PRESS BRIEFING BY UNITED NATIONS POPULATION FUND

Press Briefing

PRESS BRIEFING BY UNITED NATIONS POPULATION FUND

At a Headquarters press briefing this morning, Mary Banotti, Irish Representative to the European Parliament, was introduced as the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Goodwill Ambassador and Face to Face Campaign Spokesman for Ireland by UNFPA Executive Director, Dr. Nafis Sadik.

The Campaign publicizes the plight of millions of women and youth denied basic human rights and increases global awareness that women’s rights are human rights. The Chief Executive of the Irish Family Planning Association, Tony O’Brien, was also present at the briefing.

Ms. Banotti told correspondents that the issues of population and development were inextricably linked, and that the international community could not progress with development aims if men and women were not empowered to have control over their own lives. As contraception had only recently been legalized in Ireland, her country would have a particularly unique experience to bring to such issues.

Ms. Banotti, who will be returning to Ireland tonight to help launch the Year Six Billion tomorrow, when the world population will approximate that number, said great strides had been made since 1987, the Year of Five Billion. The Programme of Action of the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in Cairo had outlined a road map for achieving population stabilization by addressing the rights of women and men in reproductive health. While much had been done since then, the world was still faced with a situation where 350 million women did not have access to modern family planning methods, which meant they had no control over the number of children they had. More than 600,000 died every year from pregnancy-related causes. The result was high maternal and infant mortality rates.

Ms. Banotti said the chief goals were adequate maternal and childcare, healthy mothers and healthy babies, family planning, access to modern contraception, and the prevention of sexually transmitted disease. The Irish, who had worked in developing countries all over the world, were a powerful lobby for development issues. Increasingly, however, the European Parliament was becoming a major player with regard to economic contributions and in the political arena.

She added that, since contraception was made legal in Ireland 15 years ago, it had a tremendous contribution to make. Legalization had resulted in smaller families, economic prosperity and better educated young people, allowing what had been virtually a third world country in the 1940s and 1950s to take its place amongst the most economically developed countries in the world. She hoped it could increase its contributions to the developing world.

Dr. Sadik said the new spokesperson, as a 15-year member of the European Parliament, had worked to promote social and developmental issues in the developing world. She was well known for her work as special mediator for abducted children, an emerging issue of concern for the entire European Economic Community. Ms. Banotti brought a strong political experience to the Face to Face Campaign in Ireland. Ireland was a strong supporter of the UNFPA and had regularly increased its contribution to the UNFPA to support the ICPD Programme. Dr. Sadik noted that Ireland had much to offer to the developing countries in the area of family planning and reproductive rights.

Mr. O’Brien told correspondents that the right to plan, space and limit family size was part of the Irish consensus. Ireland was the only country in

UNFPA Briefing - 2 - 11 October 1999

the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to have come through such turmoil on those issues so recently. In a recent poll in Ireland and 12 other European countries, 65 per cent of those questioned supported family planning and the provision of contraceptives in the developing countries. Fifty-two per cent said they believed the Irish Government should help to fund those services.

Continuing, he said his association was at the forefront of winning reproductive rights and developing services in Ireland. The involvement in the Face to Face Programme was an opportunity to promote those efforts on a world-wide scale. It aimed to encourage governments to do more, to make a strong case through educational programmes, and to demonstrate support through strong public support. Because of a collective failure to deliver on funding promises, there would probably be 130 million more unwanted pregnancies; 59 million more unwanted births; 300,000 more maternal deaths and 1 million children would die from poor health care. He was sure Ms. Banotti would make a key contribution, not just in Ireland, but also in the Economic Community.

A correspondent asked Ms. Banotti if battles were still being fought in Ireland over the issue of reproductive rights and how they would play into the Face to Face Campaign and her new role.

Ms. Banotti replied that “life is a battle”. There were still contentious issues relating to reproductive health, but there was considerable opportunity to address those issues from a positive point of view. Such issues related to the ambivalent positions taken in Ireland with regard to the legalization of abortion. The Face to Face campaign would concentrate on the human right of people to plan their family as they wished, whether large or small. It had nothing to do with abortion per se.

Mr. O’Brien said the question focused on the broad issue of family planning and that those who needed it would be able to have access to it.

* *** *