burning issue

42nd session of Commission on Population and Development. The contribution of the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development to the internationally agreed development goals, including the Millennium Development Goals is the theme of the ongoing session of Commission on Population and Development. In 2005 the World Summit—a follow-up to the meetings that launched the Millennium Development Goals—reaffirmed the importance of sexual and reproductive health and rights by adding Target 5.B.: Achieve universal access to reproductive health by 2015 as part of MDG 5: Improving Maternal Health. Contraceptive prevalence rate and unmet need for family planning are indicators for monitoring progress towards this target. The current focus on the MDGs is a significant opportunity for reproductive rights advocates to press governments to comply with their human rights obligations. A draft outcome document of the ongoing CPD seeks to introduce family planning and reproductive health programs to combat poverty in least developed countries. Project Resource Mobilization and Awareness (Project RMA) is partnership between DSW, IPPF, and PAI that aims to create an environment conducive to political support of and secure increased financial resources for RH Supplies. Project RMA aims at placing Reproductive Health Supplies on the agenda of CPD, with a specific reference to RHS in the negotiated outcome document of the CPD. ASTRA Network joined this initiative with recommendations regarding access to sexual and reproductive health in our region. Making safe, legal abortion, modern contraceptives and sexual education accessible for all and opposing different fundamentalisms obstructing observance of sexual and reproductive rights were presented as main challenges for RH advocacy. ASTRA highlights the importance of focusing, during Millennium Development Goal (MDG) processes in 2010, on the key contribution that MDG target 5b (on universal access to reproductive health) makes to the achievement of not only MDG 5 but also goals pertaining to women’s empowerment, poverty, child health and the environment and emphasizes the need to re-invigorate the family planning agenda and to address unmet needs for family planning. Furthermore ASTRA’s recommendations listed also need to increase budget allocation for family planning services in all ASTRA member-countries (CEE and CIS) and difficulties in resource mobilization for sexual and reproductive health projects in our region. The final resolution, which is being debated this week, will be soon available at the website of the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs’ Population Division.

More: www.un.org

Reproductive Health Services at the CSW. From March 2nd to March 13th, the 53rd session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) took place in United Nations headquarters in New York. Its main theme was “the equal sharing of responsibilities between women and men, including caregiving in the context of HIV/AIDS”. At the very end of the session, after long and difficult negotiations and many compromises, the governments adopted “agreed conclusions”. During these negotiations, the United States, New-Zealand and Canada (supported by Switzerland, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Cuba, and Turkey) were the most fervent advocates of women’s rights. They claimed for an article on comprehensive sexual and reproductive health services to be included in the document, while the opponents to this proposal were mainly Syria, Yemen, Qatar and Iran, but also the Africa Group led by Egypt, and most surprisingly, the European Union. Thus, the United States proposed an explicit reference to “the provision of health care and health services, including comprehensive and reproductive health services”. But after even the Africa Group agreed on this article, the European Union was the first to oppose and block the inclusion of the word “services”, accepting this word only in reference to primary health care and services. The final agreed language has then been: “Strengthen education, health and social services and effectively utilize resources to achieve gender equality and the empowerment of women and ensure women’s and girls’ rights to education at all levels and the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, including sexual and reproductive health [suppressed: and services], as well as quality, affordable and universally accessible primary (added) health care and services, as well as sex education based on full and accurate information in a manner consistent with the evolving capacities of girls and boys, and with appropriate direction and guidance”.

The Agreed Conclusions are fully available at: www.un.org

regional updates

The EU anti-discrimination directive.The European Parliament is holding its plenary vote on Wednesday 1 April on Kathalijne Buitenweg MEP’s Report on the proposed EU Directive on the principle of equal treatment for the grounds of age, disability, religion/belief and sexual orientation. The European Parliament’s Civil liberties Committee adopted report on the proposal for a new anti-discrimination directive presented by the European Commission in March. The directive aims to prohibit discrimination based on religion, disability, age or sexual orientation in public and private sectors such as in social protection systems, education and access to goods and services, including housing. The project constitutes a step forward in the fight against all forms of discrimination, and even more so taking into consideration the improvements the EP draft report proposes to the original text. The author of the report, Head of Unit Equality, Action against Discrimination, Ms Buitenweg managed to find a compromise between political groups to delete the exception clause in relation to reproductive rights. Moreover, multiple-discrimination, the existence of situations where people are discriminated on several grounds was included in the draft report. However, the articles relating to harassment, access to education, and the reference to marital status, which may question the application of the principles of equality and non-discrimination against lesbians, gays, bisexual and transgender in the EU remain problematic in the proposal in its current shape. The proposal still needs to be adopted by the European Parliament in Plenary session and by the EU Council which has the last word on the directive. Some MEPs wanted to keep the exception clause related to reproductive rights, and certain Member States will probably want to reintroduce it when the proposed directive will be negotiated in the Council. As the Lisbon Treaty and economic crisis are at the top of Czech Presidency, it is expected that the directive will be adopted only during the Belgian presidency (2010).

Source: www.womenlobby.org

ASTRA’s Letter to Ms Buitenweg: www.astra.org.pl

Serbian Parliament has finally adopted an all inclusive law against discrimination.The adoption came after several weeks of intensive debate, about both the law itself and the way in which the Government handled the legislative process. A draft of the Anti-Discrimination law was produced in 2008 by the Ministry for Human and Minority Rights in co-operation with the Coalition against Discrimination. The Government adopted the law in February 2009 and submitted it to the Parliament for adoption. However, on March 4, just 15 hours before the debate in the Parliament, the Government decided to withdraw the law, giving in to pressure from among others the Serbian Orthodox Church. This led to mass reactions and very intensive debates in media and in the society at large. Numerous NGOs, intellectuals, international organizations as well as some official representatives, protested about the fact that the Orthodox Church could influence the democratic process in this way, and urged the Government to promptly put the law back into Parliamentary procedure without changing the law. Although the adopted law does not meet high international standards, the adoption is a great step forward for the fight against discrimination in Serbia. It is a great result for all the local NGOs that have been pushing for the adoption of this law for years.

Source: Swedish Helsinki Committee

Bride kidnapping in the Kyrgyz Parliament.In 2003, women's NGOs urged the Government through a petition to take measures to protect basic women's human rights. As a result, laws on social and legal protection against domestic violence and State guarantees for gender equality were adopted. However, the most persistent problem remains bride kidnapping. A recent study showed that in some areas up to 80% of married women have been abducted, informed Orzubek Nazarov, a Member of the Kyrgyz Parliament and head of the Parliamentary Committee on Youth and Gender Policy, Physical Culture and Sport. A parliamentary hearing on the problem of bride kidnapping took place on the 3rd of March. “It is necessary to get rid of the habit to take bride kidnapping as tradition and began regarding it as crime,” Jyldyz Rahimdinova member of the parliament said. Although the Article 155 of the Kyrgyz Criminal Code stipulates fine or imprisonment up to three years for the case, the bride kidnappers are usually not afraid of punishment. A lot of women, on the other hand, often are not aware of their rights and crime responsibility for the forced marriage. “Besides, the girls are afraid of relatives and friends disgrace and live with kidnappers,” Rahimdinova said. Rahimdinova stated that it is necessary to intensify activities of the structures working with women on family, youth issues and propose amendments to the Kyrgyz legislation which will reduce the number of bride kidnappings.

More information: OSCE

Female Genital Mutilation discussed by European Parliament.A clear strategy for banning female genital mutilation on EU territory and the need to acknowledge the problem in EU immigration law and cooperation agreements are among the key points of a report adopted by the European Parliament aimed at stamping out this practice. Every year approximately 180 000 female emigrants in Europe undergo, or are in danger of undergoing, FGM. Since FGM is a violation of rights, it can constitute a legitimate reason for applying for refugee status, says the report.

Source:European Parliament

ASTRA’s input in shaping the European Community’s health strategy. Representatives from a range of organizations that work with young people joined DG SANCO Director General on 13th March to discuss how young people in the UE can be best supported to take responsibility for their own health and well being. ASTRA was invited to share experiences of best practice in Poland to promote sexual health. The Forum provided a valuable opportunity to consider sexual health in the UE. The presentations highlighted the findings of national research and the main drivers behind any policy that aims to promote sexual health. DG SANCO has also launched a consultation to collect views on how the European Union can contribute to reducing health inequalities both within and between Member States. ASTRA’s response will feed into the development of a Communication tabled in the Commission Legislative and Work Programme (EU) for 2009.

Source:DG SANCO

The text of ASTRA’s response to the consultation call is available here:www.astra.org.pl

Northern Ireland abortion guidelines published.Following a public consultation and a vote by the Executive, the guidelines on abortion for health professionals in Northern Ireland were published, for the first time, by the Government. The Department of Health has issued the document for doctors, nurses and GPs, however the move will not alter the law, according to which abortion is only available in Northern Ireland where it can be proved that pregnancy would damage the physical or mental health of the woman. Nevertheless, medical professionals have not had any guidelines to work with when approached about terminating a pregnancy. The guidance changes nothing but does provide clarity for those working in health professions. The Family Planning Association, that has been campaigning for such a document to be published since 2001, has said it is a "historic step" towards the Government acknowledging that women in certain circumstances have the right to an abortion.

Source:Belfast Telegraph

Winners of the European Journalist Award for Excellence in Journalism. Corinna Arndt’s article “When children are not the future” was awarded the first prize in the competition open to journalists from The Netherlands, Poland, Germany, Spain and Austria who write about Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights, and poverty alleviation in developing countries. This new European Journalist Award is a tribute to journalists who by their articles contribute to achieving the Millennium Development Goals related to health. It has been set up in the framework of the project ‘Reproductive Health for All’ in which NGOs from the above mentioned countries cooperate promoting Universal Access to Sexual and Reproductive Health as a key target to reaching the Millennium Development Goals. This is a three year campaign and lasts until 2011.

Source:WPF

To read winning article in German:Die Zeit