September 2005

LAUNCH OF E-NEWSLETTER

Welcome to the first issue of the Parliamentary Group on Population and Development's enewsletter. The newsletter provides information about the recent activities of the PGPD as well as information and links to information and news on current issues in the population and development field.

MEMBER NEWS

New Mission Statement and Objectives

In June the PGPD agreed to a change in the rules of the Group, which included a new mission statement and objectives. The mission of the PGPD is:

The PGPD supports the empowerment of women and girls through our commitment to gender equality and the advancement of women as set out in the ICPD Programme of Action. We affirm that equality goes hand-in-hand with investments in sexual and reproductive health, education and economic opportunity. Taken together these investments can lift millions of people out of poverty.

We work to to mobilise political will in addressing discrimination and violence against women and to reverse the appallingly high rates of maternal deaths and disability by advocating for safe reproductive health care services.

We also affirm that integrated reproductive health care and HIV/AIDS policies and practices are a critical tool for achieving the Millennium Development Goals and the empowerment of women in our region.

The revised objectives can be viewed on the PGPD web site

New web site

The PGPD now has a dedicated web site: www.pgpd.asn.au is updated regularly with the latest resources on a range of issues. Currently there are documents and links to reports and research and fact sheets on:

• Millennium Development Goals and sexual and reproductive health (SRH)
• International Conference on Population and Development
• HIV and SRH integration

Please visit the resources page for further information

Meetings

In May 2005 members of the PGPD met with Hon Alexander Downer MP, Minister for Foreign Affairs to discuss the work of the PGPD and the Australian Government's position on the MDGs. The Minister expressed his appreciation at the opportunity to learn more about the objectives and activities of the PGPD. The PGPD will continue to engage with the Minister on population and development issues.

Inaugural meeting of Western Australian state members of PGPD

PGPD members from the Western Australian State Parliament will meet with the PGPD Secretariat on 27 September. Many of the PGPD’s state members already participate in the international conferences, meetings and study tours PGPD attends, and many have made speeches and put motions on behalf of the Group in their respective parliaments. The meeting is the first meeting of state-based members and aims to build the capacity of these members, to support and encourage its members in furthering the objectives of the PGPD at the state level.

International meetings and forums

Senator Claire Moore, Vice-Chair of PGPD, represented the Group at the 3rd Asian Women Parliamentarians' Conference held in Colombo, Sri Lanka, 2-3 August. The theme of the conference was "Engendering MDGs".

This conference provided a forum for the exchange of success stories and challenges in policymaking and program implementation relating to reproductive health, gender, and their linkages with the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

IN PARLIAMENT

World Population Day - 11 July 2005

PGPD Members put motions in the Senate and the Western Australian, Tasmanian and New South Wales state parliaments highlighting World Population Day, 11 July. The motion and speeches addressed the theme of gender equality.

Click here to download the motion and speeches.

World Summit - MDGs

PGPD Members Hon Bob McMullan MP, Kelly Hoare MP, Margaret May MP and Maria Vamvakinou MP spoke to a Private Member's Motion in the House of Representatives on 5 September 2005, which urged the Australian government to work towards supporting the MDGs. Mrs May also spoke on the need for reproductive rights to to be protected to achieve the MDGs.

Senator Claire Moore also made a speech in the Senate on the MDGs and the need for women's rights, in particular their reproductive rights, to be upheld.

Click here to download the speeches.

The hard work of the PGPD and other advocates in the population and reproductive health field resulted in a good outcome document at the World Summit (see below).

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

World Summit 14-16 September

World leaders met last week in New York at a High-Level meeting of the United Nations, to review progress on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and UN reform. The Summit Outcome agreed to is now available from the PGPD web site. In the Summit Outcome document the leaders agreed to integrate the goal of access to reproductive health into national strategies to attain the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to end poverty, reduce maternal death, promote gender equality and combat HIV/AIDS.

Under the title "HIV/AIDS, Malaria, Tuberculosis and other health issues"

57 g) Achieve universal access to reproductive health by 2015, as set out at the International Conference on Population and Development, integrating this goal in strategies to attain the internationally agreed development goals, including those contained in the Millennium Declaration aimed at reducing maternal mortality, improving maternal health, reducing child mortality, promoting gender equality, combating HIV/AIDS and eradicating poverty;

and under the title "Gender equality and empowerment of women"

58 c) Ensuring equal access to reproductive health;

Thoraya Obaid, Executive Director of the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) stated “The leaders’ resolve to bring reproductive health to all has confirmed the vision of the agenda adopted at the 1994 Cairo International Conference on Population and Development. UNFPA looks forward to working with governments to expand access to comprehensive reproductive health services such as family planning, skilled attendance at birth, emergency obstetric care and the prevention and treatment of sexually transmitted infections, including HIV/AIDS.”

Click to read the full text of the Summit Outcome document, the 2005 World Summit: Outcomes in Brief and the UNFPA press release.

NEW RESOURCES

The latest resources added to the PGPD web site are:

• PGPD fact sheets
• UN World Summit documents; and
• information on the MDGs and sexual and reproductive health

EVENTS

Launch of State of World Population Report

On 12 October PGPD will host the launch of the UN Population Fund's (UNFPA) State of World Population Report 2005. Ian Howie from the UNFPA will launch the report, titled The Promise of Equality: Gender Equity, Reproductive Health and the MDGs. Dame Carol Kidu MP, Minister for Community Development in PNG will also speak at the launch.

Click here for further information about the report.

General Assembly of the Asian Forum of Parliamentarians on Population and Development

The 8th triennial General Assembly of the AFPPD has been scheduled to take place from November 12 to 13, 2005, in Jakarta, Indonesia. The President of Indonesia and Executive Director of UNFPA will address the Assembly.

Click here for further information about AFPPD.

OTHER PARLIAMENTARY GROUPS

NZ Parliamentary Group on Population and Development

The NZ PGPD wrote to the NZ Aid Minister suggesting that reproductive health kits be included in packs being distributed in emergency situations overseas. The Minister responded, saying that the government had recently given the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) $NZ1 million immediately after the Boxing Day tsunami, which went toward the delivery of reproductive health kits. In future, NZAID will ask partners who are providing emergency packs to also include the kits wherever possible, the Minister said.

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