The conservatism of some of the new European Union member states will not change Europes commitment to the sexual and reproductive health goals of the International Consensus on Population and Development (ICPD), the EUs Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid said Thursday.
At the closing day of the Global Roundtable for Countdown 2015, Poul Nielson distinguished between the EUs collective approach to international aid since the ICPD met in Cairo in 1994, and the domestic policies of the ten new EU member countries. – Cairo has the clear backing of the European Union member states. All countries have their own domestic policies, he added.
Hilary Benn, Great Britains Secretary of State for International Development, underscored that point, noting that European countries now average international family planning contributions equal to 0,42 percent of their gross national income every year, compared to the U.S. level of 0,12 percent. It is rising steadily and Europe hopes to achieve the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of 0,70 percent of GNI by 2015, he said.
Steven W. Sinding, Director-General of the International Planned Parenthood Foundation (IPPF), which co-sponsored the three-day Roundtable, said the gathering had agreed that the MDGs “are dead letters unless we achieve the goals of Cairo.” The ICPD, he said, “is the only yeast (gær, red.) that can make the ICPD bread rise.”
Sinding said the 700 participants from 109 countries had also reached consensus on two other points. – It is essential that we unite the sexual and reproductive health movement with the movement fighting HIV/AIDS, he said.
Second, the 700 participants from 109 countries agreed “to reinforce a global movement to ensure that every woman in every country has access to safe abortion services when she needs them. – This does go beyond the ICPD goals but reflects the views of conference participants, Sinding said.
Kilde: www.planetwire.org
