A report on the First Plenary Session
By Likes Manglal-lan, Reporter, @lykeslaya
The violation of rights—including unequal access to Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) information and services—was one of the major challenges in addressing the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development Programme of Action (ICPD- POA).
Gita Sen of the Center for Public Policy, Indian Institute of Management
Presented in the first plenary session on 22 January was the Overview of SRHR performance including good practices, lessons learned, challenges and future directions (beyond 2015), for diverse groups and social settings in addressing the ICPD- POA and in meeting the Millennium Development Goals and other related commitments.
Twenty years after the ICPD-POA, what advances have we made?
Unequal access
Gita Sen (Twitter: @gita_sen) of the Center for Public Policy, Indian Institute of Management, enumerated three (3) major gaps that require priority attention: unequal access to information and services; poor quality of available services; and lack of accountability mechanisms to track our activities.
“RH service inequalities leave the women from rural areas very far behind. If you have income, you’ll have services. If not, you won’t. While there are services available, these fall short of human rights and public health standards,” Sen said.
Saramma Thomas Mathai, Regional expert on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Family Planning, also agreed that unmet need for Family Planning (FP) services is highest among the poor.
“Needs—such as skilled health care providers, higher government budget and a supportive policy environment—are available in the Asia Pacific but are still lacking. So a lot of things have yet to be done,” she said.
Young people and their rights
Poor women are not the only ones experiencing unequal access. There are also poor young people in need.
“Services are available but prove to be discriminatory among young people. Consent first is needed before teenagers can acquire contraceptives from local health centers, and check-ups usually become a time for hurtful lectures from health care providers,” said Jeross Aguilar (Twitter: @jerossaguilar), Trustee, International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF).
Jeross Aguilar
“Extensive peer education is essential in the journey of SRHR advancement,” shared Aguilar. Because of the difficulty in youth-adult partnership when it comes to SRHR, the creation of peer education and counselling gave young people opportunity to approach fellow young people in diverse settings. “We have persons living with HIV (PLHIV) reaching out to other people living with HIV. Young transgender reaching out to other young transgenders. The poor reaching out to other young people in poverty. Young people turn to those who understand us best,” Aguilar added.
Gita Sen also said the same for young peoples’ rights, “We need to ensure SRHR for all. And I emphasize ALL, including adolescents aged 10 to 14.”
Additionally, Saramma Mathai shared that teenage pregnancy, cases of abortion and child marriage pose serious dangers in the life of adolescents. “Because adolescents’ bodies are not yet developed, they are at risk of suffering life-threatening conditions as a result of childbirth, or even death.”
Other challenges for 2015 and beyond
Overall, the speakers agreed that while we did what needs to be done, not everything was done right. Issues such as post-abortion care, men involvement, renewed accountability mechanisms to carefully track inequality and quality of SRHR services need to be taken into the front seat for 2015 and beyond.
“But important progress has been made for SRHR provisions since the ICPD-POA. Time and history are on our side—the side of human rights. The youth have spoken their demands, thus we, the adults, should now shut up and listen,” Gita Sen stressed.
Saramma Mathai said, “Young people’s rights are our future, and without the realization of these rights we would not progress. Let not a day pass with another violation of rights.” #
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