Co-conveners: UNFPA, Government of Argentina
The 2021 High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) will focus on ensuring a sustainable and resilient recovery from COVID-19, with particular attention to how the international community can build an inclusive and effective path for the achievement of the 2030 Agenda.
As part of the Forum, UNFPA will host an intergenerational dialogue that brings together governments, civil society, youth leaders and academia to discuss sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) and bodily autonomy in relation to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), with a view to accelerate progress towards a more gender-equitable world.
The SDGs at the forefront will be SDG 3 (Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages), 5 (Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls), 10 (Reduce inequality within and among countries) and 16 (Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels).
UNFPA works with partners to empower women and girls to claim their bodily autonomy – the ability to make their own choices about their bodies and their futures – as a human right central to realizing gender equality and sustainable development. The flagship State of World Population 2021 report, My Body is My Own, focuses on women’s and girls’ bodily autonomy, and UNFPA has co-convened the Action Coalition on Bodily Autonomy and Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights at this year’s Generation Equality Forum.
The full achievement of Sustainable Development Goal 3 and universal health coverage depends on bodily autonomy: Women and girls need the information, services and means to make decisions regarding sexual and reproductive health and rights free from discrimination, coercion and violence.
The COVID-19 pandemic underscored the link between health and well-being and equality, inclusion and prosperity and exacerbated inequalities. Amid the global health crisis, gender-based violence, child marriage, female genital mutilation and adolescent pregnancy all rose whilst essential sexual and reproductive health services were disrupted. It is against this backdrop, and building on the Nairobi Summit on ICPD25 commitments, that UNFPA will target actions that will propel the full, effective and accelerated implementation of the International Conference on Population and Development Programme of Action. Universal health and well-being and gender equality requires upholding the rights of women and girls everywhere.
Moderator
Eunice Leyva Garcia, Executive Director, Youth Coalition for Sexual and Reproductive Rights
Programme:
Opening Remarks
Co-Convenor: Dr. Julitta Onabanjo, Regional Director, East and Southern Africa, UNFPA
Co-Convenor: Hon. Carla Vizzotti, Minister of Health, Argentina
Keynote
Aleksandra Chichikova, First-ever Miss Wheelchair World
Panel Discussion
- Hon. Emma Inamutila Theofelus, Member of Parliament and Deputy Minister, Information and Communication Technology, Republic of Namibia
- Mavis Naa Korley Aryee, Member and National Radio Host, CYIB Curious Minds
- Dr. Peter Waiswa, Associate Professor of Health Policy, Planning and Management, School of Public Health, College of Health Sciences at Makerere University, Uganda
- Dr. Joia Adele Crear-Perry, Founder and President, National Birth Equity Collaborative
- Maria Teresa Rivera, Human Rights Defender
Closing remarks
- Hon. Carla Vizzotti, Minister of Health, Argentina
- Ib Petersen, Deputy Executive Director (Management), UNFPA
