April 2007

Welcome to the Parliamentary Group on Population and Development (PGPD)
e-newsletter, providing updates on PGPD activities and the latest news on population and development and sexual and reproductive health.

New Members
A current list of all federal and state PGPD members is available from the PGPD website. During 2007 10 new members have joined the group.

23rd Asian Parliamentarians Meeting on
Population and Development (AFPPD)

Dr Mal Washer (right hand side) in Tokyo

In February 2007 PGPD Chair, Dr Mal Washer, attended the 23rd Asian Forum of Parliamentarians on Population and Development in Tokyo, Japan.The meeting gathered about 40 parliamentarians from 20 countries to consider issues of fresh water, food and environment, as well as low fertility, population aging and infectious diseases.

Dr Washer reported on several discussions at the conference - including that HIV/AIDS was a central issue because in 25 years about 25 million people globally would have died of AIDS. Dr Washer also noted that countries with good sexual and reproductive health (SRH) have decreased birth rates (eg Japan and Australia), and it is predicted that in about 20 years obesity will be the cause of the majority of health concerns in western countries. Conference report

HIV/AIDS Workshop for Asian Parliamentarians
Ian Hunter MLC attended the HIV/AIDS Bangkok Workshop in January 2007. Recommendations include that PNG needs more directed assistance and support to establish teams to train primary health care teams.
Conference report

Member News

February PGPD meeting
AusAID officials briefed the February PGPD meeting. They outlined that health was allocated 13% of the total aid budget in 2006/07, 4.4% of this on sexual and reproductive health (SRH). AusAID also advised that they are finalising a strategy for SRH in emergency situations, and have placed increasing emphasis on SRH in their new Gender Policy launched in March 2007 Link to AusAID's gender policy

March PGPD meeting - UNFPA Visit to Australia

l-r (front row): Mr Najib Assifi, Annmaree O'Keeffe (AusAID), Mr Sultan Aziz, Senator McEwen
l-r (back row): Senator Webber, Dr Mal Washer, Senator Allison, Senator Moore, Dr Sharmon Stone

Mr Sultan Aziz, UNFPA Director of Asia & Pacific & Mr Najib Assifi, UNFPA Pacific Represenative, addressed the March PGPD meeting during their Australian visit. This was followed by a dinner with some PGPD members at Parliament House.

They noted that the PGPD is essential in driving SRH issues in the Asia Pacific region but there are still many challenges such as obstetric fistula, which affects about 3.5 million women worldwide, predominately in countries like Nepal, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh and India. The consequences for women include chronic incontinence and social exclusion. Mr Aziz also advised that every year there are 100,000 new cases of fistula - the tragedy is that 90% of these could be successfully treated. Mr Aziz outlined UNFPA's strategy to reduce the number of fistulas.

Mr Assifi and Mr Aziz held talks with ARHA staff and Board members, with other non-government organisations, PGPD members, AusAID representatives and ANU researchers. They discussed the importance of increasing support for sexual and reproductive health activities in the region, strategies to counteract gender-based violence and improve the status of women and girls, and established contacts for future research projects.

PGPD Website

The PGPD website www.pgpd.asn.au contains information on members, PGPD's activities, reports and photos from conferences and meetings, resources on current population and development issues. A membership brochure for parliamentarians interested in joining PGPD can also be downloaded.

Other Websites of Interest
The first virtual network linking women in politics throughout the world has recently been launched - International Knowledge Network of Women in Politics

This is a database of more than 100 experts on women in politics. It has an on-line library with more than 400 reports, handbooks and training materials in English, French and Spanish.

Public Health Association of Australia's website gives information about a range of health issues. They also have a weekly bulletin highlighting articles of interest and new additions to the website.

Young People's Sexuality Website is aimed at young people from 16-25. This website has been formulated from the School of Population Health,University of Melbourne

Domestic News

PGPD Secretariat Chair

Christina Richards will leave the role of PGPD Secretariat Chair and as CEO of the Australian Reproductive Health Alliance (ARHA) on June 15 to "take a break for a few months" before returning to work part time in the field of sexual and reproductive health.

Ms Richards said she had very much enjoyed her work with parliamentarians and PGPD members, and will miss their enthusiam and commitment to the issues. She said the PGPD was well known within the Parliament and had been very influential in getting sexual and reproductive health matters firmly on national and international policy agendas. The new Secretariat Chair will be announced shortly.

Pregnancy counselling legislation
The PGPD was recently updated on the progress of the Pregnancy Counselling (Truth in Advertising) Bill 2006. Senator Troeth advised that the Senate has agreed on suitable terms of reference. The Bill will be placed on the legislative agenda within the next few months.

Funding restrictions
Dr Mal Washer, PGPD Chair, spoke on ABC Radio National's Late Night Live in February 2007 about the restrictions surrounding AusAID funding for abortions and post-abortion care. He outlined that due to government negotiations with Brian Harradine in 1996, the aid program has some restrictions on funding for family planning which have had unfavourbale results in developing countries due to unsafe abortion. Download Podcast (5Mb)

Sex Education and SBS-TV's Insight Senator Judith Troeth, a PGPD member, recently spoke about youth sex issues while a participant in SBS-TV's Insight program Generation Sex. She raised the possibility of a Parliamentary Inquiry into sex education.

International News

International Women's Day: Afghan MP
The UN Secretary General welcomed this day, noting that "out of more than 800 million adults who cannot read, the majority are women. Worst of all, violence against women continues unabated in every continent, country and culture" For his full message click here

One of Afghanistan's most popular MPs, Malalai Joya, was guest speaker at International Women's Day (IWD) functions in Sydney, Brisbane and Canberra in March. Ms Joya also met some PGPD members. Her visit, organised by UNIFEM Australia, helped make this year's IWD Australia's most successful yet, with proceeds expected to reach up to $130,000, compared with $80,000 last year. Click here for more information

UN Secretary-General expresses support for one UN Women's Agency
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has called on member states to take up a proposal to create a UN agency specifically focused on women. This would include the consolidation of three existing UN entities - UN Development Fund for Women, Office of the Special Adviser on Gender Issues, and the UN Division for the Advancement of Women. On International Women's Day the Secretary-General said that he encourages member states " to study the possibility of replacing several current structures with one dynamic UN entity" Link here

United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW)
The recent report of the UN Secretary-General for the 51st session of CSW urges member states to undertake actions to end all forms of discrimmination and violence agains the girl-child. The report, with its conclusions and recommendations, is available online.

British MPs highlight population
The UK All Party Parliamentary Group Report on Population and Development presents overwhelming evidence that the UN's Millenium Development Goals will be missed if contraception is not at the centre of efforts to alleviate global poverty, tackle starvation and even help to avert global warming. This Group also said that President Bush's 'global gag rule' will have to be confronted to achieve these aims. PDF of full report (90 pages)

Portugal Legalises Abortion
On International Women's Day 8 March 2007 the Portuguese Parliament voted to legalise abortion on demand until the 10th week of pregnancy.

European Court Rules on Abortion
The European Human Rights Court delivered a judgment in favour of a Polish woman who was refused abortion even if under Poland's strict laws she should have been allowed one. The woman was told by a doctor that if she carried the pregnancy to term, it could leave her blind. She asked for an abortion but approval was delayed until she had passed the 12 week limit for the procedure. After the birth of the baby, the woman's eyesight degenerated, and now she is nearly blind and registered as disabled.

This judgement is particularly important given the current movement in Poland to make abortion illegal from conception.

Nicaragua passes strict abortion ban
In November 2006 Nicaragua approved one of the strictest abortion bans in history, with no exception for any reason. The law sets a six-year imprisonment term for women who have one.

New PGPD in Azerbaijan
Following the Hon. Malahat Hasanova's participation in the ICPD Bankok meeting held in November 2006, she initiated a parliamentary working group on population and development. This new parliamentary group will become a member of the European Parliamentary Forum (EPF).

UK Amnesty International votes on Abortion
Amnesty International UK members voted to reaffirm their 2006 decision that Amnesty International should support decriminalisation of abortion, access to quality services for the management of complications arising from abortion, and legal, safe and accessible abortion.

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