PRESS BRIEFING TO RELEASE UNFPA STATE OF WORLD POPULATION REPORT
Press Briefing
PRESS BRIEFING TO RELEASE UNFPA STATE OF WORLD POPULATION REPORT
20000920At a Headquarters press briefing this morning, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) launched its annual State of the World Population report, entitled Lives Together, Worlds Apart: Men and Women in a Time of Change. This year, the report focuses on the wide-ranging affects of gender inequality on global populations. According to the reports introduction, gender inequality stifles the growth of individuals, the development of countries and the evolution of societies, to the disadvantage of both women and men.
While men and women inhabited the same physical world, their practical, everyday existences were distinctly different, UNFPA spokesman, Abubakar Dungus, told correspondents this morning as he introduced the report. From the cradle to the grave, men and women faced different circumstances and different fates. It was hoped that progress made during the past century and continued partnership and action could help make gender discrimination a thing of the past.
Wariara Mbugua, UNFPA's Chief Advisor on Gender, Population and Development, another guest featured at this morning's launch, said that the report carried the simple but critical message that the price of gender inequality was too high a price to pay. The report, which distilled a vast quantity of evidence, showed that in countries all over the world, gender inequality, discrimination and violence were holding back entire communities. Today, one woman in three will be subjected to violence during her lifetime, most often at the hand of someone she knew. Some 2 million girls between the ages of five and fifteen were bought and sold worldwide each year, either into marriage, slavery or prostitution.
Ms. Mbugua went on to say that every year, as many as 5,000 women and girls were victims of so-called "honour killings", sometimes at the hands of their own families. Often, the "dishonour" was having been raped. Some 130 million women and girls worldwide had been subjected to female genital mutilation and it was estimated that each year, 2 million more would be added to that number. It appeared, according to the facts and figures highlighted in the report, that gender inequality, discrimination and violence were still the rule, rather than the exception, in most societies.
Gender inequality perpetuated poverty, poor health and rapid population growth, and could therefore have severe repercussions for the development of nations, Ms. Mbugua added. Due to women's inability to exercise reproductive choice, there were 80 million unwanted pregnancies each year, leading to 20 million unsafe abortions and 78,000 deaths. Every minute of every day, a woman died as a result of complications related to pregnancy. Nearly all of those deaths occurred in developing countries, where women were about 30 times more likely to die from complications than women in developed countries, she added.
The report also indicated that men who were generally subjected to rigidly stereotyped gender roles, also paid the high price of gender inequality,
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Ms. Mbugua said. Expectations of masculine behavior that entailed risk taking unnecessarily exposed men to sexually transmitted diseases such as HIV/AIDS. Stereotypical attitudes also caused men to give short shrift to preventive health care or family planning methods. Men who were unable to live up to expectations that they should be strong, powerful and competent, often sought comfort from drugs or alcohol, or even resorted to violence. "This, too, has costly implications for families, communities and nations," she explained.
In a world where space travel was now taken for granted, and where unprecedented medical and technological advances had been made, these trends were unconscionable, Ms. Mbugua said. It was imperative, therefore, that mechanisms attacking gender inequality be placed squarely on the development agenda, and the necessary resources be allocated. For its part, UNFPA was committed to the promotion of gender equality. Ms. Mbugua said that the Fund worked with governments to ensure that gender violence was properly addressed in all population programmes, both as a health and as a human rights issue. UNFPA also provided support to governments planning to enact laws that protected the rights of women. She noted that in recent years, 16 African governments had enacted laws which banned female genital mutilation. While this and other achievements were remarkable, the report indicated that much work remained to be done.
Stan Bernstein, UNFPA's Senior Research Advisor and one of the reports principal authors, was also on hand this morning. He explained that, while the report documented the dimensions of the problem of gender inequality and the severity of its impacts, it also highlighted some of the efforts that were underway to address that important issue. One of the central messages of the report was that intensified partnerships -- working together within families, between communities and community organizations, between governments and local organizations, and among governments in the international community - would be essential to end gender inequality.
He went on to say that such partnerships would also be necessary to ensure that efforts continued, that resources were available, and that the issue of gender inequality remained a topic of debate. For too many years, many of the concerns raised in the report had not been a part of public policy discussion. Nor were they matters around which local groups organized and sought to take action. "They were considered 'private matters'" he said; "not really elements of public policy." The good news, however, was that within the past decade, problems such as inadequate provision of opportunities in health care and education, and gender inequality, had taken centre stage within the international development agenda.
Mr. Bernstein said that partnerships could take many forms. It was clear that a dynamic civil society was vital to the realization of gender equality and development goals. Indeed, innovative partnerships between communities and non- governmental organizations (NGOs) had played a very important role in monitoring the quality of reproductive health services, and in providing education programmes. Microcredit schemes, frequently organized within local communities to make access to opportunities and choices available for women and their partners, had become increasingly important throughout the world.
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Partnerships within families would also be a vital source of progress, he said. It was well known that when there was discussion between men and women, about life choices and basic decisions, the level of violence was lower, information about reproductive health was shared and greater opportunities were provided for children. Family partnerships also passed their benefits down through generations. Children raised in homes without violence, where the parents were educated and respectful of education, were less likely to see violence in their own homes, and gave greater value to the education of both girls and boys.
He said that partnerships between countries were also vital. The great conferences of the past decade, including the Beijing Conference and the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), had been an important part of the efforts to strengthen human rights protections that guaranteed equality for women. International action had also been taken to stem trafficking of women and to improve the circumstance of women living in emergency situations. Just two weeks ago at the United Nations Millennium Summit, the elimination of gender inequality, the reduction of maternal mortality and the improvement of the circumstances of people living in poverty had been placed high on the development agenda.
At the International Conference on Population and Development in 1994, the international community agreed upon a basic package of population and reproductive health programmes that were core and central to the gender equality agenda, he said. It was estimated that $17 billion a year would be needed to implement those programmes. Only around $12 billion was currently available. The donor countries had agreed that up to one third of that amount would be provided through international assistance, but they were currently only providing around $2 billion. "Renewed political will, to make the agenda that the world agreed upon a reality, is vital and urgent," he said. He hoped that the report would capture the attention of international policy-makers, to ensure that those investments were made so that a world without gender inequality could become a reality.
A correspondent asked to what specific programmes would the $17 billion be allocated. Mr. Bernstein said that the basic package of population and reproductive health programmes had a number of components, including funding for family planning, safe delivery and, where possible, treatment of sexually transmitted diseases.
Asked what countries would benefit from the funds, Mr. Bernstein said that there would not be a "single pot". The estimate had been based on the resources required to provide universal access to those services by the year 2015. The money would come from international assistance, from government allocations, from private investments and foundations, and form other sources.
A correspondent asked how UNFPA could be certain that world governments were indeed allocating the funds as prescribed. Mr. Bernstein said that the funds would not be centrally controlled. Governments themselves had agreed on the amount of resources needed to institute those programmes. They accepted the goal to make basic reproductive health care and education universal, and to
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reduce maternal and infant mortality. Many countries had increased their expenditures - out of government budgets, loan programmes or international assistance. "This is the challenge that the world had taken on for itself -- to meet those basic needs," he said.
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