Challenges abound for women’s sexual and reproductive rights

Challenges abound for women’s sexual and reproductive rights

BMJ 2019;367:l7000
doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.l7000
Published 23 December 2019

Rojita Adhikari, freelance journalist

Health leaders gathered at the second International Conference on Population and Development in Nairobi last month to discuss how to improve women’s sexual and reproductive health. At the meeting Rojita Adhikari talked to Herminia Palacio, newly appointed president of the Guttmacher Institute, about the challenges and possibilities

Q: It’s been 25 years since the first ICPD conference was held. How far has the world come towards meeting the goals?

Continued: https://www.bmj.com/content/367/bmj.l7000

23.12.2019

Featured

Interviews/Podcasts

Herminia Palacio

International Conference on Population and development

Nairobi Summit

Nairobi Summit on ICPD25

Rojita Adhikari

Sustainable Development Goals

Opinion: Time to put abortion top of the SRHR agenda

Opinion: Time to put abortion top of the SRHR agenda

By Anu Kumar
09 December 2019

Just a couple of weeks ago, I attended the Nairobi Summit on ICPD25, which marked the 25th anniversary of the International Conference on Population and Development held in Cairo in 1994. The trip was particularly meaningful to me, having been at the Cairo meeting where 179 governments made women’s sexual and reproductive health and rights a priority goal of global development.

The anti-rights opposition movement called it “the abortion summit,” but in truth, it was far from it. In my opinion, that’s a shame, because we — the global health, sexual and reproductive health, and development fields — need an abortion summit.

Continued: https://www.devex.com/news/opinion-time-to-put-abortion-top-of-the-srhr-agenda-96151

Report: International Conference on Population & Development+25

International Conference on Population & Development+25
Nairobi, Kenya, 12-13-14 November 2019

Press Release: 22 November 2019

What was it about: some history

This conference has taken place every five years, beginning in 1994. At each follow-up meeting, the overarching purpose has been to measure progress (and the lack of progress) in implementing the 1994 Programme of Action, which was agreed by acclamation by the representatives of 179 countries, and the follow-up actions added at subsequent conferences. An excellent summary of the aims, goals and history of the conference can be found here and a 20th anniversary edition of the Programme of Action can be found here along with a global report on progress published in 2014.

In 1994, UNFPA, the conference convenor, described the Programme of Action as: “a bold new vision about the relationships between population, development and individual well-being… remarkable in its recognition that [sexual and] reproductive health and reproductive rights, as well as women's empowerment and gender equality, are cornerstones of population and development programmes. The Consensus is rooted in principles of human rights and respect for national sovereignty and various religious and cultural backgrounds.”

Continued: https://mailchi.mp/safeabortionwomensright/press-release-international-conference-population-development-25?e=372dd34034

22.11.2019

Commentary

Featured

Ana Cristina González Vélez

Articulación Feminista Marcosur

decriminalisation of abortion

Gita Sen

Hedia Belhadj

Ib Petersen

ICPD Programme of Action 1994

ICPD25

International Campaign for Women’s Right to Safe Abortion

International Conference on Population & Development

Kyle McCarter

Marge Berer

Marie Stopes International

maternal mortality

Nairobi Summit

Nairobi Summit on ICPD25

Naisola Likimani

OHCHR Working Group on Discrimination against Women and Girls

Programme of Action

sexual and reproductive health and rights

She Decides

Sustainable Development Goals

UNFPA

universal health coverage

YANAA

Young Activists Network for Abortion Advocacy

What Have We Delivered for the World’s Women and Girls Since 1994?

What Have We Delivered for the World’s Women and Girls Since 1994?

11/19/2019
by Latanya Mapp Frett

End poverty. End patriarchy. Could it be that these two goals are more intimately linked than ever before? Last week marked a rubber-hits-the-road moment for those who are interested in doing both.

Government leaders, politicians and civil society activists gathered from November 12 to 14 in Nairobi, Kenya for a United Nations Summit on population and development. I joined those delegates to follow up on commitments made 25 years ago at the original International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD)—and to continue to advocate for grassroots women’s voices to be not only present but fully heeded in these global conversations, processes and policies that will help determine our futures.

Continued: https://msmagazine.com/2019/11/19/what-have-we-delivered-for-the-worlds-women-and-girls-since-1994/

19.11.2019

International Conference on Population and development

‘Turkey should step up efforts on zero target for mother deaths’

'Turkey should step up efforts on zero target for mother deaths'

Barçın Yinanç - NAIROBI
November 18 2019

Professor Ayşe Akın received a United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) award last week in Nairobi, Kenya at the International Conference on Population and Development (ICDP25) for her contribution to the health of women at the global and national levels since 1994, when the first ICDP took place in Cairo, which she had also attended.

Can you give us an overview of Turkey’s population policies?

The new republic’s population was 13 million at the end of the war of liberation, when a lot of men had lost their lives. Modern Turkey founder Mustafa Kemal Atatürk had endorsed a pro-natal policy, but he has no forceful statement on the record.

Continued: http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/turkey-should-step-up-efforts-on-zero-target-for-mother-deaths-148798

US must lead the charge on global reproductive rights — not stand in the way

US must lead the charge on global reproductive rights — not stand in the way

By Rep. Lois Frankel (D-Fla.), Opinion Contributor
Nov 18, 2019

For women to lead full productive lives, they must have the freedom to make the health care choices that are best for them. And when women and girls are healthy, educated and safe, their countries and the world are more secure and prosperous.

Alarmingly, the Trump administration is taking us in the wrong direction, amplified by recent activity at an important international conference where the U.S. adopted a counter-productive role, rallying countries to oppose internationally-accepted references to sexual and reproductive health and rights. That is why last week, Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) and I were joined by 36 members of Congress to introduce a resolution that calls on the U.S. to recognize reproductive rights as human rights and celebrates 25 years since the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD).

Continued: https://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/foreign-policy/470869-us-must-lead-the-charge-on-global-reproductive-rights-not

Kenya – Scale up sexuality education to address maternal hitches

Scale up sexuality education to address maternal hitches

Irungu Houghton
16th Nov 2019

Exaggeration is the lazy tool of advocates attached to a cause. With it, dies truth and the possibility of common ground. This week’s International Conference on Population and Development attracted its share of half-truths, manipulated facts and lies. What is its significance for the next decade?

Seven thousand delegates attended this week’s conference to reflect how far the world has changed since the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in Cairo, 25 years ago. Rallied by the United Nations Population Fund, 179 governments placed women’s empowerment at the centre of poverty reduction and population control strategies for the first time. Women must have the right to choose the number and timing of their children was part of the quantum leap achieved in 1994. Rather than states controlling women’s fertility, signatories committed to providing universal education, broadening the range of reproductive and sexual health services and reducing infant and maternal mortality and female genital mutilation (FGM).

Continued: https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/article/2001349594/scale-up-sexuality-education-to-address-maternal-hitches

US isolated at ‘failed’ anti-abortion summit in Nairobi

US isolated at ‘failed’ anti-abortion summit in Nairobi
Conservative protests against global development conference in Kenya fail to draw crowds, or derail commitments.

Nandini Archer, Claire Provost, Mary Fitzgerald
15 November 2019

US representatives found themselves isolated at a “failed” counter-summit, organised by religious conservative groups, to protest against the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD25) in Nairobi this week.

More than 9,500 people from 170 countries attended the three-day global summit, queuing for hours to get in on the opening day. Five people were rushed to hospital after fainting in the packed lines of delegates.

Continued: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/5050/us-isolated-at-failed-anti-abortion-summit-in-nairobi/

Kenya – What is comprehensive sexuality education? A life saver.

What is comprehensive sexuality education? A life saver.

14 November 2019

NAIROBI, Kenya – “If I had known about safe sex in my teens, my life would never have turned out this way,” said 21-year-old Sithu* from Myanmar. He contracted HIV two years ago, despite being intimate only twice with his partner at the time.

Like millions of young people around the world, Sithu had never received any kind of comprehensive sexuality education, in school or elsewhere.

Continued: https://www.unfpa.org/news/what-comprehensive-sexuality-education-life-saver

Tempers flare over ‘abortion agenda’ at reproductive health summit

Tempers flare over ‘abortion agenda’ at reproductive health summit

By PAULINE KAIRU
Nov 14, 2019

Disagreements continued to rock the controversy-ridden International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD25) forum in Nairobi Thursday.

This is after the United States and the European Union openly clashed over what the former claimed was a hidden pro-choice agenda, setting the stage for a global showdown over issues such as abortion and sex education for teenagers.

Continued: https://mobile.nation.co.ke/news/ICPD25--Tempers-flare-over-abortion-agenda/1950946-5349216-y4aerdz/index.html

14.11.2019