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UNFPA Press Conference: World Population Report 2024 - 15 April 2024
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Edited News , Press Conferences | UNFPA
UNFPA Press Conference: World Population Report 2024 - 15 April 2024
STORY: UNFPA Annual Report launch
TRT: 3:27”
SOURCE: UNTV CH
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
ASPECT RATIO: 16:9
DATELINE: 15 April 2024 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
1. Med shot: UN flag alley
2. Wide shot: speakers at the podium
3.SOUNDBITE (English) – Dr. Natalia Kanem, UNFPA Executive Director: “The world made zero progress in saving women from preventable deaths in pregnancy and childbirth. One woman in four cannot make her own health care decisions. One woman in four cannot say no to sex. And nearly 1 in 10 are unable to make their own choices about whether or not to use contraception.”
4. Med shot: Technical staff in control room with cameraman and photographer in front
5. SOUNDBITE (English) – Dr. Natalia Kanem, UNFPA Executive Director: “We have, for the first time, data on whether women's bodily autonomy is strengthening over time and in 40% of countries with data it is actually diminishing. Why? One important reason our report shows is that we have not prioritized reaching those furthest behind.”
6. Close up: Photographer next to screen with speaker
7. SOUNDBITE (English) – Dr. Natalia Kanem, UNFPA Executive Director: “When we look at ethnic disparities, we see that the groups that have benefited the most are those that had the fewest barriers to begin with. Access to modern contraceptives varies by race, refugee and migration status, education, and location. And while gender-based violence, sadly, is pervasive everywhere, risk increases based on age and sexual orientation.”
8. Med shot: Journalists in press room
9. SOUNDBITE (English) - Dr. Natalia Kanem, UNFPA Executive Director: “Indigenous women are routinely denied culturally appropriate maternal health care. As a result, these groups are much more likely, and in some places it's six times more likely, to die during pregnancy or childbirth. Women and young people with disabilities, migrants, people living with HIV and gender diverse people continue to experience discrimination and exclusion when they seek sexual and reproductive health care.”
10. Close up: Journalist listening
11. SOUNDBITE (English) - Dr. Natalia Kanem, UNFPA Executive Director: “For the 1 billion people estimated to experience disability in their lifetime, for the 700 million people living in extreme poverty, for the 160 million women with an unmet need for contraception and so many more. These inequalities should not be politicized. They should not be used as an accusation of bias, nor should they be points of division.”
12. Wide shot, speakers at podium with photographer
13. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr. Natalia Kanem, UNFPA Executive Director: “It is indeed the responsibility of men to be champions of women's reproductive rights, of everyone's reproductive rights. And while we have seen progress in terms of, for example, women legislators and parliamentarians increasing in governments overall, it's nowhere near the parity and women are half of the world's population.”
14. Wide shot: press room with journalists and speakers at the podium
15. Close up: Journalist typing
16. Close up: Journalist listening
STORYLINE
Racism, sexism and other forms of discrimination continue to block gains in sexual and reproductive health for women and girls - UNFPA
Despite significant progress in sexual and reproductive health rights worldwide over the past three decades, countless women and girls remain marginalized due to their identities and geographical circumstances.
“The world made zero progress in saving women from preventable deaths in pregnancy and childbirth,” said Dr. Natalia Kanem, Executive Director of the UN sexual and reproductive health agency, UNFPA, at the launch of the 2024 State of World Population report at the United Nations in Geneva.
The report, "Interwoven Lives, Threads of Hope: Ending Inequalities in sexual and reproductive health and rights,” is being released today.
“One woman in four cannot make her own health care decisions. One woman in four cannot say no to sex. And nearly 1 in 10 are unable to make their own choices about whether or not to use contraception,” Ms. Kanem said at an embargoed briefing on Monday. The statistics paint a stark picture. Women and girls living in poverty, belonging to ethnic, racial, or indigenous minority groups, or residing in conflict-ridden areas, are disproportionately affected by the lack of access to essential healthcare services.
“We have, for the first time, data on whether women's bodily autonomy is strengthening over time and in 40 percent of countries with data it is actually diminishing. Why? One important reason our report shows is that we have not prioritized reaching those furthest behind,” said the UNFPA Executive Director.
The report underscores the persistent barriers faced by women and girls, exacerbated by racism, sexism, and other forms of discrimination.
“When we look at ethnic disparities, we see that the groups that have benefited the most are those that had the fewest barriers to begin with. Access to modern contraceptives varies by race, refugee and migration status, education, and location,” Ms. Kanem reported. “While gender-based violence, sadly, is pervasive everywhere, risk increases based on age and sexual orientation.”
Ms. Kanem added that “indigenous women are routinely denied culturally appropriate maternal health care. As a result, these groups are much more likely, and in some places it's six times more likely, to die during pregnancy or childbirth. Women and young people with disabilities, migrants, people living with HIV and gender diverse people continue to experience discrimination and exclusion when they seek sexual and reproductive health care.”
The report found that women of African descent across the Americas are more likely to die when giving birth than white women.
Improvements in health care access have primarily benefit wealthier women, and those who belong to ethnic groups that already had better access to health care. Women and girls with disabilities, migrants and refugees, ethnic minorities, LGBTQIA+ people, people living with HIV all face greater sexual and reproductive health risks.
“For the one billion people estimated to experience disability in their lifetime, for the 700 million people living in extreme poverty, for the 160 million women with an unmet need for contraception and so many more,” said Ms. Kanem, “these inequalities should not be politicized. They should not be used as an accusation of bias, nor should they be points of division.”
Millions of women and girls remain far behind, and progress is slowing on key measures, according to UNFPA. More than half of all preventable maternal deaths – nearly 500 deaths per day – are estimated to occur in countries with humanitarian crises and conflict.
“It is indeed the responsibility of men to be champions of women's reproductive rights, of everyone's reproductive rights. And while we have seen progress in terms of, for example, women legislators and parliamentarians increasing in governments overall, it's nowhere near the parity and women are half of the world's population,” Ms. Kanem told reporters.
-ends-
Teleprompter
Good afternoon.
Good afternoon.
Good morning, Good evening.
To those who have joined us online from other parts of the world, thanks so much for joining us for this press briefing.
I'm so happy you could join us.
My name is Cylinda Dolkite.
I'm the head of Media and communications at UNFPA.
That's the UN Sexual and Reproductive Health Agency, and I am generally based out of New York, but happy to be here in Geneva today and to welcome you to this global media briefing to introduce you to the 2024 edition of UNFPA's State of World Population Report entitled Interwoven Lives, Threads of Hope, Ending Inequalities in Sexual and Reproductive Health and rights.
This year, the reports, the report calls attention to the impressive progress the world has made in sexual and reproductive health and rights over the last 30 years.
And it also highlights where and how that progress has stalled and in some cases even reversed.
A little bit of housekeeping here.
A quick reminder that this report is under embargo until the 17th of April.
That's Wednesday at 6:01 AM in Geneva, 12O.
1:00 AM in New York.
So today we are honoured to hear from our distinguished speakers.
1st Doctor Natalia Canem, UNFPA's Executive Director, will present the report's main findings.
Then we will hear from the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health, Doctor Khalil Mukafang, one of the report's authors, who is kindly connecting in today from Johannesburg.
After that, we'll open the floor to questions, for which I'm pleased to also welcome two additional UNFPA colleagues to the podium here, Ian McFarland, Director of Communications and Strategic Partnerships, and Rebecca Zerzan, Senior Editor of this report.
So without further ado, allow me to introduce Doctor Natalia Kanem.
A trained paediatrician and pediamologist, Dr Kanem is UNFPA's Executive Director and an outspoken champion of women and girls who has devoted her career to advancing human rights and sexual reproductive health worldwide.
Dr Kanem, the floor is yours.
Thank you.
So, Linda, distinguished members of the press, dear colleagues, dear friends, I greet you in peace.
The noble purpose of the United Nations and the fervent wish of people everywhere, especially the women and girls UNFPA serves.
They want peace in their homes, peace in their communities, and peace in our world.
Woman is the thread.
Woman is the needle.
She is the Weaver of family and society.
This ancient proverb reminds us that our world is intertwined, from each woman's family to the human family.
Yet when we read the headlines, what do we note?
War, polarisation, division, fear.
These relentless messages are eroding faith in our one proven solution to the world's greatest challenges, cooperation.
This year, as half the world goes to the polls, the Secretary General of the United Nations warns that too many people are quote peddling the perverse math that says you multiply support by dividing people.
We know that the opposite is true.
The fabric of humanity is strong because our fates are woven together.
Today we launch our flagship State of world population report titled Interwoven ******, Interwoven lives, threads of hope, ending inequalities in sexual and reproductive health and rights.
In the report, we show that yes, inequalities are widening.
Human reproduction is being politicised.
The rights of women, girls and gender diverse people are the subject of increasing pushback.
Yet we can and we must push forward together because that is what works.
Global solidarity is how we reduce the unintended pregnancy rate by nearly 20% since the year 1990.
It is how we reduce the maternal death rate by 34% since the year 2000.
It is how we reduce new HIV infections by 1/3 in the last 15 years.
In the last three decades, the proportion of women serving in parliaments has more than doubled.
We have secured laws against domestic violence in more than 160 countries.
Not so long ago, most countries in the world had legislation against LGBTQIA plus sexuality.
Today, 2/3 do not, and punitive laws are falling more quickly than ever.
These are gains we achieved together following the world's agreement 30 years ago at the International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo to secure the reproductive health and rights of all people.
These are gains from investments in sexual and reproductive health and rights, which increased 5 fold after countries agreed at the turn of the Millennium to build a world with no one left behind.
And our capacity for global collaboration has only grown.
New technologies have advanced the frontiers of medicine, allowed for real time information sharing and amplified our ability to collect and process data.
Indeed, we know much more about the world and its needs and the solutions than ever before in human history.
And yet today that progress is slowing.
By many measures, it has stalled completely.
Annual reductions in maternal deaths have flatlined since 2016, the world made 0 progress in saving women from preventable deaths in pregnancy and childbirth.
One woman in four cannot make her own health care decisions, one woman in four cannot say no to sex, and nearly one in 10 are unable to make their own choices about whether or not to use contraception.
We have, for the first time, data on whether women's bodily autonomy is strengthening over time, and in 40% of countries with data it is actually diminishing.
Why?
One important reason, our report shows, is that we have not prioritised reaching those furthest behind.
We see, for example, that barriers to healthcare fell fastest for women who are more affluent, educated and privileged.
When we look at ethnic disparities, we see that the groups that have benefited the benefited the most are those that had the fewest barriers to begin with.
Access to modern contraceptives varies by race, refugee and migration status, education and location.
And while gender based violence sadly is pervasive everywhere, risk increases based on age and sexual orientation.
Many of these findings are the are the result of having better data than ever before.
30 years ago, for example, maternal mortality rates were just rough estimates.
Today, data do allow us to see clearly the unacceptable rates at which women are dying while giving life.
Data also show the inequalities that are quite literally killing them.
A woman in a country with a fragile health system is 130 times more likely to die from pregnancy and childbirth complications than a woman in a country with easy access to emergency obstetric care.
And while there are vast inequalities between countries, our report finds that in many cases, disparities in health access are even greater within countries.
Health systems today are weak.
They're tainted by gender inequality, by racial discrimination, and by misinformation.
For instance, midwives.
Midwives have long been undervalued, underpaid and under supported in male dominated health systems.
Even though increasing midwifery coverage could avert more than 40% of maternal deaths, we also see that women of African descent experience higher rates of mistreatment and neglect by health providers.
Indigenous women are routinely denied culturally appropriate maternal health care.
As a result, these groups are much more likely, and in some places it's six times more likely to die during pregnancy or childbirth.
Women and young people with disabilities, migrants, people living with HIV, and gender diverse people continue to experience discrimination and exclusion when they seek sexual and reproductive healthcare.
These inequalities are plain facts of life for millions of people, for the 1 billion people estimated to experience disability in their lifetime, for the 700 million people living in extreme poverty, for the 160 million women with an unmet need for contraception and so many more.
These inequalities should not be politicised.
They should not be used as an accusation of bias.
Nor should they be points of division, their entry points for accelerating progress.
Because everywhere we look, we see gaps, and those gaps are widening.
Stalling.
Progress will turn to will turn into a reversal of progress.
Anxiety over **** fertility rates, low fertility rates and global migration is leading to xenophobia.
It's turning women's bodies into battlegrounds.
Yet these trends population growth in some places, population ageing in others, accelerating migration.
These factors are unlikely to change.
What must change them is our outlook, starting with the silences and taboos being used to divide us, Such a stigma about sex and sexuality that is driving the unwelcome return of congenital syphilis, for example, by keeping vulnerable populations from the vital health services and information they need.
We need to redouble our efforts to achieve comprehensive, universal and inclusive healthcare grounded in human rights and modern science.
A medical revolution is under way with telemedicine and self-care poised to remake health systems.
This feature requires that we equip people from adolescents to doctors to policy makers with accurate modern sexual and reproductive health information.
We need to collect more data and better data.
It should be disaggregated by factors like ethnicity, disability, and more to understand who is being left behind and how to reach them.
And let's bring women outside the circle into decision making roles and positions of leadership.
Empower local actors to identify local needs with health systems and programmes guided from the ground up, not the top down.
These measures are not simply about reaching people at the margins, they're about strengthening all of us, the whole human tapestry.
A fabric is only as strong as its weakest thread.
Our report shows how investing in sexual and reproductive health benefits all of us comprehensive sexuality education, ending gender based violence, promoting gender equality, and ending unmet need for contraception.
These steps would contribute trillions of dollars to the global economy and unleash gains in terms of education, productivity, workforce participation, and human happiness.
We have every reason to act for human rights, for gender equality, for justice, and for the world's bottom line.
We know what can be accomplished when we work together.
We have done it before, and now we must do it again.
The fabric of humanity is rich and beautiful, composed of over 8 billion threads and counting, each one of us unique.
Our strength, our resilience comes not from any individual strand, but from the collective interwoven whole.
The way forward, how we proceed and succeed, is indeed by working together.
Thank you.
Thank you so much, Doctor Kanem, for this great introduction to the report and highlighting why it's so important that we redouble our efforts to achieve sexual and reproductive rights for all.
I'm very pleased to move to our second speaker, Our second, our next speaker is Doctor Clay Lang Mokofeng, who should be joining us online.
Yes, there she is, the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to physical and mental health.
Just a quick introduction for those who do not know her, Doctor Mokofeng was appointed by the UN Human Rights Council in July 2020.
She's a lecturer, broadcaster, author and a medical doctor from South Africa with expertise advocating for universal health access, HIV care, youth friendly services and family planning.
We're so pleased that she agreed to write the 2nd chapter of the report, which explores how health systems have been shaped by the forces of inequality.
Thank you so much and I pass the floor to you for a few.
Words.
Thank you.
Thank you so much for this opportunity and congratulations to you, my dear sister.
Natalia and your entire team at UNFPA for this incredible report, State of World Population Report, and I think your words.
I for one have hung.
On every word you have said this afternoon.
Because I resonate with so much of what?
You say because my own experience of having been a young.
Black woman in South Africa.
At the.
Time when we were grappling with the HIV pandemic.
I know first hand the difficulties and the obstacles that it takes.
To go through for young.
Women.
To succeed.
In life, and it's my.
Wish and I know through the.
Work and your dedication as UNFPA and through the amount of.
Work that you.
Do on the ground that for a future of.
Young girls and women everywhere around the world.
They cannot depend on a series.
Of miracles, but that every day.
We are all.
Commuted to make sure that the fabric of humanity is as strong as ever.
But indeed.
We start with those.
Who we continue to leave.
Behind in various ways and of course for me the the solution.
I think that I want.
To propose to us is that indeed human rights are the only way that we can transform society.
And we know when things.
Go wrong in terms of.
Sexual and reproductive health.
We know that they impact.
Women's autonomy, their right.
To self.
Determine.
Their right to make informed decisions, their right to just be confident in themselves and.
Actually see through some of the decisions.
That they need to make and whether these.
Obstacles are at the level of health.
Or clinical care or underlying determinants of health.
We know that the right to health, but more specifically sexual and reproductive health.
Rights holds the key.
To unlocking social, economic, political, civil participation, and this is really crucial for girls.
And for women as well, and especially for.
Adolescents who I have a.
Special passion for.
And an incredible amount of adoration for.
Because I know how much.
They face.
In terms of discrimination, in terms of barriers.
And accessing information.
But as well as.
Services and goods and a lot of the.
Times when they do get.
Services when they do get goods, they are not always of.
Quality they don't always having the best of the modern choices in family planning.
For example, and we know that adolescence is a really important period of.
Time where young people are.
Developing.
They're maturing, they're inquisitive, but we also, all of us have to.
To make sure.
That we are gender sensitive.
We are also inclusive.
We are nondiscriminatory.
But ensure that all of these promises are supported by global health.
Leadership they are supported by.
By National Health policies.
That are.
Also.
Sound.
In terms of resourcing and sustainable funding and budgeting that support resources for adolescents.
But also for young people and more women so that we can integrate.
In a more meaningful way.
National.
Strategies.
And programmes and it's an absolute honour for me.
To have been.
Able to participate as one.
Of the authors for this incredible report and I want to say that human rights.
Are solution.
Orientated the right to health.
In.
Particular is really, really visionary in that when we get it right on the right to health, we really enable people to live dignified lives we respect we.
Fulfil.
We promote.
Their right.
To make some of the very important decisions of their life.
That can set the tone.
For the rest of your.
Of their lives and with.
That I would just like.
To say that my own chapter specifically spoke about the interwoveness of the problems that we face in the world.
That often the structural barriers.
Are, you know, analysed and people we young women when we see the mortality rates, when we see the ****.
Pregnancy rates The teen pregnancy rate, The **** STI.
Rates, we tend to think those are individual people not making good choices and we are not analysing.
Enough the structural or underlying.
Factors and my chapter.
Hopes.
To shed a light on.
Some of the way that.
Structural discrimination holds people back, but also promises a future, promises some solutions.
That can bring all of us.
Weave us back.
Together as a global.
Community to once and for.
All truly leave no one behind.
And with that, I would like to say thank you very much for including me in today's programme.
And Will.
Be one of the.
Authors of this incredible report.
And congratulations to all of you my.
Colleagues, thank you so much.
Thank you so much for those for those inspired, inspired words.
We really appreciate your participation in this in this endeavour.
So let me I'm going to open the floor to questions.
Just a quick note to say if you could focus your questions on the report.
If you have questions outside of the report, we'll be happy to take them, but perhaps.
At the end or.
Afterwards and if you could share, I will go to the room first.
If you could share which media you're from, that would be great if I could hand to you.
Yes, hi.
Everybody.
I'm yes, Pedro.
From AFP here in Geneva.
So it's questions to doctor.
Natalia Khanem, I wanted to ask you, what do you?
Think are the main threats today to sexual and reproductive rights of women and girls today?
And why?
After so many years and even decades of of progress, those rights are under attack today.
Thank you.
Well, thank you so much for the question.
And put very simply, the report shows that inequalities persist because we don't prioritise and value women's rights and in particular women's reproductive rights.
What you treasure, you measure.
So we make a big case that if you're concerned about something, it is wise to look for evidence for data.
And the fact is that health systems being weak, health systems having had this historical taint of gender inequality, that paves the way for misinformation, for types of discrimination that can be subtle or they can be overt.
And I think some of the case studies in the report amply show the risk you're under.
For example, in Doctor Tallings chapter, if you're an Afro descendant girl in Latin America.
I hail from Panama, Colombia's right next door, and I think it's important to factor in these subtleties of treatment.
Are you being welcomed when you come through the door?
So I think the human rights is 1 aspect.
But I will venture further and say that part of the issue right now is the willingness to politicise women's bodies as a quote unquote battleground.
There is plenty of, there are plenty of instances where issues that relate directly to women's rights and choices being used as wedge issues that would divide.
And one case in point is the issue of being honest about sex and sexuality with young people.
Again, I think Doctor Muffa Kang alluded to this in her remarks.
The controversy over comprehensive sexuality education is one, over privileging ignorance and calling it innocence and then abandoning a girl who becomes pregnant.
In many countries you can still be thrown out of school, etcetera, etcetera.
So I believe that a focus and an attention on what it is that women and adolescent girls want is appropriate.
And we use this metaphor of the thread and the fabric exactly because the abundance of evidence shows that when you lift up a woman in the family, educate the girl through secondary education, they're just so many enormous benefits that follow.
So we know this cognitively, and we should act as if it is true because it is indeed true.
Thanks.
Thank you.
Could I ask if Doctor Muffin would like to add anything?
I know that you can only say or also invite questions specifically for her because I know she can only stay until 3:10.
Just so that you are aware of that.
Anything you'd like to add at this point?
Yes, absolutely.
Thank you.
And of course, in full.
Agreement with Natalia and I think what's important is that we also recognise.
That with the growing NT human rights discourse, it has really gone beyond just discourse.
It's a really well funded, very deliberate, intentional machinery to get rid of the rights.
But also to.
Limit the civil society participation.
With an important multilateral.
Systems and processes.
And often, you know, we take it for granted.
That young people are kept.
Out of these.
Spaces as if they have to be.
Spoken on their behalf and I think.
A lot of what this report is is going to do is show that when you listen to people, you are able to.
Elevate and bring the urgency.
To the need.
That they have determined for.
Themselves.
A lot of global health programming.
Has been very top down and I think we have a moment now to.
Move in a direction.
Where we can listen to.
People, we can.
Monitor, evaluate and learn.
And like Natalia saying, if you don't measure it, it becomes and remains invisible and so.
Part of the report.
'S work.
Is to make the invisible.
More visible, and I think that's part of the the pushback and to push forward is to keep making the invisible more visible.
And not spending too much.
Time.
Worrying about, you know, what other people are doing to take away, right?
We need to be more.
Committed to protecting right and actually gaining more ground.
Forward.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
Let me just see if there are additional questions in the room.
Not yet.
All right, give me a second.
Let me just look online.
I see if we'll go to a there's a question in the chat and then I see a hand raised.
Shall I?
I don't know if Amina Carey from the Independent Arabia would like to ask a question or should I read the chat question.
I can just read it.
It says women and girls in the search and the search for peace, let alone reproductive health and rights looks like a far fetched search.
With all that is going on in the Middle East, specifically Gaza and other parts such as Sudan, Yemen and the refugee camps, what is UNFPA doing in these conflict situations?
And did the authors manage to document these situations in the report?
Would you like to take that?
Yeah.
Thank you.
Well, thanks very much, and Rebecca is also here.
Conflict is the antithesis of what women need in order for development to take place.
It's conflict and crisis that cuts women and girls off from official care, official medical care when they need it most.
But it also feeds into the inequality that's the focus of the report.
And yes, we do look at humanitarian circumstances.
Earlier I referenced refugees, people who are internally displaced every time, whether it's hurricane or flood, much less conflict and crisis and war.
Women and children are the most disadvantaged, and Gaza is no exception for what UNFPA does.
We are called on to serve in two important areas in humanitarian crises.
1 is to assure the sanctity of life, that pregnant women can deliver safely, that the newborn and the mother have a chance.
Secondly, we take responsibility for the area of gender based violence more and more, trying to be proactively out front and preventing.
But it is one of the calamities of war that women's bodies are victimised, **** occurs and just generic *******.
Gender based violence also increases when conflict occurs.
As I've spearheaded the effort to call attention to sexual and gender based violence and conflict, it's important to note that while international humanitarian law is there, there are rules of warfare in practise.
The vulnerability of women is enormous and the frequency and the ferocity of attacks on women in many, many conflict laden countries appears to be increasing.
You've referenced Gaza, but I would add so many others such as Sudan, Haiti and on and on.
One very worrisome regard for myself and my staff who are serving in harm's way in all of these locations even as we speak, is that the heretofore exception of taking care not to attack healthcare facilities and healthcare workers seems to be under challenge.
And this is part of a deterioration in the order of conflict that is quite disturbing.
Healthcare should never be a target.
Hospitals should never be a target.
Maternity centres should never be a target.
And so as part of the larger humanitarian sector, which includes the United Nations, obviously, I have joined my voice to our Secretary General's in repeatedly calling for peace to prevail, for ceasefire, specifically in Gaza, so that people can for God's sake be allowed the humanitarian corridors that are missing at this moment.
And with the latest salvo's in the conflict, Secretary General has again called for cooler heads to prevail and for people to step back from the brink.
So I believe that the fate of women and girls under these circumstances is more than lamentable.
It's something that we are all called to act and to do something about and to protect the rights and the safety of women and girls in conflict.
Thank you.
Oh, I wanted to add also that we did ask the Office of the Coordinator on Humanitarian Affairs, OCHA, for the first time to contribute to our report so we can provide more information on that, on that insert, Rebecca.
Hi.
Thank you.
Yes, OCHA provided.
An analysis for our report.
Showing that humanitarian crises greatly exacerbate existing inequalities and so.
If you are a vulnerable person in a community.
When you are displaced, you become that much more.
Vulnerable we also have.
Features.
In the report that show how.
Overlapping forms of marginalisation can additionally be exacerbated.
So, for example, in Turkey, where there were a large number of refugees from the war in Syria, the earthquake further displaced people further.
Disrupting their access to care.
Thank you.
Thank you.
I'm just checking to see if anyone wants to add anything to that.
Yes, please.
Please.
Go ahead.
Doctor Mufukung, please.
Oh, we can't hear you.
Have you been?
Have you unmuted yourself?
And have they unmuted you in the back?
There we go.
Thank you.
I just wanted to say, of course, today being a year after the latest escalation, of course.
Of the crisis in.
Sudan, but also my own mandate has been.
You know, communicating with various Member States especially.
Who are?
Experiencing protracted conflict and and states of of crisis.
And the way in which?
Climate.
Also impacts sexual and productive.
Health rights is also critical.
And that by the time we talk about, you know.
War.
In terms of.
Military weapons.
That happens in the context.
Of already existing crisis that are not.
Quantified as such.
Because they affect women and girls, people with.
Disabilities and so we need to realise as well that it's not just that.
You know women experiencing war.
Now it's that when that.
War breaks.
They already find them already in a fragile.
State already.
In fragile health systems.
And so it becomes even.
More important to ensure.
That we all abide by the international human rights.
Laws and standard and consensus.
That has been set.
For all of us.
And how?
To approach and to respond.
Thank you so much.
Thank you so much.
I'm taking the next question.
I see Lisa Schlein from Voice of America.
Would you like to ask your question, please?
Yes.
Hello.
Thank you very much for this and whoever on the panel.
Wishes to respond and be grateful I I.
Noticed that the word abortion.
Is not used anywhere.
In the report, press.
Release, etcetera.
Is that because the word is politically toxic?
The concept prolitically toxic and do you not?
Believe.
That abortion is an is important.
In the panoply of reproductive health measures, how can it be?
Ignored and I'm wondering.
Whether you Doctor?
And I mentioned the politicisation of reproductive.
Health that's all involved, especially.
In my country, unfortunately.
Do you think this has a lot to?
Do with men wanting to control women's reproductive.
Rights how?
That concept operates in terms.
Of what you see as a.
Stalling and perhaps a.
Backsliding of a reproductive health progress.
Has been made and just one more thing.
Please if you could talk about why it is that you?
Think that women in Africa and women in of African descent are apparently most.
At risk of.
Not getting the reproductive.
Health.
That they need.
Thank you.
Well, I'm happy to start and I'm sure Doctor Talling, who has that responsibility will also chime in before she has to leave.
So I'll abbreviate my response.
On the issue of abortion in particular, UNFPA under the guidance of our Executive Board has determined that of course, we comply with whatever national governments determine about that procedure.
We're legal in countries, it should be safe and accessible and we're not legal.
It should be clear that post abortion services typically presenting as haemorrhage and bleeding must be available no matter what the legal status is.
We do have to acknowledge the facts and you've alluded to some of them.
In my mind, it's clear that unsafe abortion, right, the result of not having contraception, in other words, typically is a leading cause of this stubborn, if you will, maternal death globally.
But often the physician is not going to put unsafe abortion on the death certificate.
You will see haemorrhage or some other concomitant cause with that understanding.
UNFPA, of course, as as AUN entity, doesn't take a position on member state policies, but we do collect the evidence and we do have data and we also of course follow the World Health Organisation research determinations regarding how and when women can control their fertility.
On the issue of people of African descent, I think Ploughing will talk about the structural issues there, but I would like to volunteer that it is indeed the responsibility of men to be champions of women's reproductive rights, of everyone's reproductive rights.
And while we have seen progress in terms of, for example, women legislator, legislators and parliamentarians increasing in in, in governments overall, it's nowhere near the parity and women are half of the world's population.
Therefore, I think we have a long way to go to see male power dynamics shift and that men should be willing to step up and object to gender based violence and do something about it.
Men should be up up to and including femicide, which the report discusses.
This is the worst form of inequality where you can be killed because of your gender or your gender diverse status.
Thank you.
And can we invite Doctor Twyling?
Thank you, Doctor.
Would you like to close with something?
Thank you of course, and without even wasting more time, but to add on.
That it's on that basis.
That I did a report.
During COVID.
On sexual proactive health rights.
And it's impact and focused on the basis of the.
Concept of stratified reproduction.
Where you find that certain people are encouraged.
Or even coerced to reproduce while others are systematically.
Discouraged and some states encouragement.
Of **** fertility rates among so-called.
Desired populations emerge through this.
Very pro.
Natalist policies that we see.
To.
Ensure either national strength, economic.
Growth and protection from outside.
Aggression and you'll often hear the very military approaches and speak right and and the.
Whole.
Preservation.
Of the so-called national.
Identity.
And often, as feminists, we'll talk about the instrumentalization of women's bodies.
And the fact that our bodies should not be controlled.
Right, in terms of being used.
As As for other means, and so the stratified reproduction.
As an idea in the.
Way that I've just spoken.
About extends.
Beyond just reproduction to include contraception, conception, prenatal medical care, but also.
Childcare the role of mothers in their child's lives and so if.
And if you look at how you know women experience these.
Parameters depends on which intersections of privilege, therefore all oppression that they have.
On the one hand.
You've got black women, black women of.
Colour black people of an African descended indigenous women who because of the way of.
Power and how society structured they are positioned in a way where they are.
Also disadvantaged in whether they get access to services to resources and facilities and goods and on the one.
Hand you have.
Others who are privileged.
In that, no matter the legal.
Situation or framework no matter the cost the **** cost of medical insurance, they will always be able to access facilities.
Hence.
Public health and the global health.
Community's responsibility is so important because it is those very people.
Who are living at the?
Margins who can by no means of their own.
Even if they tried.
Be able to protect their own rights and so black women, women of Kala, Indigenous.
People globally have been historically framed primarily.
As victims of sexual.
Violence or vectors of illness or sexual illness rather than.
Potentially empowered claimants right of their own sexual rights and sexual health and so these conversations have to be also centred around.
How do we?
Give people their dignity back by listening to them, by coming up with policy.
And programming and and and.
Support in the terms of Natalia speaking about humanitarian support that understands.
Their lived experience as people who are already.
Disempowered.
And I will stop here and say that we have to think about how.
We move.
Forward.
In protecting autonomy as the ultimate source of freedom for everyone to truly be equal.
And that autonomy?
By.
Virtue of what it means.
For women and girls in terms of freedom.
Is.
Often contested by the state because the state.
Sees itself.
As the primary custodian of reproduction and fertility for political reasons, after all.
Thank you.
I'd also like to add that This is why the last chapter in the report is my favourite, because it's looking ahead to how are we going to change the situation that prevails.
It's titled Weaving a Collective Future, and a lot of my hearty optimism is based on the next generation that is coming up.
And in 30 years since Cairo, which I attended as a young person and sparked my lifelong interest in reproductive health and gender equality, there's a new generation that we're not born yet in Cairo.
I met many of them in Banana just a couple of weeks ago, where there was a youth dialogue on ICPD 30, the 30th anniversary of that Cairo conference.
Attitudes do change and young people are very passionate and very idealistic on the question of reproductive justice.
Their attitudes as a nurse are going to be different than the antiquated attitude that prejudges someone with a mental disability who comes in and they're pregnant, for example.
So care with compassion is part of the underlying theme in this inequalities discussion.
And I feel that with a new generation and also new types of training with elucidating some of these facts or figures that are facts and figures that are proposed in the report, The whole idea is the journey forward, you know, the journey ahead.
And under these headers we have tried to pose the types of changes that we think are going to signal huge differences and systemic differences.
It's not a favour that we can choose who to bestow human rights upon.
We all have equal rights and and that should be expressed in practise.
And I really look forward to the embracing of the proposition that every person, every young person who's trying to navigate their adolescence and there are some rocky Shoals out there, will be provided with the right kind of information, the right kind of friendly services where they can ask without being stigmatised and a delivery that is tailored.
This is another phrase that the report stresses.
Things need to be tailored from the ground up.
Local people will advise as to what's going to work because yes, they do know best.
And I've already declared my trust in the younger generation.
This is part of my fervour to make sure that technology doesn't aid in a bad disinformation, but quite the opposite that they can find.
And many young people use the Internet, social media in terms of answering questions they may be embarrassed to ask of adults in their communities or peer educators if they're not online.
These are life lines for young people, and I think it's part of making a stronger fabric of humanity.
Thank you so much.
I there's another question in the chat if you'll allow me.
This is from Ellen Coyne from the Irish Independent.
This is about refugees and refugee movements so I'll just read this if that's OK.
There are many European countries like Ireland where women displaced by conflict are now travelling to as refugees, but anti refugee movements in countries like Ireland are blocking access to accommodation centres, often by trying to frame the arrival of refugees as a ****** of sexual violence to Irish women.
Is there a concern about sexual violence being weaponized by anti refugee agitators while the needs and vulnerabilities of women refugees who have experienced sexual violence are being ignored?
Well, you're really raising a very important fundamental principle in terms of how scapegoating and xenophobia only aggravate the inequalities that we elucidate in the report.
And it's clear that humanitarian emergencies, the movement of people, which again and I have to keep hammering, disproportionately affect women and girls.
The person fleeing for her life with her children is female.
These children are in her care.
So to exacerbate the pre-existing inequalities that were there, the pre-existing discrimination, now you are out of your normal societal environment.
This is why we see that in countries that are affected by humanitarian crises, things that are not immediately obviously related, maternal deaths increased, while violence is obviously related and that type of crime does increase, but in fact child marriage also rises as people scramble for solutions.
We've also documented the rise of female genital mutilation under these circumstances, which is another harmful practise that is based on theoretically making girls marriageable.
So for all these reasons, the attitude of governments that are receiving refugees and, and and people who are migrating makes a world of difference.
For all these reasons, the ability of local communities to show solidarity makes a world of difference.
And I have to admit that it's disturbing that the blame game, which it's very easy to point the finger at migrant communities, has become part of a kind of vernacular of politics in recent times.
So with the IOM, with the UN refugees Group, UNFPA has made extra efforts for welcoming, for example, Roma who were crossing the borders during the Ukraine crisis.
And you know, by analogy, we've also had to insist that where African or Syrian or you name it, the list is long because the world is in a sorry state of protracted crisis where people are moving.
It's important to sensitise receiving personnel, have people that speak their language and understand their customs and vernacular.
It's an advantage for UNFPA that very often in crisis, we were there long before the immediate crisis occurred and hopefully we will be there afterwards.
But that has been an advantage in trying to provide appropriate quality care in dire circumstances.
Yet.
And still, I think the import of your question is that it is important for people to speak out against this type of scapegoating and discrimination.
And I believe that the United Nations has been in the forefront of calling attention to these types of xenophobic attacks.
Thank you so much.
Thanks for that.
We have one last question in the chat and then we're going to move to your closing, closing words as we are just about out of time.
But I'll just address this last question, which is slightly more technical, I guess from Yukiko Amano from the Japanese Nikkei.
The report says that out of 32 countries with trend data, 19 have seen improvements in women's ability to exercise bodily autonomy, while 13 have seen rollbacks.
What countries are included in the 13 countries that have fallen behind with the question?
Does the United States of America, whose Supreme Court overturned Roe V.
Wade, count among the 13 countries?
So I think, Rebecca, you might just give that.
Thanks for that question.
So that analysis of the 32 countries is extremely fresh data that we were just able to crunch based on the new.
Data submitted to.
For the Sustainable Development Goals, so only 69 countries.
Report.
On the status of women's bodily autonomy, and only 32 countries have reported such that we now have two data points.
So they are all low and middle income countries and a forthcoming analysis is going to.
Do more of a deep dive into what are the factors.
Relating to who's being left behind and why so the report only shows the the broadest aspects of that and we.
Plan to have more details later.
I'd also just like to quickly add that the State of World Population report covers the entire world.
In terms of practise, UNFPA focuses on developing countries or in some middle income countries.
Like I said, you know, there are disparities within and we work with those communities within.
So therefore we don't take responsibility for for analysing the politics of the developed world per SE.
There are some important politics that do affect the populations we serve.
For example, while we don't comment on the domestic policies and politics of our member states, it is clear that positions, for example, that are taken by the United States of America government, which affect funding and also activities within clinics in developing country locations are of import.
And here I just want to stress that the efforts to protect the lives and well-being of women and girls should not really be subject to political pressures or, you know, be repealed based on which government of the day is functioning.
Apart from the USA overseas policies which can affect other countries, I'm also highly concerned about places where there's a rollback or attempt attempts to rollback women's rights and Got Gambia has been in the news in this regard recently because of legislation being introduced to repeal the ban on female genital mutilation at a time when there are over 230 million survivors of FGM.
And that's been a 15% increase in that number since the year 2016.
So again, I think the factors of human rights are not divisible.
You know, they're human rights are all connected.
They're in unity.
And under international human rights law, female genital mutilation is a violation.
And culture and religion and, you know, societal pressure should not be used to justify this.
And I believe that our work on inequalities is also underscoring that when it comes to human rights, we must all stand up in defence of those who are most vulnerable.
And with that, would you like me just to say a few closing words?
Sure.
Just a few closing words as we close this out in a couple of minutes.
Thank you.
Well, my closing words are thank you.
We're gratified by the interest in today's briefing.
And I hope that for journalists who do have that sacred duty of reporting, I, I, I hope that this leaves you with a renewed sense that we can achieve a better future for humanity, that there are steps that we could take to improve a situation when we hear, you know, such heartbreaking news moment to moment.
Having been there in Cairo, as I said myself 30 years ago, I have been a witness to great progress.
But I also know that we can't take for granted that that wheel of progress is going to turn evenly for everyone to, you know, for for years to come.
So there was a moment in Cairo when humanity came together in agreement that women should not die while giving life.
And this is a worthy pursuit.
We've agreed that people's bodies belong to them.
Our bodies are our own.
And that also implies that we should try to reach those who are furthest behind more avidly, that we should get to them first.
And that will keep the fabric of humanity stronger, Stronger because we work together.
Thank you, Celinda.
Thank you, Doctor Kinnaman.
Thanks to everyone in the room and online.
Really appreciate your joining.
If you had any questions that you thought of, think of later, you can reach out to Eddie Wright.
You should all have his e-mail in your inbox.
Thanks a lot and we would look forward to reading your reports, reading and hearing and seeing your reports.
Thank you so much.