Sexuality education and international standards: Insisting upon children’s rights

The #MeToo movement has exposed the need for education about consent, power dynamics and positive relationships. International human rights instruments oblige states to provide sexuality education, and there have been some legal challenges to state provision of such education. Courts at regional and domestic levels have focused on the benefits to the state of sexuality education, holding it permissible if it is “objective” and if parents may educate privately to avoid it. It is argued in this article however that greater focus is required on sexuality education as primarily a child’s human right, independent of state discretion and/or parental rights.