Claire Moore (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In 1994 the International Conference on Population Development—which we in the trade call ICPD—in Cairo was a milestone in the history of population and development, as well as in the history of women's rights. At that conference, which I have talked about a few times in here, the world agreed that population is not just about counting people but about making sure that every person counts. That has actually become the theme of what we talk about.

At that conference over 170 countries signed up to a position that said we would take action into the future. We set out a program that included providing universal access to family planning, sexual and reproductive health services, and reproductive rights. We were going to aim to deliver gender equality—which is a very good aim—employment of women and equal access to education for girls. We were going to address the individual, social and economic impact of urbanisation and migration. And we were going to support sustainable development and address environmental issues associated with population change. Remember, we are talking about 1994.

When we review that program of action—and that has been occurring as we speak—in the 20-year review of the ICPD, all those demands continue to need work. Part of the review is to ensure that the nations that signed up for that compact, including Australia, will be part of the review. So detailed surveys have been sent out to all the countries, saying, 'Tell us how you are going with these projects,' and we have been very pleased by the response.

As you can hear, all those issues about which we spoke—development of women's rights, engagement with community over sustainability, urbanisation—then led to the later development of the Millennium Development Goals. And, as you know, Mr Acting Deputy Speaker, there is at the same time a review of the Millennium Development Goals to which we all signed up with great pride. They said that by 2015 there would be a reduction in world poverty, going on from the same issues talked about in Cairo. So, as we speak tonight, across the world the review is happening on exactly what is happening with our population development and the Millennium Development Goals with a view to asking, 'What is going to happen into the future?'—because, despite our best efforts, we have not achieved all the goals we set ourselves. We have achieved much, and part of the review is to look at exactly what has worked and where we have had progress, because we must celebrate progress—it is not always just about where we have not achieved.

But, if you take a snapshot of what is occurring in our world today, the figures continue to astound because we know there continues to be need. We know that too many women are dying in childbirth. We know that too many children are not reaching the age of four with health. We know that there are issues about sustainability all across the globe. We know about the issues of water and food security. And we know that we have not achieved gender equality. And one of the underlying principles of both the ICPD and the Millennium Development Goals was this issue of ensuring that women and men were equal across our globe. In fact, the 1995 Beijing Conference for Women talked about that as the outcome—women and men working towards our future together. We acknowledge that, without this action, there would not be a future. There was a clear understanding that those contracts to which the world's nations signed up were the only way we were going to be able to move into the future.

So, what should we do now? We have the processes going on through the UN to look at exactly what has happened with the ICPD and the Millennium Development Goals. We cannot afford to wait without taking further action. In fact, one of the real sorrows for me was that, when the Millennium Development Goals were put into place, they did not include the issue of sexual and reproductive health rights. It took another five years to link the exact commitments we made in 1994 into the Millennium Development Goals because there is a constant push-back. When we talk about rights regarding sexual and reproductive health there is a fear from those who do not share a commitment to ensuring that these are rights. They are not something that should be given out without thought. They are not something to give—in fact, they are individual rights for all women and men.

Many of us who work in this field are working to ensure that, this time, when we develop whatever will be the program post-2015—we know there will be a program, as there is much goodwill and hope across the world to make sure that there is a future—the issues of sexual and reproductive rights must be included; otherwise, we cannot look at the women and children of our world and say that we have protected them to ensure that their rights are front of any program that will take place.

The figures we put into our project as facts and stark realities show that, for hundreds and millions of women and girls and for poor and marginalised communities, the promise from 1994 in Cairo is far from being fulfilled. Every day—and these are statistics that are public, to our shame—800 women die from pregnancy and childbirth related complications; 222 million women would like to prevent pregnancy but have no access to modern family planning; 80 million unplanned pregnancies result in 20 million unsafe abortions and all the trauma that that causes. One in nine girls in developing countries will be married before her 15th birthday. One in three girls under 18 will be married without her consent, and maternal mortality is the leading cause of death for adolescent girls in developing countries. Over 2,000 young people become infected with HIV daily. As many as seven in 10 women experience physical or sexual violence, and discrimination and persecution on the basis of sexual orientation persists.

These issues are in our face and what we need to do is ensure that we integrate the ICPD goals into the new global development agenda. That can happen. There cannot be any complacency. We lost that battle with the introduction of the MDGs and it took us seven years to catch up to ensure that goal 5B, which relates to sexual and reproduction health, was put into the program. The current global framework developing process is consultative. However, there is a strong need to ensure that a human rights based approach is maintained and reproductive health is adequately placed.

We all have a job to do in this program, because the only way that governments put forward their proposals is if parliaments work with their communities to share the knowledge. When you have the knowledge put out by those stark realities I just put into the debate, no-one can afford to turn their back on this discussion. We had the opportunity. Our government did prepare a response, and that is being considered now by the UNFPA. We need to see what is being done. We need to ensure that we continue to take our role as a donor nation in this process because our aid must be linked intrinsically to a rights based approach. Certainly, when it comes to the issues of sexual and reproductive health, this is something that must fit into our aid program so that the women and children of our world can have access to the same services we have in Australia, which, again, have not been openly given. People have fought to have these rights in Australia and we have achieved that. When we are looking at our future we need to make sure that when the post-2015 agenda is put in place sexual and reproductive health will be central to that program and the issue of gender equity will also be the bottom line for any program that is being developed.