Dispatches
Print Send by mailNGO meeting recommits to women’s health and rights
BERLIN — More than 400 delegates from 131 countries have reaffirmed their support for women’s health and rights at a conference convened here from 2-4 September 2009.
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NGO Forum audience |
Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul, Germany’s Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development, opened the meeting with a ten-point Berlin Clarion Call: The Spirit of Cairo Lives On calling for new investment and political commitment on behalf of women and girls worldwide.
“We call for special protection for the poorest and weakest, particularly in these times of economic and financial crisis,” she said. “The economic stimulus programmes being implemented by donor countries should therefore allocate one per cent of the funding to development policy measures.”
The three-day conference, “Global Partners in Action: Non-Governmental Organisations Forum on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Development,” evaluated progress in the 15 years since the landmark Programme of Action was adopted at the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) issued its landmark in Cairo.
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From left: Thoraya Ahmed Obaid, Executive Director, UNFPA; Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul, German Minister for |
“An additional dollar invested in voluntary family planning comes back at least four times in saved expenses,” said Thoraya Ahmed Obaid, Executive Director of UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, which co-sponsored the Forum with the German government. “It would cost the world US$ 23 billion per year to stop women from having unintended pregnancies and dying in childbirth, and to save millions of newborns—less than 10 days of the world’s military spending.”
Gill Greer, Director-General of the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), called on participants to demand renewed action from their governments. “By insisting that governments keep their promises of 15 years ago, and by showing that sexual and reproductive health is a cost-effective long-term investment, we are playing an essential role in this process,” she said. “Those born in 1994 are now 15, on the cusp of their adult lives,” she added. “They will all need comprehensive health education and services.” Young people under 25 are the largest youth generation in history.
Delegates closed the forum by calling on local, national and international decision-makers to join with NGOs to establish and implement concrete, practical, and fully funded actions that ensure sexual and reproductive health and rights.
The conference highlights the importance of the European Union as a global donor. For the first time, the EU has surpassed the United States as the single greatest donor of population assistance worldwide, despite a fall in funding. According to Euromapping 2009, the EU spent US$2.96 billion in 2006 on population programmes and activities, up $600 million from earlier levels, whereas U.S. funding declined by about the same amount in 2006. However, overall donor-country population assistance is half of its 1996 level in absolute terms.
