Thank you Mr President,
Sweden aligns itself with the statement made earlier by the EU under agenda item 3.
The International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in Cairo constituted a watershed. The ICPD Programme of Action established the need to move from a demographic, target-driven approach to family planning, to a holistic view of sexual and reproductive health services, emphasizing a client-oriented and rights-based approach covering the whole life-cycle. We salute this important achievement. The ESCAP, ECE and ECLAC regional meetings have confirmed that ten years after Cairo, there is strong global awareness of the need to implement the Program of Action as well as the Key actions.
Mr President,
At the global level, we have come a long way these past ten years. We have agreed on the Millennium Declaration, the Millennium Development Goals, and a global development agenda, including the commitments stemming from Monterrey and Johannesburg. Sweden has steadily remained above the 0.7% of GDP for ODA and is committed to reach 1 per cent. The Swedish government has placed sexual and reproductive health and rights and HIV/AIDS as top priorities for our development cooperation for 2004 and we have increased our contributions to UNFPA, UNAIDS, UNDP and UNICEF, as well as our support to Swedish and international NGOs, including IPPF. Approximately four per cent of Swedish development aid is devoted to sexual and reproductive health and rights and population issues.
We are already halfway to 2015, and much still remains to be done. Achieving the ICPD and the Millennium Development Goals on eradicating poverty, reducing maternal and infant mortality and combating HIV/AIDS will require substantial improvements and increased investments in sexual and reproductive health as well as acknowledgement and respect for sexual and reproductive rights. Sweden would like to underline the importance of addressing the needs of poor women, men and young people in order to address the large disparities among and within countries regarding sexual and reproductive health, including our prospects of successfully combating HIV/AIDS. We welcome the decisions of other donors to increase ODA and encourage donors as well as developing countries to allocate more resources for the implementation of the ICPD Programme of Action.
Sweden's new policy for global development stresses the goal of equitable and sustainable global development. The policy is characterized by two main perspectives: a rights perspective based on international human rights conventions and agreements, and the perspectives of poor people in identifying ways to combat poverty and achieve the MDGs. Both perspectives reflect the centrality of population and development issues, gender equality, the needs of young people, sexual and reproductive health and rights, HIV/AIDS, enjoyment of human rights regardless of sexual orientation, as well as urbanisation and migration and development. The right of all people to decide freely over their lives, their bodies, reproduction and sexuality is emphasised, including women's right to free and safe abortion. Mr President,
Our experience shows that young people all over the world have similar claims, expectations, hopes, challenges and questions with regard to sexuality and reproduction, whether they live in Sweden or anywhere else. Among the threats facing young people are HIV and AIDS, and other sexually transmitted diseases. Young people must have access to awareness-raising and educational services and programmes, as well as to various means of prevention, such as education about sexuality and reproductive health, and confidential and youth-friendly sexual and reproductive health care and services, including access to condoms. Furthermore, young persons should be more actively involved in the planning and implementation of measures that concern them.
Through systematic investigations we have found that education about sexuality and HIV and AIDS, tends to lead to greater caution about sexual contacts, including delayed sexual debut, to increased practice of safer sex, and to an open and more positive view on sexuality and gender-equal relations. We are convinced that this openness around sexuality and sexual education contributes significantly to this positive development.
In Sweden, activities to diagnose, treat and prevent sexually transmitted diseases including HIV/AIDS are integrated into primary health care. Special efforts are made to reach particularly high-risk groups, such as intravenous drug users and men who have sex with men.
In this context, my government would like to acknowledge the valuable work many NGOs have made and continue to make in Sweden to inform about and stimulate discussions on issues related to sexual and reproductive health, including HIV-prevention activities. Another important area is female genital mutilation. Sweden has developed a national strategy to combat this increasing challenge in our own country, in collaboration with civil society both in Sweden and in the countries of origin of major immigrant groups.
Ten years after Cairo, abortion remains controversial and is a serious and neglected public health problem at the global level. Women have abortions all over the world, irrespective of legal status or quality of services. Complications following unsafe abortion constitute the major cause of maternal mortality in some countries, and the overwhelming majority of all maternal deaths related to unsafe abortion occur in poor countries. Unsafe abortion may also lead to lifelong morbidity and infertility. We have seen that abortion-related mortality and morbidity is highest where abortion is illegal, where reproductive health services are insufficient, and where women lack control over their own sexuality and fertility. Our experience in Sweden confirms that legalization of abortion does not increase the abortion rate. It only determines whether abortions are performed under safe or unsafe conditions.
All countries, irrespective of legislation, have several options to address and reduce unsafe abortion: e.g. improve sexuality education, counselling and provision of contraceptives, increase access to emergency contraception and obstetric care and improve post-abortion care. In this regard, Sweden welcomes that WHO in 2003 released a technical and policy guidance publication on abortion, Safe abortion: Technical and policy guidance for health systems. Mr President,
Violence against women remains a problem., Non-consensual sex, or various types of sexual coercion, with strong links to violence against women and girls in general, is still common in Sweden as well as all over the world. This is unacceptable.
To effectively promote gender equality we cannot focus only on women. It is also necessary to engage men and boys as partners in order to address negative expressions and forms of masculinity and attitudes and behaviour towards women and girls. Young men need new role models. Swedish men are increasingly taking paternal leave and a more active part in the upbringing of their children. The role of men and boys was given attention in Cairo, but progress in this area has been slow. Therefore, we welcome the discussions on this issue during the last meeting of the Commission on the Status of Women. Sweden supports the promotion of programmes that address men's and boys' participation and responsibility - regardless of sexual orientation - to adopt safe sexual and reproductive behaviour, to effectively use methods to prevent unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections, and respect the sexual and reproductive rights of women and girls.
Another area of high priority in Sweden's new policy for global development is migration. We support regional dialogues on links between population, development and migration issues. In addition, there is also a need for a global discussion on these issues. We believe that migration can offer win-win situations for both sending and receiving countries. In this regard, we look forward to the report of the independent Global Commission on International Migration.
There are unfortunately also dark sides to migration. One is trafficking in human beings. Sweden's commitment to combat human trafficking - in Sweden and elsewhere -focuses primarily on transnational organised crime, poverty reduction, gender equality, migration issues and child protection. The present strategy is based on measures designed to fight all forms of human trafficking while focusing particularly on women and children, and on the most common and nefarious forms of exploitation, such as sexual exploitation, forced labour and hazardous child labour.
Mr President,Let me conclude by reaffirming Sweden's strong commitment to the Cairo Programme of Action. The goal of universal access to reproductive health care and services is absolutely essential to achieve if we are serious about poverty eradication and gender equality.
Thank you.