Challenges and Prospects Ten Years After the 2013 Cairo Declaration

Opening Remarks by UNFPA Executive Director Dr. Natalia Kanem at the Arab Regional Conference on Population and Development in Beirut, Lebanon

Dr. Hector Hajjar, Minister of Social Affairs, Lebanon
Dr. Rola Dashti, Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Executive Secretary of the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA)
Dr. Haifa Abu Ghazaleh, Assistant Secretary-General, Head of the Social Affairs Sector, League of Arab States
Dr. Fadoua Bakhadda, Regional Director, International Planned Parenthood Federation
Excellencies, Honourable Ministers, Distinguished guests,
Dear young people,
Colleagues and friends,

As salaamu alaikum! We meet in peace, the noble purpose of the United Nations and the fervent wish of all people in this beautiful country and region and around the world.

As we begin, I wish to extend, on behalf of all of us at UNFPA, our deepest condolences to the Government and people of Morocco after last week’s devastating earthquake. Our hearts also go out to all those affected by the catastrophic flooding in Libya. UNFPA stands ready to support the Governments of Morocco and Libya with assistance to meet the urgent needs of women and girls.

I thank the Government of Lebanon for co-hosting this Arab Regional Conference on Population and Development, together with the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), the International Planned Parenthood Federation, and my own agency, UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund.

I’m very happy to be back in Lebanon and to return to the region where nearly 30 years ago the International Conference on Population and Development Programme ignited the idea of putting women and girls at the centre of development.

Since then, the Arab region has witnessed significant changes in its demographic profile and in maternal health, women’s empowerment, and young people’s development.

Over the past three decades, life expectancy increased, maternal deaths fell by nearly a half - a huge success - and women and girls today have more agency and more reproductive choices.

Already, eleven Arab countries have met Sustainable Development Goal target 3.1 on reduction of maternal mortality, and four more are well on the way.

Efforts to strengthen health systems and the health workforce – midwives in particular – are a large part of this success story.

I think of Raneen, a midwifery student in Gaza who embodies the power and the promise of education. When her own mother went into difficult labour, there was no time to get her to the hospital. Thanks to Raneen’s midwifery training, she was able to save her mother and deliver the next generation – her baby sister. Both are healthy and doing well.

Back in 1994, only one-third of women in the region were able to exercise their reproductive choices through modern contraceptives. Today 45%, nearly half, can do so, and adolescent pregnancy has fallen over the past five years. 

These are positive trends. Yet vast inequality remains across the Arab region, fueled by today’s overlapping crises and emerging megatrends. And as always, women and adolescent girls are among the hardest hit.

Conflict, humanitarian crises, growing disparities and the enduring impact of COVID-19 exacerbate and compound the risks of gender-based violence and hamper prevention and response.

Climate change drastically affects women and girls’ ability to protect and uphold their rights. When there is flood, famine or earthquake, they lose access to life-saving health services, and the means to sustain their livelihoods. There is also evidence that climate change directly and indirectly impacts maternal health, making pregnancy less safe and worsening newborn health outcomes.

At the end of last year, the Middle East and North Africa hosted 2.4 million refugees and there were 12.6 million internally displaced people. Women and girls in such settings often lack adequate access to sexual and reproductive health services. They face escalating risks of violence, sexual exploitation and abuse, and suffer negative coping mechanisms, such as enforced child marriage.

This is something Semira knows all too well. She was married off as a child to an abusive husband and became a mother by age 14.  Semira told us: “The violence never stopped; I simply became accustomed to it.”

When living in an IDP camp at the time with 5 children, Semira’s situation, and her husband’s violent rages, went from bad to worse. At a UNFPA-supported safe space in the camp, Semira received psychosocial support and vocational training. She found ways to strengthen her position within the family and community. It turned out that she excelled at soap-making and now runs her own business, earning enough to care for her parents and in-laws. Tensions at home have eased, and she reports that her husband is more respectful.

This is a small story but these days a story like Semira’s offers a lifeline of hope to other women in the camp. That’s how change happens, one life, one community at a time.

 

Excellencies, distinguished delegates,

Despite the many challenges facing the Arab region, one thing is clear: countries where women and girls are at the centre of development make the greatest progress.

Investing in women’s and girls’ health, education, rights and agency lays the foundation for gender equality. It drives progress within communities and accelerates prosperity in the Arab region.

UNFPA studies show that across 12 Arab countries every dollar spent on family planning and preventing maternal deaths between 2022 to 2030 would yield 5 dollars in economic returns by the year 2050.

Similarly true for investments in ending female genital mutilation. And every dollar spent on ending child marriage in 7 high-burden countries in the region would yield more than 35 dollars by 2050. Convincing reasons therefore, to invest in women and girls.

As we meet, the human population is at its peak, with over 8 billion souls on the planet.  The Arab population accounts for 6% of the world’s total.

The Arab region is still characterized by being youthful. Children under 15 years old constitute about a third of the region´s population.

Notably, the total number of older persons will rise from 22 million today to 31 million in 2030. In other words, the share of the region´s senior population 65 years and over will constitute 11% by the year 2050.

So, attention to planning for this eventuality should start from now.

My question to you is this: What would the world look like if every person on the planet – all 8 billion of us, and women and girls in particular – had control over their reproductive choices and their futures? At UNFPA, we believe the possibilities, for individuals and their countries, would be infinite.

The Cairo Declaration endorsed by Arab leaders in 2013 offered a pathway to progress.  With a diverse, dynamic, and youthful population, the Arab world has the potential to flourish – if we dismantle the economic, social, and environmental barriers that prevent the region’s women and young people from achieving their potential.

How do we do that?

1. By mustering the political will, developing the right policies and investing with greater vigour than ever before in the health, education, employment and empowerment of women and young people.
2. By strengthening data collection and analysis to see and reach the most vulnerable.
3. By listening to women and girls and incorporating their health and safety needs and lived experiences into humanitarian preparedness, response and recovery plans.
4. And finally, let’s put women and young people at the centre of climate mitigation and adaptation efforts. 

That’s what will deliver the greatest returns for the largest numbers of people and for those left furthest behind.

Young people will inherit the planet and they need to be at the table to create greener, climate-smart solutions.

Women are the experts on natural resource management in their communities. Who better to design – and drive – climate adaptation and mitigation strategies? 

Distinguished delegates,

The world and this region have made significant progress in advancing reproductive health, rights and dignity over the past three decades since the Cairo ICPD. This is thanks to your collective leadership – government, civil society academia, development partners, and young activists challenging us to go further, faster.

Yet we are still far from the finish line. The 10-year-old girls of this region are still waiting. They want to finish their education and stay healthy. They want to avoid child marriage and early childbearing and live free from violence. They want us to help them reach their infinite potential, and in so doing create an Arab region of infinite possibilities.

Together, I know we can, and we will.

Shukran!