Panelists Kelly Castagnaro, John May and Beth Schlachter discuss the importance of reproductive rights in deciding goals for the international community’s future (Ashley Balcerzak/Medill)
WASHINGTON – International officials believe that not enough is being said about sex and reproduction in the on-going discussion about improving the planet.
The Environmental Change and Security Program, a group that studies environment, health and population dynamics, hosted a discussion at the Wilson Center Wednesday on setting new goals for sustainable development—that is, ways to meet immediate needs without compromising those of future generations. The plan is to replace the goals established 12 years ago at the U.N. at its Millennium Summit. They expire in 2015.
The panel addressed issues involving sexual and reproductive health and its place in the international community. Moderator Suzanne Ehlers, president and CEO of Population Action International, said she was disappointed that the recent Rio de Janeiro +20 U.N. Conference did not feature this subject as prominently as she expected. The conference provided a forum for world leaders to discuss solutions to reduce poverty and advance society.
In 1994, the International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo defined reproductive health as the freedom of people to decide if, when and how often to reproduce. Reproductive health should also include access to family planning, fertility methods and health-care services that ensure women’s safety, the conferees said.
Panelist John F. May, a visiting fellow at the Center for Global Development, discussed the positive role that population dynamics and reproductive health rights can play in dealing with refugee issues and poverty.
May proposed linking family planning efforts with female education and income generating activities.
May, an adjunct professor of demography at Georgetown University, said that money alone can’t solve the refugee or poverty crises. “We need to address the factors that lead to instability and prevent that instability in the first place. SRH is central to avoiding these situations.”
Speakers stressed the need to define basic rights concerning the act of sex, and not just reproduction, in the international community. Forbidding groups of people from having sex results in more negative than positive consequences.
“You can’t have equality, justice, sustainable development unless these rights are actualized in an established international agreement so that these nations can hold their governments accountable,” said panelist Kelly Castagnaro said.
Castagnaro, director of communications at International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), pointed to the federation’s declaration as an example. It outlines sexual rights, such as the right to personal autonomy and bodily integrity, in order to guide the organization in efforts to protect them.
Beth Schlachter, policy advisor in the State Department’s bureau of population, refugees, and migration, said “a collective commitment is essential to assuring that today’s girls and boys live in a tomorrow of great promise of individuals able to decide for themselves about matters of their own sexuality, strong healthy families and thriving communities and nations.”
