Note to Correspondents

Top Government Officials to Consider Way Forward after 2015 at Debate

On Critical Role of Human Rights, Equality to Development

 

NEW YORK, 1 April —To inaugurate the Commission on Population and Development, global opinion leaders and stakeholders will hold an interactive high-level debate tomorrow, Friday, 4 April, on the centrality of human rights and dignity, good health and freedom of mobility to a sustainable world.

Speakers will include President Anote Tong of Kiribati, former President Joaquim Chissano of Mozambique and former President Tarja Halonen of Finland.  Joining themwill be a panel of high-ranking dignitaries, including Eleonora Menicucci, Minister in the Special Secretariat for Women’s Affairs of Brazil;Tedros Ghebreyesus, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ethiopia, and Asma Khader, Secretary-General of the National Commission for Women and General Coordinator of the Sisterhood is Global Institute in Jordan.

With the BBC’s Rajesh Mirchandani as moderator, the debate will tackle the triumphs and challenges that the world still faces 20 years after the unprecedented adoption of the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD).  That global consensus marked a historic paradigm shift that universally recognized women and young girls as individuals entitled to the same opportunities, choices and rights as men.

The interactive debate aims to attract worldwide attention to the findings and key messages of the forward-looking agenda that emerged from the “ICPD Beyond 2014 Global Report”.  They address a single, powerful goal: to ensure sustainable development by placing the human rights of all people as well as individual well-being at the heart of the future development agenda.

Recent stories in The New York Timesand The Guardian underscore the important links between climate and human rights-based approaches to development.  President Tong’s participation presents a unique opportunity for journalists to engage with a Head of State of a small island State seeking innovative solutions in order to save his people from the worst impacts of global warming.

When: Friday, 4 April 2014, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.  Where: Economic and Social Council Chamber, United Nations Headquarters, New York.

To request interviews with invited guests and speakers, please contact:  Omar Gharzeddine at tel:  +1 212 297 5028 and +1 917 815 7823, e-mail: gharzeddine@unfpa.org.

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For information media • not an official record