|
Statement to the Commission on Population and Development |
|
|
|
Statement
to the Commission on Population and Development
Submitted
January 16, 2009
Five years remain to achieve the Program of Action agreed to at the
International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD). The
Programme of Action provides the foundation stone-a blueprint in fact-to
achieve the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The heart of the
Programme of Action and a target under MDG 5 is universal access to sexual and
reproductive health and protection of reproductive rights. Only when we
achieve this target will we secure social justice and human rights for all.
Let
us all commit to three core actions in the next five years:
- Implement
comprehensive reproductive health services, which include family planning; skilled
care during pregnancy and delivery and postpartum; access to safe abortion;
prevention, care, and treatment for sexually transmitted infections, including
HIV.
- Strengthen
health systems to ensure equitable access to these services, information and
sexuality education, particularly for the largest ever generation of
adolescents.
- Prioritize
policies, programs, and legislative and judiciary action to protect the human
right of women to have control over and decide freely and responsibly on
matters related to their sexuality, including sexual and reproductive health,
free of coercion, discrimination, and violence.
In
this time of economic uncertainty there is no more important investment to be
made. Only healthy women whose human rights are protected can be fully
productive workers and effective participants in their country's political
processes. Only when women are healthy and empowered can they raise and
educate healthy children. These are the building blocks of stable
societies and growing economies, and imperative in their own right.
|
