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EPF delegation calls for revitalization of MDGs

NEW YORK - A six-member delegation of Parliamentarians representing the European Parliamentary Forum on Population and Development (EPF) has called on the international community to recommit to the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) and revitalize the Cairo Programme of Action.

“We believe that the promotion of women’s rights, sexual and reproductive health and rights and gender equality is absolutely fundamental to the fight against global poverty,” said EPF delegation spokesperson, Hon. Lyn Brown of the UK. The British Member of Parliament was speaking at the 42nd session of the UN Commission on Population and Development on 1 April.

MP Brown warned that any drop in development assistance would have severe consequences: “Anything else would cost more lives and... will in the long run cost more money. The cost – human and financial – is too great for us to stop now.”

The EPF delegates also warned that there are only five years to go before the 20-year Cairo mandate expires and the world is more than halfway through the MDGs, yet results remained mixed as more than half a million women die each year from preventable complications during childbirth, more than 15 million children have lost one or more parents to AIDS, and access to contraceptives remains low, especially in Africa.

“Without gender equality, including the right and ability for women to control their fertility, the Millennium Development Goals cannot and will not be realized”, MP Brown said.

MPs in the delegation included Hon. Armen Melykian, MP (Armenia - Prosperous Armenia Party), Hon. Yvonne Gilli, MP (Switzerland - Green Party), Senator Evira Velasco Morillo (Spain - Popular Party), Hon. Ilkka Kantola, MP (Finland - Social Democratic party), Hon. Yolande Avondroodt (Belgium - Flemish Liberal party), and Hon. Lyn Brown (UK - Labour Party), who is also a member of the EPF Executive Committee.