaganda it’s it’s messing with
kids it’s it’s confusing their
identities at a very young age and
that’s like in the country that we think
is tolerant that is that working a lot
on sexuality but then we can’t control
what is told by the teacher or the
parents and I told you Youssef was
optimistic and funny and he was really
into life so when I ran another time
into him he told me you know what I’m
doing now I’m going around the community
centre and of refugees and I’m asking
there about love and sex and I’m talking
with the little kids about it and
telling them how I’m struggling but it’s
fine I’ll get there so I found it very
inspiring and that’s the thing I would
really that’s the second message I would
like to that it
across because sexuality education is so
much more than the sex part it’s not
about scaring young people so that they
will wait it’s not about the actual sex
part
it’s about sexual diversity it’s about
yes this is from Mean Girls I love this
screenshot it’s not about scaring people
right because not all teachers but I
also had a teacher which told me not no
be could you wait until you can’t wait
anymore it’s like oh my god okay never
sex because I will die it’s more than
that right it’s about what your options
are which contraceptives you can use
whether there is abortion what is your
sexual pleasure what are your body
rights and it is up to you to make a
decision if how and when you want to
have a relationship a family it’s all up
to you and that should be in sexuality
education so I want to say let’s have
openly talks about sex we all know the
song I think maybe this generation
doesn’t about let’s talk about sex baby
yeah that song I’m gonna try to use that
more when I talk to young people because
it is normal in a lot of ways but it’s
always about the biology part of sex and
we should talk about so much more than
that because if young people get the
right information they will make the
right decisions for themselves and this
is to parents and teachers talking about
it and only uninformed people will take
unnecessary risk to find out the
information that we try to hide from
them let’s put it all on the table and
have faith in our own beliefs that they
will make the right decision if we do as
CSC is actually the fundament of all
sexual reproductive issues that’s why I
want to talk about the next topic I left
you a little bit there hanging with the
story about abortion so I’ll get back to
that because that is one of my main
focuses as a youth ambassador why is
that because six point nine million
women each year have complications from
unsafe abortions and 22,000 women died
because of it that is a lot it’s
because of unsafe abortions and this is
not even all the numbers because it’s
hard to register unsafe abortions
because it’s clandestine mostly in the
Netherlands maybe you can expect it is
legal but it doesn’t mean that there is
no taboo
there is no stigma and the discussions
are very sensitive and intense I was
giving a workshop a few months ago in
Amsterdam about sexual reproductive
health and rights and human rights and
and getting into discussion with the
young kids and we got a very intense
discussion on abortion whether it should
be legal under which conditions and the
kids were really in it I couldn’t really
put them out and say like okay next
discussion but they were really into it
what struck me the most is that there
was this girl 14 years old very
religious a Muslim girl intensely
opposing against abortion but what
happened next is that a fellow student
as there okay done do you think it
should be banned if your dad against it
and the little the young girl said no I
don’t care what other people chose to do
it’s up to them but I won’t do such a
thing and I think that is very
courageous to say that is a young girl
very religious knowing the difference
between her choice and someone else’s
choice that is a skill that a lot of
politicians and high-level people have
yet to learn and coming to our big
friend we all know Trump it should be in
all presentation at least once I don’t
know if you notice but on the first day
that he went he became president he
signed the Mexico City policy I won’t
get technical about it but that means
that every organization abroad working
on abortion will you lose all their
fundings if they keep working on
abortion even if it’s only providing
information so you can see from and a
lot of male administrators are making a
decision affecting millions people’s
I have found that impact in Mozambique I
was there two weeks earlier and in
Mozambique abortion is legal and it’s
for free but no not knowing no one that
I spoke to knew about that because
organizations are afraid to talk about
abortion because they will lose funding
because of Trump so they don’t talk
about it girls that can have free legal
and safe abortions go to unsaved
abortions and die or have complications
and this is something all men decided
for women these were three small
examples of sexual reproductive health
and rights topics from menstruation what
could lead to the dropping out of school
abortion but also sexuality education
and the more the most important thing
about SR HR is I found out it is very
close it is happening every day for
everyone in every country but more
importantly it’s interlined with global
issues because if a girl cannot go to
school because she has no sanitary pads
or because she has a teenage pregnancy
or she marriage she got married way too
early then how can we have social and
economic independency or if girls and
boys can’t have any contraceptives then
they will be infected with sexual
transmitted diseases or in danger in HIV
and AIDS and that will impact their
lives or if we don’t get the right
information in schools we are left with
misconceptions with confusions and maybe
even that will stimulate us to draw
homophobic things on hope it’s coming
yes this was the suit supply commercial
of last week this happened last week in
the Netherlands where homophobic
drawings were made on the pictures of
two men kissing and there was a Twitter
I hope it will come with said apparently
drawing a swastika is more normal than
two men kissing happening in the
Netherlands where we feel were very
tolerant we were very Pro gay and then
this happens so I want to ask you are
you in any way affected by us our HR
sexual reproductive health and rights
it’s too dark for me to see but I’m just
gonna say yeah I see more hands I hope
that we can use these things to to give
further because you are the young people
that have the power to make this change
we as young persons know what is more
important to us no one is more capable
of knowing what is more important to us
than we do young people are the
realities behind the policies made about
whether you can express sexuality
whether you can have contraceptives and
if bortion is legal and I believe in the
infinite power of young people to make
the change for themselves and their
communities and I will do my part
because I believe that everyone has the
right to express their identity without
fear shame or jeopardizing their own
health or life sexual reproductive
health and rights cannot be a privilege
it should not depend on your age your
gender where you’re from or how your
government feels about it sexual
reproductive health and rights SR HR is
inherently connected to human beings and
I think everyone at the end of the day
is as human as you and I thank you
you [Applause]
means at the end of this talk but I like
the struggle continues and the hashtag
but let me start with three years ago
where I was attending a summer course
and bioethics in the beautiful Italy and
there was a gynecologist from Chile that
yes there we are so three years ago in
the beautiful Italy I was at a bioethics
course to to talk about it with
different students and there was a
gynecologist from Chile who took the
stand to talk to us about the ethical
decision that changed her life she took
us back to a day when a young woman came
into her practice bleeding crying and
hopeless the young woman had attempted
an abortion and had damaged her own life
and body the gynecologist was in doubt
because she was stuck between doing her
profession and saving the woman’s life
but also between the law and Chile which
criminalizes abortion but she didn’t
have a lot of times think about it so
she decided to finalize the abortion and
save the woman’s life we were all
shocked to hear the story and we were
astonished by the choice that she made
and then she joked about how she ended
up in jail for a year but that gave her
the time to think about her decision
although she never regretted it for me
it was very weird to hear because how
how can you end up in jail for saving a
woman’s life for a decision that she
made I think there in Italy the seed was
planted for my passion and ambition to
work on SR HR which stands for sexual
reproductive health and rights and it is
about a lot of things
it’s about it so it combines a lot of
things it’s about sexual health it’s
about sexual diversity it’s about an
abortion or your choice and let me
introduce myself then I am melody –
Marcy owns the Youth Ambassador on SR HR
so I work within the Dutch Ministry
which is in collaboration with NGO
choice
and my job is to talk to young people
from all around the world about their
sexual and reproductive health and
rights and I use all those examples and
experiences to push for policies that
the young people believe is important to
them at the national but also at the
international level and before I started
to work as a youth ambassador I saw HR
felt as a topic that is quite far away
in countries with poverty social
injustice inequality but I found out
throughout the last months that I worked
on this job that is actually quite close
it’s happening every day I sorry char is
it’s the topic that affects us all every
day in every country because it’s simply
about love sex and life but I have a
question for you I hope I find out how
yes who in this audience by showing
hands things that they are affected by
yes oh like 25% okay let’s see how you
answer that at the end of the talk I
will take you back within my experience
that I’ve had but in my role so far in
the past eight months and I want to do
that by introducing you to three very
inspiring people I met so far and the
quotes that they that really hit me when
they told me about it
let’s start in Ethiopia I was there last
October in Addis Ababa and I met amazing
young feminists working on girls rights
at the end of the meeting we had a young
girl and called Nadia came up to me and
she asked me how did you felt my new hat
your first period I didn’t really know
where she was going with a question but
I shared my experience and Nadia nodded
and said you want to hear mine so she
told me all about how ashamed and
disgusted she was when she had her first
period and that she tried to hide it
from the family with very weird
materials that she would find and she
was so embarrassed by what was half
after a few days she get adore her
courage picked her words very carefully
to go up to her mom and and tell her or
ask her basically ugh what is going on
down there but and she panicked and she
just yelled mom there’s blood coming out
of me and a very first thing that her
mom said to her was well then you are
not allowed to play with boys anymore
which is weird to hear because that’s
not the first thing I’ve heard for the
first years that Nadia had her
menstruation and again with a lot of
girls in her community she was ashamed
she was disgusted not allowed to play
with boys anymore
and also there were no sanitary pads or
tampons available so she would drop out
of school once a month and eventually
drop completely out of school because
she was far behind I mean you can
understand why that hit me because of
course I was also very ashamed very
disgusted and and struggling with
sanitary pads when I first had my period
but I didn’t drop out of school I kept
hanging out with my friends female and
male and nothing really changed that
much it’s just uncomfortable and I mean
if you’re young and you have your period
you just try to find ways that no one
will find out and you think that it’s
written all of your forhead that
everyone knows it but I didn’t have that
many struggles so Nadia must have seen
the shock at my face and she said well
you know what I’m doing now I am making
organic pets out of organic materials
because when my little sister couldn’t
go to school anymore I thought I should
do something
I lost my future but she should not but
that was in 2010 and now Nadia is this
young entrepreneur or collecting tampons
making organic pads to keep young girls
where they belong in schools and she
really hit me with that story and I
believe that we can talk we should talk
about it more because in the Netherlands
I mean sanitary pads are available but
there is still a little taboo on it it’s
hard to talk about it definitely when
you’re young and but do realize that in
other countries such as Ethiopia there
is this big
boom on something so normal for the half
of the population and that’s why a lot
of girls it takes them by surprise they
can’t go to school anymore because they
don’t have any accessibility to pass
which means that it’s very hard for them
to ever read social or economic
independency if they’re not able to go
to school because of this simple thing
so I want to ask all of us from here to
make this commitment together to not
make it more uncomfortable or awkward
than it already is I mean half of the
population is having it every month and
it is what it is so let’s not secretly
get the tampon on your way to the toilet
but just make it a walk of Pride and we
owe that to Nadia and her little sister
because she they are even having heard
her struggles to get through and we can
at least do that for them but that was
just one person I met that inspired me
then all the way back to the Netherlands
where I met a Syrian guy Yousef 21 years
old when he left Syria during the war I
ran into him at this refugee community
community space kind of thing in
Amsterdam and there was an evening
organized about sexuality and love for
every person with other beliefs
religions lives but now living in the
Netherlands and the evening was ended
and I ran into Youssef we started
talking we walked together to the Metro
so I asked him how he felt about evening
and it talks we had he giggles and he
responded with I always thought I am a
boy and I like girls but I didn’t know
there were so many flavors in sexuality
we burst into laughter and said our
goodbyes but I kept thinking about what
Youssef had said so two weeks later I
went back and I wanted to catch up with
him so we talked about the Dutch cold
weather about sexuality how things were
back in Syria and he really opened up
and taught told me how he was struggling
with his identity and that evening
really got stuck in his head he had so
many questions left what are the choices
is it safe to use condoms
because sometimes he was used it being
pierced and not working anymore
can you get tested for sexually
transmitted diseases where how much does
it cost and he was really struggling and
I want to ask you guys how many of you
have had sexuality education now well
that’s quite a lot and how many of you
sometimes I have to look back because
I’m not sure if it’s interlined how many
of you have felt that the sexuality
education you got has made you well
prepared to make decisions about your
sexuality oh that’s for you still happy
to see some hints though there is one
other word I would like to introduce you
a little abbreviation that’s the last
one it’s comprehensive sexuality
education CS E which means that
sexuality education should be
comprehensive like it should be it
should be speaking to the young people
it should include a lot of topics not
only the sex part and in the Netherlands
every school is applicated to provide it
to their students but obviously it
doesn’t always happen in an appropriate
way and I even found out that in the
Bible Belt which is a very conservative
religious part in the Netherlands
sometimes kids are told how to persuade
homosexuals to become hetero happening
in the Netherlands well that is that is
not comprehensive I would say that’s
more propaganda it’s it’s messing with
kids it’s it’s confusing their
identities at a very young age and
that’s like in the country that we think
is tolerant that is that working a lot
on sexuality but then we can’t control
what is told by the teacher or the
parents and I told you Youssef was
optimistic and funny and he was really
into life so when I ran another time
into him he told me you know what I’m
doing now I’m going around the community
centre and of refugees and I’m asking
there about love and sex and I’m talking
with the little kids about it and
telling them how I’m struggling but it’s
fine I’ll get there so I found it very
inspiring and that’s the thing I would
really that’s the second message I would
like to that it
across because sexuality education is so
much more than the sex part it’s not
about scaring young people so that they
will wait it’s not about the actual sex
part
it’s about sexual diversity it’s about
yes this is from Mean Girls I love this
screenshot it’s not about scaring people
right because not all teachers but I
also had a teacher which told me not no
be could you wait until you can’t wait
anymore it’s like oh my god okay never
sex because I will die it’s more than
that right it’s about what your options
are which contraceptives you can use
whether there is abortion what is your
sexual pleasure what are your body
rights and it is up to you to make a
decision if how and when you want to
have a relationship a family it’s all up
to you and that should be in sexuality
education so I want to say let’s have
openly talks about sex we all know the
song I think maybe this generation
doesn’t about let’s talk about sex baby
yeah that song I’m gonna try to use that
more when I talk to young people because
it is normal in a lot of ways but it’s
always about the biology part of sex and
we should talk about so much more than
that because if young people get the
right information they will make the
right decisions for themselves and this
is to parents and teachers talking about
it and only uninformed people will take
unnecessary risk to find out the
information that we try to hide from
them let’s put it all on the table and
have faith in our own beliefs that they
will make the right decision if we do as
CSC is actually the fundament of all
sexual reproductive issues that’s why I
want to talk about the next topic I left
you a little bit there hanging with the
story about abortion so I’ll get back to
that because that is one of my main
focuses as a youth ambassador why is
that because six point nine million
women each year have complications from
unsafe abortions and 22,000 women died
because of it that is a lot it’s
because of unsafe abortions and this is
not even all the numbers because it’s
hard to register unsafe abortions
because it’s clandestine mostly in the
Netherlands maybe you can expect it is
legal but it doesn’t mean that there is
no taboo
there is no stigma and the discussions
are very sensitive and intense I was
giving a workshop a few months ago in
Amsterdam about sexual reproductive
health and rights and human rights and
and getting into discussion with the
young kids and we got a very intense
discussion on abortion whether it should
be legal under which conditions and the
kids were really in it I couldn’t really
put them out and say like okay next
discussion but they were really into it
what struck me the most is that there
was this girl 14 years old very
religious a Muslim girl intensely
opposing against abortion but what
happened next is that a fellow student
as there okay done do you think it
should be banned if your dad against it
and the little the young girl said no I
don’t care what other people chose to do
it’s up to them but I won’t do such a
thing and I think that is very
courageous to say that is a young girl
very religious knowing the difference
between her choice and someone else’s
choice that is a skill that a lot of
politicians and high-level people have
yet to learn and coming to our big
friend we all know Trump it should be in
all presentation at least once I don’t
know if you notice but on the first day
that he went he became president he
signed the Mexico City policy I won’t
get technical about it but that means
that every organization abroad working
on abortion will you lose all their
fundings if they keep working on
abortion even if it’s only providing
information so you can see from and a
lot of male administrators are making a
decision affecting millions people’s
I have found that impact in Mozambique I
was there two weeks earlier and in
Mozambique abortion is legal and it’s
for free but no not knowing no one that
I spoke to knew about that because
organizations are afraid to talk about
abortion because they will lose funding
because of Trump so they don’t talk
about it girls that can have free legal
and safe abortions go to unsaved
abortions and die or have complications
and this is something all men decided
for women these were three small
examples of sexual reproductive health
and rights topics from menstruation what
could lead to the dropping out of school
abortion but also sexuality education
and the more the most important thing
about SR HR is I found out it is very
close it is happening every day for
everyone in every country but more
importantly it’s interlined with global
issues because if a girl cannot go to
school because she has no sanitary pads
or because she has a teenage pregnancy
or she marriage she got married way too
early then how can we have social and
economic independency or if girls and
boys can’t have any contraceptives then
they will be infected with sexual
transmitted diseases or in danger in HIV
and AIDS and that will impact their
lives or if we don’t get the right
information in schools we are left with
misconceptions with confusions and maybe
even that will stimulate us to draw
homophobic things on hope it’s coming
yes this was the suit supply commercial
of last week this happened last week in
the Netherlands where homophobic
drawings were made on the pictures of
two men kissing and there was a Twitter
I hope it will come with said apparently
drawing a swastika is more normal than
two men kissing happening in the
Netherlands where we feel were very
tolerant we were very Pro gay and then
this happens so I want to ask you are
you in any way affected by us our HR
sexual reproductive health and rights
it’s too dark for me to see but I’m just
gonna say yeah I see more hands I hope
that we can use these things to to give
further because you are the young people
that have the power to make this change
we as young persons know what is more
important to us no one is more capable
of knowing what is more important to us
than we do young people are the
realities behind the policies made about
whether you can express sexuality
whether you can have contraceptives and
if bortion is legal and I believe in the
infinite power of young people to make
the change for themselves and their
communities and I will do my part
because I believe that everyone has the
right to express their identity without
fear shame or jeopardizing their own
health or life sexual reproductive
health and rights cannot be a privilege
it should not depend on your age your
gender where you’re from or how your
government feels about it sexual
reproductive health and rights SR HR is
inherently connected to human beings and
I think everyone at the end of the day
is as human as you and I thank you
you [Applause]
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