Statement by Dr Vita Skilling, Micronesia's Minister for Health and Social Affairs, on behalf of Pacific Member States to the General Assembly Commemoration of the 15th anniversary of the International Conference on Population and Development on 12 October 2009.
(as delivered)
Mr President,
As we mark the fifteenth anniversary of the International Conference on Population and Development, I am pleased to make this statement on behalf of the Member States of the Pacific region - Australia, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru, New Zealand, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Republic of Marshall Islands, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu. We would like to reiterate our strong and unequivocal support for the ICPD Programme of Action adopted in Cairo in 1994, the Twenty-first Special Session of the General Assembly (ICPD+5) endorsed in New York in 1999, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) endorsed in 2000; the outcome of the 2005 World Summit and for the expanded MDG targets and indicators contained in the MDG Monitoring Framework adopted by this body.
While we acknowledge the significant progress Pacific member states have made since 1994 towards achieving the goals of the International Conference on Population and Development Programme of Action, there are a number of critical issues of particular relevance to our region that require urgent attention from our Pacific member states and national and international partners.
Recognizing the importance of building on current national and regional initiatives and furthering commitments made to date, specifically the Cairns Compact on Strengthening Development Coordination in the Pacific, adopted by Leaders of the Pacific Islands Forum and endorsed by their development partners in August 2009, the Pacific Policy Framework for Achieving Universal Access to Reproductive Health Services and Commodities which was developed and endorsed by Ministers of Health in Fiji in November 2008, the Madang Declaration by Ministers of Health in Papua New Guinea in 2009 and the regional declarations made by Pacific parliamentarians to combat HIV and address issues facing youth since 2003, and including other relevant population and gender declarations and commitments, such as the revised 2004 "Pacific Platform for Action on the Advancement of Women and Gender Equality" and "The Pacific Plan”, we would like to reiterate our support to these commitments and assure the international community that we are working towards achieving our targets.
We acknowledge that preventable maternal mortality and morbidity constitutes the greatest health inequity, is an indicator of social injustice and a serious human rights concern. While the Pacific member states have undertaken strategies for accelerated action to address maternal mortality and morbidity, some countries in the Pacific still experience unacceptable, avoidable maternal deaths due to the inability of women to access relevant services in a timely manner including family planning. Special action is urgently needed in some countries to ensure access to quality emergency obstetric care for all mothers and voluntary family planning services, regardless of their socio-economic, educational, and demographic status and regardless of their geographic residence.
Given the high rates of unintended teenage pregnancy, sexually transmitted infections and expanding HIV epidemic in the Pacific and despite the action taken by member states and our partners to date, there is an ever urgent need to support universal access to reproductive health information, services and commodities. Key to achieving this is a focus on strengthening health systems and addressing inequities, with particular attention to vulnerable groups and underserved populations, including young people.
While significant progress has occurred in addressing youth issues, there is need for sustained national action to ensure youth involvement in policy making and programming, especially young people’s sexual and reproductive health issues through information, education and youth friendly services, particularly to reduce unintended teenage pregnancies, HIV infections and STIs.
We acknowledge that progress towards gender equality and women’s empowerment has been slow in Pacific Island countries and that to date the Pacific has a lower percentage of women in parliament than any other region in the world. There are other challenges. Endemic violence against women and girls in some communities poses a significant risk to human security and undermines our efforts to end poverty in our region. Recognizing the high prevalence of violence against women, and its associated negative long-term consequences for women, their families and communities in the region, we would like to call to the attention of the General Assembly the need for increased, sustained national action to eradicate sexual and gender based violence. We want to see an end to permissive community attitudes to this problem and to ensure all individuals have equal protection by law and equal access to justice.
Finally, adapting to the impacts of climate change is an urgent challenge facing us all, particularly Pacific Island countries. Sustainable development activities and measures directly aimed at climate change adaptation are vital to securing livelihoods. It is therefore crucial that climate change be incorporated in to the national development strategies of vulnerable countries. We would also like to request urgent and sustained international action to support low lying Pacific Islands to address the impacts of climate change, including population displacement and impacts on human welfare and development.
Thank you, Mr President.