"For women's comprehensive health and rights: ICPD+10, not one step back": May 28, call for action.

In commemoration of the International Day of Action for Women's Health, the Latin American and Caribbean Women's Health Network has launched a new call for action in the context of the Campaign for the Exercise of Sexual and Reproductive Rights. This demand reaffirms the agreements from the International Conference on Population and Development and asserts the Programme of Action's significance for promoting women's rights.

Background

A decade ago, at the International Conference on Population and Development, ICPD (Cairo 1994), a total of 179 countries made history by unanimously approving the Programme of Action. This year, the Cairo Consensus celebrates ten years of existence.

Why is the Programme of Action so important for the lives of women in particular and for the population in general? Unlike earlier demographic focuses, this agreement addresses the issue of population hand in hand with human development, the protection of the environment, women's status, comprehensive health, individual and collective well-being, gender equality and equity, and respect for human rights.

The Cairo Consensus explicitly recognized women's empowerment through autonomous, responsible and informed decision-making and freedom from discrimination and violence as essential for development.

For the first time, a world summit recognized reproductive rights as human rights, defining them as "the basic right of all couples and individuals to decide freely and responsibly the number, spacing and timing of their children and to have the information and means to do so, and the right to attain the highest standard of sexual and reproductive health."

The Programme of Action also addressed a priority issue for women: unsafe abortion, which it called a serious public health concern. In this respect, the consensus document urged governments to reduce the incidence of unsafe abortion and to guarantee humane care for women suffering complications of unsafe abortions.

The Programme of Action also recognized adolescent women and men as bearers of rights with specific sexual and reproductive health needs that must be met with good-quality and confidential care. The agreement also called upon men to take responsibility for their sexual and reproductive behavior and to share in the tasks of childrearing.

This historic consensus sought to provide coherent responses to the multiple problems and challenges facing human societies from a comprehensive perspective based on human rights and gender.

The Cairo Programme of Action is halfway along its 20-year agenda. The five-year evaluation in 1999 established a series of key measures for the continued implementation of the agreements, and this year, 2004, we will witness the ten-year evaluation.

While the women's movement has made it clear that the Programme of Action does not address all of our demands, we are committed to supporting and monitoring the implementation of this important international agreement. One such initiative has been undertaken by the Latin American and Caribbean Women's Health Network in seven countries of the region. Participating feminist organizations undertook a diagnostic evaluation and developed a matrix of indicators that measures the considerable gaps between the Cairo agreement and the realities in our region.

The women, men and youth of our region will only benefit from the advances in this and other summits if we are able to move from rhetoric to concrete action. We need laws, programs, policies, cultural changes, the urgent allocation of sufficient resources, thoughts and actions in favor of human rights and social justice.

We Demand Our Rights

The Open-ended Meeting of the Presiding Officers of the ECLAC Sessional Ad Hoc Committee on Population and Development (Santiago, Chile, March 10-11,2004) unanimously approved a declaration reaffirming the ICPD Programme of Action, with the only exception of the United States. The Santiago consensus contains references to the main issues addressed in 1994 and at ICPD+5. The position of the governments of the region must again be reaffirmed at the ECLAC session scheduled for June 2004 in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

As a result, the women's movement once again faces the challenges of lobbying our governments to confirm their commitment to the agreements from the International Conference on Population and Development.

We demand:

* The renewal of our governments' commitment to the ICPD Programme of Action, the ICPD+5 document, and the Santiago Consensus.

* The national implementation of these agreements to promote human development, the status of women and the preservation of the environment.

* The implementation of effective public polices and programs for the universalization of basic services (health, education, environmental protection, etc), the eradication of poverty, the creation of equitable and egalitarian living conditions and opportunities for women and men.

* A truly democratic, just and inclusive vision guiding government actions (as opposed to reactionary fundamentalism) and prioritization of the human rights and integrity of those whose lives and well-being are threatened due to: the lack of HIV/AIDS prevention; unsafe abortion; age-based discrimination; the failure to recognize the right to free sexual choice; or simply because of a lack of information or access to sexual and reproductive health services or other types of health care.

* Sufficient financial support from the countries and donor agencies as the only possible means to turn the conceptual advances of these and other summits into reality.

Campaign Objective

To demand that the governments of Latin America and the Caribbean ratify the ICPD Programme of Action, the follow-up document of the ICPD+5, and the Santiago Consensus; and to ensure the fulfillment of these agreements as essential for women's comprehensive health and sexual and reproductive rights.

Suggested Activities

Three concrete campaign activities are suggested:

1. Public events (marches, street theater, artistic events, public dissemination of information, etc.) Groups are encouraged to focus their activities on priority issues from the Programme of Action and to gather signatures in support of the women and youth declaration presented at the ECLAC meeting.

2. Letter-writing campaigns to the legislature demanding the ratification of the ICPD Programme of Action.

3. Press releases or press conferences on the May 28 campaign stressing the importance of the Cairo agreements.

The Pending Debt

Every year around the world, more than half a million women die due to pregnancy-related causes, including complications of clandestine abortion. Pregnancy is the leading cause of death among adolescent women aged 15 to 19 worldwide.

Every year around the world, over 20 million clandestine and unsafe abortions are performed.

Every year around the world, nearly 78,000 women die due to unsafe abortion.

Every day around the world, 6,000 youths and adolescents are infected with HIV/AIDS -one every 14 seconds- the majority young women.

Every year around the world, 14 million young women between the ages of 15 and 19 give birth.

Every year in Latin America and the Caribbean, nearly 30,000 women die due to pregnancy-related causes; unsafe abortion is one of the leading causes of maternal mortality.

Every year in Latin America and the Caribbean, over 4 million abortions are performed, most in clandestine and unsafe conditions.

Sources: UNFPA, WHO.

For more information, visit the LACWHN website, http ://www. reddesalud.org or contact the Coordinating Office, e-mail: [e-mail] fax: [phone]