Speech
Keynote address by the Executive Director at the 8th International Parliamentarians’ Conference on the Implementation
10 April 2024
Keynote address by UNFPA Executive Director Dr. Natalia Kanem at the 8th International Parliamentarians’ Conference on the Implementation of the ICPD Programme of Action (IPCI) in Oslo, Norway.
Honourable Åse Kristin Ask Bakke,
Member of the Norwegian Parliament and Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights and Chair of IPCI,
Mr. Martin Chungong, Secretary-General of the Inter-Parliamentary Union,
Excellencies,
Honourable Parliamentarians,
Distinguished participants,
Eid Mubarak on this important day with greetings of Peace, the noble purpose of the United Nations and a worthy aspiration for a world increasingly in turmoil.
On this occasion of the 8th International Parliamentarians’ Conference on the Implementation of the ICPD Programme of Action, I thank the Norwegian All-Party Parliamentary Group for Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights for hosting us in beautiful Oslo.
The very generous support of the Government and people of Norway means that women and girls have a champion of sexual and reproductive health and rights in places where it matters most.
Norway’s unwavering commitment to women’s and adolescent girls’ sexual and reproductive health and rights and its continuing investment in family planning around the world exemplify true leadership on gender equality and human rights.
UNFPA is very proud of our partnership with the European Parliamentary Forum for Sexual and Reproductive Rights (EPF), and Sex og Politikk – the Norwegian member association of the International Planned Parenthood Federation.
Now, I’m going to surprise you by making a request of you that perhaps no one has ever asked.
Imagine your 10 year-old self. Where were you then? Who really nurtured you? What were your favorite things to do? What were your dreams? Did you think you would be a Parliamentarian one day?
Let’s say at age 10, you were told that tomorrow you would be getting on a boat for a voyage to the other side of the sea. And you will have 7 or 8 years to gain all of the necessary skills to get to the other side safely.
But there’s a catch… Dangers and pitfalls await! The waves can get rough. There may be sharks and dragons waiting to pounce.
Even so, with the right support and with enough investment, your 10-year old self will be able to stay afloat in rough seas and arrive victorious – happy, healthy, educated – on the distant shore!
In 1994, with the legendary Dr. Nafis Sadik of UNFPA presiding at the International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo, Member States – guided by their Parliamentarians – created a Programme of Action that became a lifeboat, a lifeline, a safety net for women and girls like never before.
Today, UNFPA focuses on three transformative ‘zeros’:
- zero unmet need for family planning;
- zero preventable maternal deaths; and
- zero gender-based violence, including harmful practices like child marriage and female genital mutilation.
All based on high-quality data to identify those being left behind.
The three zeros speak to that life preserver for all the 10-year old girls who must navigate their adolescence safely – without getting pregnant and thrown out of school, without violence and online bullying interrupting their dreams, and with the hope and fulfillment that a good education, healthy relationships, and assertion of their bodily autonomy and human rights will bring.
Distinguished participants,
The fact that we gather here today with accomplished Parliamentarians from more than 100 countries is a fitting marker upon the 30th anniversary of the groundbreaking Cairo ICPD.
In the three decades since 179 governments agreed that reproductive health, women’s empowerment, and gender equality are the cornerstones of sustainable development, the work of UNFPA has been guided by the ICPD’s evergreen vision of a more just, equitable and sustainable future.
Countries made remarkable progress in that time! The Cairo ICPD shifted population policies from a focus on numbers to a focus on individual rights and choices. That transformed the lives of millions upon millions of people worldwide:
- Maternal mortality declined by one third.
- Unintended pregnancies decreased by nearly 20 per cent.
- Child marriage decreased, thanks to better advocacy and laws that raised the minimum age of marriage.
- Over 160 countries passed laws to address domestic violence.
- And today, two-thirds of countries have dispensed with legislation outlawing LGBTQIA+ sexualities.
I applaud parliamentarians around the world who were instrumental in this big success.
That is why I’m excited that IPCI gives us this opportunity to celebrate every victory, every life saved, every dream realized since 1994. And that is why we have an obligation to steady the ship, and to reaffirm our partnership and support for the ICPD Programme of Action.
Because as we meet, turmoil, pushback, conflict and climate change threaten hard-won gains.
An exhausted humanitarian health workforce who are 70 per cent female, urgently need Parliamentarians’ support: in Haiti, in Gaza, in Sudan, in Ukraine, in Afghanistan -- and in too many other places like Syria and Yemen where crises erupted and never stopped.
There is much more work to do:
- When every two minutes, a woman dies needlessly in pregnancy or childbirth.
- When 250 million women want to avoid pregnancy but don’t use modern contraception.
- And when nearly 1 woman in 3 will experience sexual and gender-based violence during her lifetime.
Last week, young people from all over the world convened at the ICPD30 Global Youth Dialogue in Cotonou, Benin. 500 young leaders gathered to promote a new generation’s vision for the ICPD.
They demanded their right to bodily autonomy. They demanded their right to comprehensive sexuality education. They stood up for peace and they stood against sexism, racism, and all forms of discrimination.
They want better resourcing of youth-led organizations and movements. Their vision is one of a future with expanded opportunities for young people, in all their diversities, where decision-makers share power so that they can drive meaningful change.
Evidence tells us that rights and choices create positive outcomes. When adolescent girls can stay in school and have access to comprehensive sexuality education and reproductive health services, they have more options to choose their life’s trajectory and the economic benefits are immense – more than eight fold.
For women and girls to have more choices and more autonomy, we will need to tackle inequalities head-on.
Immediately after IPCI, UNFPA launches the 2024 State of the World Population Report. It delves into the inequalities within our systems and societies, and shows how that undermines our collective progress.
By showing what works and why, data and evidence can inform legislation and policies, making them more relevant and effective. When everyone is counted, we can identify those still being left – and pushed – behind.
In my view, when we say people are hard to reach, that can mean that we have not tried hard enough.
Last week, at the lakeside community of Soa Ava in Benin, I met midwives at a reproductive health and family planning clinic UNFPA and government partners set up on a motorized boat, to reach some of the most underserved women and girls in the country.
Let us all try harder to reach that last mile.
Distinguished participants,
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres identifies five mega trends that will shape our future. Demographic shifts is one of them. Other megatrends are inequalities, climate change, urbanization, and rapid technological change.
Over the next three days, IPCI will explore cross-cutting themes that directly address these megatrends in the world around us, as we strive to position the ICPD for the future and to ensure that the 10-year-old girl is able to navigate these unprecedented times.
This is the first IPCI gathering since the COVID-19 pandemic; therefore, it is important that we reflect on pandemic response and preparedness, and on building resilient health systems that can withstand future shocks.
As world population stands at over 8 billion people, shifting population dynamics require tailored policy solutions. The number of countries experiencing high fertility and population growth is declining, while two-thirds of people live in a country with below-replacement fertility. To meet the unique needs of each country, UNFPA advises on policies that build resilient societies that can thrive no matter how their populations change.
With shifts in global population, with population ageing – anxieties arise. And such anxieties can lead to bad responses that undermine women’s reproductive rights.
This is why UNFPA continues to call for a radical rethink of how population numbers are framed – urging policymakers to return to the ICPD’s focus on rights and choices and to prioritize gender equality and human rights.
As Dr. Nafis Sadik reminded delegates at the ICPD:
“Statistics are not just numbers; they are people.”
UNFPA will launch the next ICPD30 Global Dialogue in Dhaka, Bangladesh, mid-May. It will focus on demographic diversity and sustainable development. I expect it will be a key platform to shape good policy responses to demographic anxiety.
With the Summit of the Future approaching in conjunction with the UN General Assembly this year, IPCI will take up positioning the ICPD agenda for a digital future, taking a closer look at the opportunities technology provide, while scrutinizing its risks for women and girls.
Such new technologies, including Artificial Intelligence of course, bring unprecedented connectivity and innovation. Think of mobile clinics, remote learning, and miniaturized instruments, for example ultrasound, to detect fetal heartbeats.
Right now, technological innovation often outpaces the ability of laws and regulations to keep up. Accelerated action will be needed to assure that technology doesn’t facilitate gender-based violence, stalking and abuse, including the intimidation of female politicians. As Parliamentarians, I ask you to use your power to ensure women’s and girls’ rights and safety are respected and protected in technology design and regulation.
Lastly, let me speak to financing, because the transition from funding to financing is key to achieve sustainable development and to promote good governance.
The return on investment for SRHR is well documented. Yet and still, shortfalls continue to undermine progress on the ICPD Programme of Action and the Agenda 2030 commitments.
UNFPA estimates that an additional $80 billion USD would end unmet access to contraception; and prevent maternal deaths in low- and middle-income countries. In less than a decade, through 2030, we would thereby avert up to 400 million unintended pregnancies, potentially saving the lives of 1 million women.
And you know what? That $80 billion dollar investment would generate $660 billion dollars in economic benefits. Now that is return on investment!
Ending child marriage, at a cost of around $150 billion dollars through 2030, would stop 230 million girls from falling into the abyss of being married too young and too unready.
That would mean almost 400 million girls would complete school, generating $5 trillion in economic benefits.
I am pleased that more countries are investing their own domestic resources in SRHR, to complement official development assistance. That is critical to ensure sustainable resource flows for sexual and reproductive health and rights.
It is my hope that aspects of human sexuality and sexual diversities will become less and less politicized. Politicizing key populations leads to worse stigma and discrimination. That, in turn, threatens individuals’ rights along with a health system that falters when people are afraid to come forward.
Honourable Parliamentarians of IPCI,
UNFPA thanks you. Your unwavering defense of human rights and women and girls is vital to the implementation of the ICPD Programme of Action.
The ICPD agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals can only be accelerated with essential investments in gender equality, public participation, education and health, especially sexual and reproductive health and rights.
Having laws and policies on the books is not enough. When laws and policies to advance the ICPD are adopted, let us make sure that Ministries have the necessary human, financial, and institutional capacities to implement them – as well as provisions for reporting to Parliament on progress.
Let us also expand our alliances.
Already, we are forging powerful connections with new allies, and we are using disaggregated data and real-time evidence to strengthen political will, to dispel myths and to communicate far better why SRHR and human rights are so important.
Thirty years after the Cairo ICPD, must women wait a day longer to control their own fertility? No.
Must they wait to not die during pregnancy and childbirth? No.
To escape gender-based violence, sexual assault during conflict or online harm? Absolutely not.
Why must young people continue to wait – until it’s too late – to understand their own biology?
In a world grappling with complex crises, where inequalities are on the rise and sexual and reproductive health and rights are increasingly under threat, as Parliamentarians, you are instrumental in making the people-centered vision of the ICPD real for current and future generations.
When IPCI promulgates the Oslo Statement of Commitments, the world will pay attention. Let us use the statement to chart the way forward. Ours is a movement that knows no borders. How we act now will define our common future.
I’m told that a Norwegian proverb states:
“For your next step, don’t look to the ground, look to the horizon – that’s where greatness lies.”
We step forward, we do not retreat. We look to the horizon and carry the torch of the ICPD into a future where everyone, everywhere is able to exercise their rights and choices and realize their full potential.
Look to the horizon…
