UNFPA Chief Stresses Women’s Empowerment, Girl’s Education

UNFPA Chief Stresses Women’s Empowerment, Girl’s Education

Suva, Fiji (May 6, 2013) – If alarming rates of violence against women is to be effectively addressed, the status of women in our societies and its critical relevance to how our families, communities and economies proper, needs to be recognised.

United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Executive Director Dr Babatunde Osotimehin made the remarks before launching the first report to come out of the global assessment of the implementation of the International Conference Population and Development (ICPD) Programme of Action (POA), the Pacific Regional ICPD Review report.

Dr Babatunde said the status of women in our societies needed to be lifted as a fundamental step towards efforts towards addressing sexual and reproductive health and violence against women; he emphasized the need to continue to invest in the education of the girl-child.

“We are committed as an organisation to continue to do what we have been doing for the last 20 years,” Dr Babatunde said.

“There are 600 million adolescent girls in the world today, imagine if they were educated to the point where they were economically viable, where we can make sure they can exercise their rights, where we can make sure they will not be abused … we would have a peaceful world because women are peacemakers, because women build nations.

“We are going to make sure that women and girls around the world have better access to education, to information and to health services, including reproductive health services.”

Dr Babatunde acknowledged the Pacific region for being the first to release its ICPD POA review report, which implied the region’s commitment to completing the review process.

Dr Babatunde spent some time with a group of young people to whom he said while the challenges they shared with him were not unique to Pacific young people, the group could however make a difference if they came up with solutions.

The Executive Director is in Fiji as an Eminent Person of the G77; as chair, the Pacific nation is hosting the meeting which is deliberating on the Future Landscape of South-South Cooperation. Dr Babatunde was able to meet UNFPA Pacific Sub-Regional Office partners in Suva, before the G77 meeting began proper in Sigatoka.

In his discussions with the Solomon Islands Prime Minister Gordon Darcy Lilo, Dr Babatunde emphasized the importance of the Pacific region speaking with one voice. The region, he said, could position itself around two or three issues of significance, unique to the region and then speak about it with a consolidated voice.

During his meeting with Fiji’s Minister for Women, Dr Jiko Luveni, Dr Babatunde urged the strengthening of collaboration between the ministry and the UNFPA; emphasis was placed on working towards a mechanism which could improve information and services, particularly reproductive health and contraceptive services, to women, particularly in rural areas.
Dr Luveni said there was already a network of women established across the region, from recent income-generating projects implemented by her ministry across the country.

The need to economically empower women, ensuring they played a more significant role in decision-making processes and in actual governance, and the links between family planning and the vicious cycle of poverty, were also discussed.

To Fiji’s Minister of Health, Dr Neil Sharma, Dr Babatunde reiterated UNFPA’s commitment to national efforts of repositioning family planning. Dr Babatunde emphasized the need to be innovative and to reach out to communities by taking family planning out of facilities. They also discussed the need to vigorously continue comprehensive condom programming particularly for vulnerable groups and young people.

Dr Babatunde said he felt that the characteristic small population base of Pacific island nations could be an advantage acknowledging the challenges small island states faced. Recurring themes in his discussion with Dr Sharma included the fact that approaches had to be integrated; Dr Babatunde shared the example of how maternal mortality could be prevented with a combination of a basic maternal life-saving drugs; the key was their application at critical times during delivery.

Dr Babatunde also met the President, Ratu Epeli Nailatikau, who is also the Pacific Ambassador for HIV. Dr Babatunde expressed his gratitude for the leading role Ratu Epeli has played in Fiji, the Pacific and globally in advocating for behaviour change.

“I encouraged His Excellency the President that during his advocacy, that he also speak about preventing unintended teenage pregnancy and sexually-transmitted infections, and promoting girls’ rights, girls’ education and gender equality  to make a healthy population,” Dr Babatunde said.

Dr Babatunde will be in Fiji until May 9.

ENDS

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