PARLIAMENTARIANS FROM 100 COUNTRIES DISCUSS PROGRESS IN IMPLEMENTING NEW APPROACH TO REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH AND POPULATION
Press Release
POP/697
PARLIAMENTARIANS FROM 100 COUNTRIES DISCUSS PROGRESS IN IMPLEMENTING NEW APPROACH TO REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH AND POPULATION
19990205 THE HAGUE, 4 February (UNFPA) -- A meeting of parliamentarians from throughout the world opened today with vivid testimony about the need to reinforce positive changes many countries are making to advance women's status and provide better reproductive health care. Lawmakers have a crucial role to play, many speakers stressed, in assuring the political and financial support needed to sustain this progress.Some 225 parliamentarians from about 100 countries are taking part in the International Forum of Parliamentarians on ICPD Review. The lawmakers are examining countries' achievements in carrying out the Programme of Action adopted by the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD). Their findings will be reported to The Hague Forum, a review by representatives of 180 governments of progress in the five years since the ICPD. The Hague Forum opens here on 8 February.
The Parliamentarians' meeting is taking place in the historic Ridderzaal (Hall of Knights), built in the thirteenth century, where the Queen of the Netherlands delivers an annual address to the Dutch Parliament. Seven global or regional parliamentarian groups are cooperating in its organization: the Asian Forum of Parliamentarians on Population and Development, which is serving as the secretariat for the forum; the European Parliamentarians on Population and Development; the Forum of African and Arab Parliamentarians on Population and Development; the Global Committee of Parliamentarians on Population and Development; Parliamentarians for Global Action; the Inter-American Group on Population and Development; and the International Medical Parliamentarians Organization.
Collaborating organizations include the International Planned Parenthood Federation, the All-Party Parliamentarians Group on Population and Development (United Kingdom), and the World Population Foundation. The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) is providing support.
The opening session was addressed by Dr. Nafis Sadik, UNFPA Executive Director; J. Van Nieuwenhoven, Speaker of the Parliament of the Netherlands, the first woman to occupy this position; and Shin Sakuri, Chairman of the Asian Forum.
Ms. Van Nieuwenhoven emphasized that rapid population growth is closely linked to poverty and environmental problems, and hailed the ICPD for its stress on improving women's status. "National parliaments can initiate population policy and adopt legislative measures that contribute to a sound population policy and better opportunities for women", she noted. "Also they can allocate part of the national budget to the financial resources necessary for population programmes." In addition, she told the lawmakers, "you are the opinion leaders who make the public aware of the urgency of problems surrounding population and development".
Dr. Sadik pointed out that national and regional parliamentarians' organizations supporting the ICPD action plan had grown steadily since the 1994 conference. She welcomed the formation of the newest regional group, the Forum of African and Arab Parliamentarians. Reviewing global progress since the ICPD, she noted that in the area of reproductive health and rights, "there is a long agenda of actions that need to be taken. There is an urgent need for better maternal care and wider access to reproductive health services, including family planning. We must work to increase awareness and understanding among decision makers and health care workers about the broad scope and multisectoral nature of reproductive health. We must address misconceptions about religious proscriptions. There is a continuing need for basic training guidelines on reproductive health services. A key area is the need to change male behaviour and to teach men to be responsible for their own reproductive health and that of their partners".
"The list goes on and on", she said. "But I am convinced that the ingenuity and resources to achieve these goals are available, if we can muster the will to put them to good use."
She cited a number of examples of recent legislative and policy changes supporting reproductive health and rights. These include South Africa's incorporation of reproductive rights into its Constitution, and the Senegalese Parliament's decision last month to outlaw female genital mutilation.
"Adolescent reproductive health continues to be one of the most contentious and difficult areas that we are faced with, because of the sensitivities surrounding adolescent sexuality", she noted. Citing the enormous risks facing sexually active young people, including unwanted pregnancy and rising rates of HIV infection, she added: "Each country will, of course, make its own decisions on these points. However, this should not hold up the implementation of the basic agreement that young people are entitled to reproductive health information and services so that we can invest them with the responsibility of guarding their own reproductive health."
In the next session, representatives of regional groups spoke about post-ICPD progress in their regions or areas of focus, and parliamentarians'
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contributions to that progress. For example, Taresse Fofie, a Ghanaian lawmaker, noted that a number of African parliaments had voted to ban female genital mutilation. She also pointed out sub-Saharan Africa's high rates of maternal mortality and sexually transmitted diseases including HIV/AIDS; finances needed to combat these problems are stretched thin, she stressed.
Ulla Sandback of Denmark spoke about efforts by the 89-member European Parliament Working Group on Population, Sustainable Development and Reproductive Health to raise awareness within the European Parliament around reproductive and sexual health issues, and the need to promote gender equality and equity. Akio Matsumura of the Global Committee of Parliamentarians called on his colleagues to seek a dialogue with spiritual leaders on these issues.
In a panel on the status of reproductive health and rights since the ICPD, Pia Hollenstein, a member of the Swiss Parliament, highlighted the stark contrast between reproductive health conditions in eastern and western Europe, citing rising rates of HIV infection and continued high rates of abortion in many eastern European countries. After giving an overview of legislative and policy achievements in several Central American countries, Deputy Zury Rios Montt of Guatemala added, "We must not only legislate; we need men and women to fight for human rights. Reproductive and sexual health are part of these rights."
The same point was made in the final session, on policy changes in the areas of gender and population. All three speakers -- Senator Teresa Aquino Oreta of the Philippines, Representative Cynthia McKinney of the United States and Deputy Ibrahima Fall of Senegal -- noted that many laws and policies have been enacted to improve women's status, but that was not enough; legislators need to be more involved in ensuring that these measures were implemented and made an actual difference in people's lives. Mr. Fall noted that combating female genital mutilation required a regional approach. Ms. McKinney described how a conservative congressional majority was attempting to turn back gains made by a previous legislature, in which women played a major role. She condemned as part of this trend the United States Congress recent action cutting off funding to UNFPA.
The parliamentarians will continue to meet Friday in plenary sessions on: adolescents, youth and the elderly; food security, population and sustainable development; economic crisis and population issues; and the mobilization and commitment of resources for ICPD implementation. At the same time, a drafting committee is preparing a declaration which the forum is expected to adopt on Saturday.
The parliamentarians' forum and The Hague Forum are part of ICPD+5, a series of review activities leading up to a high-level special session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York from 30 June to 2 July. The Hague
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Forum is being organized by UNFPA and hosted by the Government of the Netherlands. It will be held at the Netherlands Congress Centre from 8 to 12 February. An NGO Forum and a Youth Forum on ICPD+5 will take place in the same venue on 6 and 7 February.
For further information, contacts in The Hague are: Corrie Shanahan, e- mail: shanahan@unfpa.org, tel. + 31 (0) 065 342 9994; and William A. Ryan, e- mail: ryanw@unfpa.org, tel. + 31 (0) 062 220 5576. In New York, contact Alex Marshall, e-mail: marshall@unfpa.org, tel. (212) 297-5020, fax (212) 557-6416.
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