Desires and boundaries

A recent study shows that secondary school students rate sex education at school at 5.8. The report by Rutgers and SRI therefore contains concrete recommendations for structurally improving sex education. Sex education should be made compulsory in the upper grades of secondary education. Teachers should be equipped by including sexuality and sexual diversity in their training. Finally, the core objectives for schools should be expanded. Sex education goes beyond the basic principles of human biology and gender equality. More attention is needed for desires and boundaries, mutual respect and adequate information about sexuality. This is the only way to promote good citizenship and eradicate sexual violence.

Concrete paths to improvement

Although sexual and reproductive health and rights are generally accessible and protected in the Netherlands, challenges remain. The persistence of sexual violence, lack of access to adequate information, contraception and care services, particularly for groups that are already vulnerable, prompted Rutgers to carry out a thorough evaluation.

The report will be presented in Geneva in September. It contains the following recommendations:

  • Extend compulsory sex education to all grades of secondary school, with sex education being provided up to the age of 18.
  • Make sufficient resources available for the National Action Plan on Sexual Violence and adopt a gender-transformative, youth-friendly approach. The emphasis should be on prevention, cultural change and eliminating harmful norms.
  • Develop better methods for collecting data on access to contraception and care services for at-risk groups.

Rutgers is closely monitoring the Universal Periodic Review and urges the Dutch government to involve civil society organizations and networks in an action plan.

About the UPR

The UPR process, in which a country reports on its own human rights situation, provides an opportunity for contributions from civil society organizations, known as shadow reports. After the reporting, the state concerned receives recommendations for improvement from other member states. The Netherlands was last reviewed in 2017. Since then, some improvements have been made based on the recommendations, but much work remains to be done. The Universal Periodic Review is a mandatory process for every UN member state and has existed since 2005.

Read the full report here.