Final contribution to the general comment on SRH

BREASTFEEDING AND THE RIGHT TO SEXUAL AND REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH Contribution to the General Comment on the right to sexual and reproductive health by IBFAN and WABA In the light of the upcoming General Comment on the right to sexual and reproductive (SRH), the International Baby Food Action Network (IBFAN) and the World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action (WABA) would like to bring to the attention of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights some key issues related to breastfeeding. Breastfeeding has not been properly recognized by the international community as an essential part of women's reproductive cycle or as a sexual and reproductive right although there are sufficient medical, legal and social grounds to expound it as such. From a human rights perspective, several international instruments already provide basis for breastfeeding to be interpreted as a human right, related directly to the right to health and to food. However, breastfeeding is constantly undervalued and threatened, because of misinformation and commercial pressures, or because it is a maternal practice seen by some as being incompatible with other roles that women have, in particular their occupational role. Dominant social values, structures and institutions, which are rapidly spreading across the globe, often exploit and undervalue women's physical needs and both their productive and reproductive contributions. Hence the international community needs to recognize the ...