Policy Briefs

The Status Of “Sexuality Education” Under International Law – Comprehensive sexuality education is one of the most controversial terms at the United Nations, and fights over CSE have contributed in large part to UN documents being withdrawn from negotiations because States bitterly disagreed.  Since UN agencies and their allies that promote CSE have been so unsuccessful in getting the body of the UN to openly and willingly adopt CSE as an international right, CSE advocates have resorted to interpreting language such as “education on sexual and reproductive health,” or “inclusive education” to encompass a right to CSE or to be defined as CSE.  Family Watch has created this policy brief to provide context and clarifications.

The Deceptive “Eastern And Southern African (ESA) Commitment” On Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) – UN agencies, their allied organizations, and several Western governments are using deceptive strategies to further their radical sexual rights agenda by facilitating multilateral government “commitment” documents to promote comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) for young children. This strategy of using CSE “commitment” or “declaration” documents has been implemented in Eastern and Southern Africa and in the Latin American and Caribbean region. All countries should be alert to this tactic.

Re-Examining The Evidence For Comprehensive Sexuality Education In Schools: A Global Research Review (by The Institute for Research & Evaluation) – This research review found that in applying meaningful standards of effectiveness—criteria that have scientific validity and practical utility for policymakers and parents—to sex education outcomes produces a very different pattern of evidence for school-based CSE than what is typically reported by other research reviews that employ lax definitions of effectiveness. Using this more-credible approach, the claims that school-based CSE has been proven effective and AE is ineffective are not supported by 120 of the strongest and most recent outcome studies of sex education worldwide, the same studies that have been relied upon by the U.S. government and UNESCO in their extensive reviews of CSE research. Three decades of research indicate that comprehensive sex education has not been an effective public health strategy in schools around the world, has shown far more evidence of failure than success, and has produced a concerning number of harmful impacts. The evidence for abstinence education effectiveness in the U.S., though limited, appears more promising—enough to justify additional research.