Dispatches - February
Joint Campaign Launched at Global Forum on Human Trafficking
VIENNA – UNFPA joined policymakers and celebrities in calling for action against human trafficking, during the first-ever global forum to fight this crime (13-15 February).
Bringing together 1,200 experts, legislators, law enforcement teams, business leaders, NGO representatives and trafficking victims from 116 countries, the forum provided a platform for a new campaign of coordinated action to tackle the crime.
The Vienna Forum considered ways to make the public more alert to human trafficking; evaluate existing data and research; identify common goals; share information and experience; and foster partnerships among member states, UN agencies, the business community, academia and NGOs. Events were structured around three key elements of human trafficking:
• the root causes of trafficking,
• the social and economic impact,
• the actions necessary to eradicate it.
The findings and discussions at the Vienna Forum will provide necessary input for UN.GIFT when carrying out research; making capacity-building tools for policy development, implementation, monitoring and evaluation; and increasing efforts in priority areas and raising awareness.
The Vienna Forum was convened by the United Nations Global Initiative to Fight Human Trafficking (UN.GIFT), which was established in recognition of the fact that human trafficking takes many forms and that a coordinated and united approach is required.
UNFPA is one of several United Nation agencies working on trafficking, both through partnerships and by promoting dialog to bring greater visibility to the issue and share information about it.
European Parliamentarians Learn about Sexual and Reproductive Health in Niger
BRUSSELS – The European Parliamentary Forum on Population and Development (EPF) and Equilibres & Populations (E&P) jointly organized a week-long study tour (5-11 February) for six Members of the European Parliament to Niger. The tour focused on reproductive health and rights, commodities and supplies and population growth.
The study tour, hosted by UNFPA-Niger and the Nigerian Parliamentary Network on Population and Development, offered a deep insight into how population and sexual and reproductive health policies impact the country's development. It included visits to various local NGOs and projects dealing with these issues and meetings with local parliamentarians in Niger.
The parliamentarians visited the Boukoki Centre, among other places, which is supported mainly by UNFPA and Germany. This multifunctional centre welcomes and informs young people, and provides sexuality education and peer educator trainings, including activities to promote correct and consistent use of condoms for those who are sexually active.
At a closing press conference, the European Parliamentarians recognised the financial and human resources challenges that Niger faces. The European Parliamentarians consequently committed to reporting back on these challenges to their own Foreign Ministries and Development Ministers in order to influence future aid policies.
Delegation members include: Dr Karl Addicks, German Liberal MP (FDP) member of the DSW Parliamentary Advisory Council, Ms. Françoise Castex, French socialist MEP member of the Committee on Development in the European Parliament, Lord Lea of Crondall, Labour, member of the UK House of Lords and of the UK All-Party Parliamentary Group on Population, Development and Reproductive Health, Mr. Michel Terrot, French Conservative MP member of the French Foreign Affairs Committee and Ms. Hilde Vautmans, Flemish Liberal MP, member of EPF Executive Committee and Chair of the Belgian Foreign Affairs Committee in the Chamber of Deputies, also member of the EPF member group, the Belgian Parliamentary Group on the MDG.
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Press statement: Mission Parlementaire sur les Droits et la Santé de la Procréation au Niger |
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Swedish Groups to Host Conference on Reproductive Health and Rights
Stockholm – Swedish parliamentarians will co-host a conference on Reproductive Health and Women’s Rights from 28-30 April 2008 in Stockholm. The conference will take stock of public health policies and attitudes towards reproductive health and women’s rights in Europe with a focus on new EU member states. Hosts of the conference include Swedish All-Party Parliamentary Group, European Parliamentary Forum (EPF), and the Swedish Association for Sexuality Education (RFSU).
Europe has traditionally been committed to the advancement of reproductive health and women’s rights and largely remains so. However, some recent events and political trends suggest that these gains cannot be taken for granted.
The conference will bring together parliamentarians, advocates, selected opinion leaders and civil society representatives. Organizers hope it will provide an ideal platform to discuss changing political conditions in Europe and their potential impact on reproductive health and women’s rights.
For more information contact Nadine Krysostan at Nadine@iepfpd.org
Ireland Donates € 3 million to UNFPA Thematic Trust Funds
DUBLIN – Ireland is proud to be one of the first countries to contribute to the new UNFPA trust fund for maternal health, said Mr. 
Michael Kitt, T.D., Minister of State for Overseas Development, as he announced Irish Aid funding of € 3 million to programmes targeting maternal mortality and reproductive health in developing countries.
Two thirds of the money will be channelled trough The Thematic Trust Fund on Maternal Mortality that was founded by UNFPA to push for progress on MDG 5.
“The Millennium Development Goals commit us to reducing maternal mortality by 75 percent between 1990 and 2015,” said the Minister. “Yet this is the Goal on which least progress has been achieved since world leaders made their commitment in 2000.
“The number of women dying in childbirth continues to be startling: the risk of a woman dying from complications of pregnancy in her lifetime is as high as one in seven in some African and Asian countries. This statistic is unthinkable to us in Ireland and it is clear that an extra effort is needed by all countries to ensure the achievement of MDG5.”
He added that the Fund will support 75 of the poorest countries to deliver better services for women before, during and after childbirth.
The remaining one million euros will be given to the trust fund on Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting, which is operated jointly by UNICEF and UNFPA and the Fistula Thematic Trust Fund, which was established as part of UNFPA’s “Campaign to End Fistula” in 2001.
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