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UNFPA and Media21 convene Swiss journalists on human rights and gender

BERN - A dozen Swiss journalists met under the auspices of UNFPA and Media 21, a Geneva-based journalism network, to discuss whether Switzerland was meeting its human rights obligations.

“At its Universal Periodic Review at the Human Rights Council, Switzerland didn’t only get good grades,” said Fabrice Boule of Media21. “Many countries pointed out the absence of a national human rights body, so we will have to see some movement on this front."

UNFPA had been asked particularly to focus on women and reproductive rights.

“Human rights instruments give a common point of departure as a basis for development work. This is particularly true for an issue as potentially divisive as reproductive health,” said Siri Tellier, Director of the UNFPA Office in Geneva. “Looking at a country’s policies towards its mothers in terms of access to prenatal care, family planning and a flexible job market could help gauge one aspect of human rights standing.”

She noted that the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) give direct and concrete expression to the ideals of human rights instruments. Ms Tellier pointed specifically MDG 5 to improve maternal mortality, which now includes a new Target 5b of universal access to reproductive health by 2015.

“This gives expression to the right to plan your family, as expressed in CEDAW in 1979, and repeated in the International Conference on Population and Development in 1994. Therefore, human rights advocates might be well served to familiarize themselves with the MDGs, and to monitor progress,” she added.

The workshop yielded media coverage across Switzerland as journalists were both participants and reporters at the workshop. Participants also said the workshop helped them understand human rights issues and their link with the work of UNFPA. As a result, another UNFPA/Media21 workshop with journalists will be organized sometime during 2009.