Efforts Urged to Improve Women's Reproductive Health
Parliamentarians from over 100 countries are being urged to take action in improving women's reproductive health ahead of the 2015 deadline set out in the UN's Millennium Development Goals.
CRI's Chen Xuefei has more from a conference in Stockholm, Sweden.
Lawmakers attending the conference say among the UN Millennium Development Goals, targets toward women's reproductive health,gender equality and access to sexual health are still lagging behind.
Dr. Babatunde Osotimehin is the Executive Director of United Nations Population Fund.
"We say these girls, you are old enough to be married, you are old enough to have sex, you are old enough to have children, but you are not old enough to have access to contraception, you are not old enough to have access to comprehensive sexuality education, you are not old enough to control your own body, this simply doesn't make sense, we must not treat them as commodities, they are human beings. "
Ostotimehin is calling on the parliamentarians at the conference to take action when it comes to funding projects, which will give women better access to sexual health programs.
Sweden's Parliamentary Speaker Per Westerberg is among those taking part in the meeting.
"I am concerned that young people are not being offered the opportunities to which they are entitled, such as education, information, healthcare – and decent opportunities to have a future. Many young people worldwide lack access to correct information, and the knowledge and means to protect themselves against both sexually-transmitted diseases including HIV and unintended pregnancies."
Hillevi Engstrom, Sweden's Minister for International Development Cooperation, adds the leading cause of death among girls aged 15 to 19 is complications from prenancies and unsafe abortions. Engstrom is also suggesting better equality is needed.
"It is not acceptable that women work two-thirds of the total working hours, but only earn ten percent of the works' income, it is not acceptable that women make up half of the population, yet represents 30 percent of the world's poor, it is not acceptable that only one in five parliamentarians in the world is a woman. "
Engstrom suggests a separate standard is needed for gender equality. She's also calling for a clear commitment on women's economic empowerment, as well as better standards when it comes to issues such as literacy, violence against women and women in politics.
The three-day event is being organized by UN and the European Parliamentary Forum on Population and development, as well as the Swedish Parliament.
For CRI, this is Chen Xuefei in Stockholm.
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