Dr Babatunde Osotimehin, Executive Director, introduced the UNFPA proposals for the post-2015 development framework at the EuroNGOs conference Next Steps: Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights on the Post-2015 Agenda. Fulfilling rights, achieving universal access to SRHR, empowering women, investing in youth, through a coherent post-2015 development framework.
As Dr Osotimehin noted there are about 800 days are left for MDGs. ICPD has been about 20 years and the MDGs 15 years. At that time we could not get a goal for sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), and Target 5B was not introduced until 2007. The next 18 months will be most critical. As far as the ICPD Beyond 2014 review process is concerned, the regional conferences and thematic meetings have been held and it is very clear that the world wants to realize gender equality and women’s empowerment. There is, moreover, from the regions for a strong call for advancing SRHR.
1 A stand-alone goal on gender equality and women’s empowerment, as well as mainstreaming gender equality throughout the framework.
Specific targets and related indicators should address as a minimum:
(a) Protection and fulfillment of women’s sexual and reproductive rights, including developing monitoring and protection systems;
(b) Prevention and elimination of sexual coercion and violence against women and girls, including child marriages, FGM/C and other harmful practices, as well as engaging men and boys and promoting positive norm change for the achievement of gender equality;
(c) Universal access to essential services for victims and survivors of gender based violence.
2 A target under a health goal: Universal access to sexual and reproductive health and rights.
Indicators under this target should measure:
(a) Elimination of inequalities in access to quality sexual and reproductive health services (maternity care, modern contraception, post-abortion services, safe abortion as allowed by law, and prevention and treatment of STIs and HIV), particularly by wealth quintile, age, sex and other characteristics as appropriate.
(b) Improvements in the quality of the services, so that they meet human rights norms as well as public health standards.
3 A stand-alone goal on investment in the capabilities of adolescents and youth for sustainable development, including, as a minimum, the following targets and indicators:
Targets:
(a) Provision of comprehensive sexuality education on health, sexuality, gender equality and human rights to all adolescents and youth, in and out of school.
(b) Universal access to sexual and reproductive health services for young people, particularly for adolescent girls, on the basis of confidentiality and privacy that are supportive and non-judgmental;
(c) Improved education and training for all young people to facilitate access to decent employment and livelihoods, observing employment and livelihoods, observing the convention of minimum age for work;
(d) Meaningful participation of young people in finding and implementing solutions for sustainable development;
(e) Progress in ensuring safety for girls in public spaces, including in and on the way to and from school, as well as safe places and programmes for the most disadvantaged and at risk girls to learn and develop.
Indicators should address:
(a) National policy, curricula and delivery of comprehensive education on health, sexuality, gender equality and human rights;
(b) Laws and policies to facilitate access to sexual and reproductive health services by young people;
(c) National policies and programmes that provide “safe spaces” to the most vulnerable adolescent girls, who are not in school, lack adequate parental protection, live in poverty, etc.
4 Targets under a governance goal, (or mainstreamed throughout the framework) relevant both from the perspective of a human rights approach and accountability; Improve national capacity to generate, make available and analyse disaggregated socio-demographic and health data. Good quality data for development ensures evidence based decision making, programming and policy development
Targets:
(a) Universal birth and death registration.
(b) Access to timely and complete data for population trends and projections
(c) Systematically use population trends and projections in the formulation of development strategies, goals and targets
Indicators should assess:
(a) Improvements in institutional capacities to generate quality data, disaggregated by age, sex, location, wealth quintiles, among other categories, including birth and death registration, censuses, surveys, service-related management and information systems;
(b) Changes in breadth of access to these data and/or in their use for research and policy analysis, planning and programme design, monitoring and evaluation;
(c) Improvements in capacity to prepare population projections and to use them for the formulation of national, sub-national and sectoral development strategies, goals, targets and policies.