Mexico City, August 19, 2025. The Member States of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) closed the XVI Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean with the adoption of the Tlatelolco Commitment, an unprecedented agreement: a ten-year plan of action (2025-2035) focused on building a care society, as a means to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). basis for guaranteeing reproductive autonomy, gender equality and social justice in the region.
The Commitment recognizes that care is not an individual or exclusive responsibility of women, but a human right that must be guaranteed by the State, socially distributed and supported by public policies with a gender, intersectional and intercultural approach. It also affirms that sexual and reproductive health is an essential right to guarantee the autonomy of women and pregnant women, including access to services and comprehensive sexuality education as a pillar of prevention, freedom and access to opportunities.
“In the face of social inequalities, lack of access to abortion and state neglect of care, the Tlatelolco Commitment is a message of collective hope. It reaffirms the region’s commitment to women, pregnant women, adolescents and girls, and recognizes that human rights, including sexual and reproductive rights, and gender equality are essential pillars for a democracy with social justice.” , said Marisol Escudero Martínez, deputy director of Advocacy for Ipas Latin America and the Caribbean.
The document also highlights the historical and current role of the feminist, indigenous, Afro-descendant, rural, youth, disabled and sexual diversity women’s movements, whose participation has been crucial in the defense of human rights in the region.
Four key aKey advances recognized at the Conference
- Recognition of care as an autonomous human right, endorsed by the Advisory Opinion 31/2025 of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, which establishes its three dimensions: caring, being cared for and self-care.
- Commemoration of the 30th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, as an opportunity to renew commitments to an economic and social model centered on life, care and the right to decide.
- Publication of the ECLAC position paper: “The Care Society: Governance, Political Economy and Social Dialogue for a Transformation with Gender Equality”, which presents strategic guidelines for advancing towards this new paradigm.
- Change of name of the forum to Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean, in recognition of the diversity of identities and experiences of women in the region.
Reproductive rights and the care society: a joint agenda
The link between the right to care and the right to decide is central to achieving substantive equality. Both are interdependent with other human rights such as autonomy, health, life with dignity, well-being, social protection and justice for all people, especially those who have been historically invisible.
Ipas LAC reaffirms that sexual and reproductive health care and health are not private responsibilities: they are public obligations and must be guaranteed by States through comprehensive, accessible policies with a focus on human rights, gender, intersectionality and interculturality.
Effective access to safe abortion services is indispensable for States to guarantee the highest standard of health for women and persons who are able to bear children and who have to perform caregiving tasks. It also allows those who decide to become mothers to do so freely and in full exercise of their reproductive autonomy.
“The closing of this conference appeals to social justice and democracy as ways to move towards a care society that guarantees reproductive autonomy and substantive equality”.concluded Escudero Martinez.