Why? Because ensuring that women have full reproductive rights creates one of the most desirable “two-fers” on the planet. Complete access to voluntary family planning is among the quickest, simplest, and most affordable ways to improve women’s quality of life. It is also one of the most direct, immediate and cost-effective ways to reduce climate change. In fact, studies show that slowing population growth by giving women access to the contraception they already want could reduce greenhouse gas emissions by between 8 and 15 percent [PDF] — roughly equivalent to ending all tropical deforestation.

Women took these issues to Rio because more than 200 million women in the U.S. and around the world cannot choose whether or when to have a baby, simply because they don’t have access to voluntary family planning. Groups like the Global Fund for Women and International Planned Parenthood Federation spent several days last week making their case, button-holing delegates, meeting with celebrities, blogging and Tweeting, and protesting in the streets.

In the end, as Grist reported, the Rio+20 outcome document – though 49 pages long and consisting of 23,917 words – mentions women in less than 0.01 percent of the entire text. And only two of the 283 sections addressed women’s needs for family planning. Of the seven priority areas of discussion at the summit, none included language endorsing the idea that access to contraception is a basic human right. In fact, language to that effect was specifically removed from earlier drafts of Earth Summit recommendations, primarily at the insistence of the Vatican, which interprets endorsement of reproductive “rights” as endorsement of abortion.

This did not sit well with Hillary Rodham Clinton, the U.S. Secretary of State who led America’s official summit delegation. “Women must be empowered to make decisions on whether and when to have children” if the world is to attain agreed-upon sustainable development goals,”  she said.

Peggy Clark, the executive vice president for policy programs at the Aspen Institute, concurred. “Removing references to reproductive health from the outcome document was “an unacceptable step backward that erases decades of global commitments,” she said. “The ability to choose the number, spacing and timing of children is not a luxury. It is a basic human right, one that has already been affirmed by the world community at the Cairo and Beijing conferences.”

Dr. Carmen Barroso, Regional Director of the International Planned Parenthood Federation/Western Division, pointed out that there is “no recognition [in the outcome document] of the intersection between population dynamics, reproductive health and rights and sustainable development.”

“Overall, it was disheartening to say the least to see the lack of recognition of women’s sexual and reproductive rights and the critical role women’s equality plays in ensuring sustainable development,” she said. “It bears repeating time and time again that as long as women don’t have sustainable lives, there will not be, and cannot be, global sustainability.”

Nevertheless, activists who left Rio seem more determined than ever to secure reproductive rights for all women and to draw a bright line between voluntary contraception and sustainability.

“We will keep organizing well beyond the confines of this conference. There are tens of thousands of us! Collectively we can make a lot of noise, change minds and policy. It’s kind of like our version of “occupy.” We’re going to occupy Rio beyond 20,” declared Musimbi Kanyoro, CEO and President of the Global Fund for Women.

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The post Women Leave Rio+20 Motivated to Galvanize Sustainability Around Family Planning and Reproductive Rights appeared first on Big Green Purse.

What “We” are they talking about?

Certainly not the more than 200 million women in the U.S. and many developing countries who lack access to voluntary family planning. That has become abundantly clear as the summit prepares to wrap up without including either family planning or a broader agenda for gender equality, sexual and reproductive health, and women’s empowerment in the primary summit agreements.

This refusal to acknowledge reproductive rights as a core tenet of sustainability is outrageous. It also flies in the face of previous UN conferences that supported family planning for a host of human and environmental rights. Indeed, the International Conference on Population and Development  (ICPD) in Cairo in 1994 was a watershed moment when women’s rights advocates, demographers and 179 governments came together to design a new model for development that made the empowerment and health of women and girls a  top priority. Cairo transformed a term that few people knew—reproductive rights—into a concept recognized around the world.  The ICPD not only affirmed the right of every girl and woman to quality sexual and reproductive health care and freedom from discrimination, it underscored its centrality towards achieving a harmonious and sustainable environment.

Several global processes—including a twenty-year review of progress towards achieving the  Programme of Action that emerged out of Cairo—are happening within the next few years, all with implications for  the future of sexual and reproductive health and rights.  But in spite of its success, Cairo has not been fully implemented. Resources have fallen short and coercive practices have survived in some countries. Throughout the world, women and girls continue to face violence and inequality and lack access to sexual and reproductive health services.  In this context, women activists in Rio are asking for increased accountability from governments towards promises they have made, plus the resources necessary to implement these actions.

I interviewed Dr. Carmen Barroso, Regional Director of the International Planned Parenthood Federation/Western Hemisphere Region, and Musimbi Kanyoro , CEO and President of the Global Fund for Women, just as they were leaving to attend Rio. Earlier today, I conducted a follow-up interview by email to give you all a sense of what’s transpired at the summit.

1) How would you both describe the reaction to the issues you are raising from the delegates attending Rio?  

Musimbi: We’ve seen push-back on several levels. For example, use of the word “rights” in the context of reproductive health has been a real hot-button. Why? One reason is because many people equate rights with abortion or homosexuality.  The Holy See [the Pope and the Catholic Church] is very well organized.  Is it that the Holy See prefers not to see the human rights of women or doesn’t it believe the human rights of women are holy enough? In light of the allegations within the Catholic Church around the sexual abuse of children, what moral authority does it have to lobby against women’s sexual and reproductive health and rights? (Musimbi Kanyoro is pictured at left.)

Carmen:  Our view is simple:  Sexual and reproductive rights and health cannot be separated from sustainable development.  Securing universal access to sexual and reproductive health care services—one of the targets of the Millennium Development Goals—is as vital as education to ensuring global economic vitality.  We are not seeking to erase environmental concerns from the global agenda nor are we discounting the urgent task of mitigating global warming.  Rather, we are asking for the inclusion of health as a key element of sustainable development; a commitment to promoting gender equality and human rights; and the inclusion of sexual and reproductive rights and health within the Sustainable Development Goals.

 2) What is transpiring at Rio right now?

Carmen: After three days of intense and long negotiations, a final outcome document has been approved.  We were able to secure references to Cairo and Beijing, two landmark agreements on sexual and reproductive health and rights, and acknowledgement that family planning is essential for women’s health and equality.  However, there is no reference to reproductive rights in the final agreement and no recognition of the intersection between population dynamics, reproductive health and rights and sustainable development.

Overall, it was disheartening to say the least to see the lack of recognition of women’s sexual and reproductive rights and the critical role women’s equality plays in ensuring sustainable development.  It bears repeating time and time again that as long as women don’t have sustainable lives, there will not be, and cannot be, global sustainability. 

3) What specific actions are you asking delegates to Rio to take on family planning and reproductive rights? Do they need to vote on a particular platform or plank?

Carmen: In terms of next steps, member states will sign a consensus  agreement on various voluntary commitments related to sustainability. There will be no vote.

 4) Corporate sponsors have made commitments to help communities fight malaria, conserve water, purify water, and shift to cleaner cookstoves. Have you targeted specific companies that could support family planning?

Carmen: Many of our Member Associations work closely with governments and the private sector in delivering sexual and reproductive health care services throughout the Caribbean and Americas.   In Brazil, for example, our Member Association Sociedad Civil Bem-Estar Familiar no Brasil, or BEMFAM  has a long history of working with the government and private sector to increase access to vital health services—including contraception, care during pregnancy and comprehensive sexuality education—among poor, marginalized, and youth populations.

Musimbi: There are governments that support us, like the UK. There are already plans for a meeting in July between the UK equivalent of USAID and the Gates Foundation.  They want to invest 140 million dollars in this work. But still, we must be vigilant to ensure we don’t get sidetracked. One of the challenges is that often business places a heavier emphasis on the pure economics or technology aspects. Those considerations can push the critical social components to the sidelines—out of sight, out of mind. Our role is to keep the social components like health and reproductive rights in sight and top of mind.

5.) The draft of an agreement that will be presented on Friday has already hit the streets—with weak language that lacks accountabilities, measurements or timelines. Kumi Naidoo of Greenpeace has taken to calling the summit Rio MINUS 20. I have reviewed the draft and must agree—no way would anyone come away thinking that women’s health and reproductive rights are important, relevant or included to this agreement. What is the point of the “agreement”?

 Musimbi: Twenty years ago, Gro Brutland convened the Rio summit that became known for its environmental agenda. We all agreed that the empowerment of women and making sexual and reproductive health a reality for women is the simplest path to a sustainable earth.

Neither Gro Bruntland nor any of the women who participated two decades ago were apologetic about bringing what is known as the “Cairo” agenda to Rio.  The gains we achieved in 1994 are threatened. Organized religious groups  want to change the language and message of the ’94 conference, turn back the clock and stifle gains women have made since and because of ICPD. They claim they don’t see the relationship between the empowerment of women, the environment, and reproductive health.  There is plenty of data, which we have shared-and know they have seen- showing the links and outcomes. So, their claims of ignorance don’t hold water. We will not allow these groups and individuals to snatch the rights and gains away from us.

6). Before you left for Rio, you said people shouldn’t expect perfection out of these kinds of meetings because they are only a step. You said people need to take what comes out and hold their local representatives accountable. With such weak language coming out of Rio+20, what are people supposed to hold their leaders accountable for? 

 Musimbi: The fact that sexual and reproductive rights are not on the Rio+20 agenda is really backsliding and a deterrent to sustainable development, the economy and to education. Women need to start organizing to call their governments to accountability.

 7) What is next?

Musimbi: We will keep organizing well beyond the confines of this conference. There are tens of thousands of us! Collectively we can make a lot of noise, change minds and policy. It’s kind of like our version of “occupy.” We’re going to occupy Rio beyond 20.

RELATED POSTS:

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The post Earth Summit Delegates Refuse to Recognize Women’s Reproductive Rights appeared first on Big Green Purse.

That will change on June 20, when the 2012 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, also known as Rio+20, opens in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to the clamor of thousands of women demanding a global commitment to family planning.

They’ll be making a strong case. Studies by the National Center for Atmospheric Research and The Futures Group have shown that empowering women to have babies when they want could reduce greenhouse gas emissions by as much as 8-15%. That’s comparable to stopping all deforestation today, or to increasing the world’s reliance on wind power 40 times over.

Strengthening women’s reproductive rights would have another obvious benefit: it would improve the quality of life for women around the globe. More than 200 million women in the U.S. and developing countries are sexually active and do not want to become pregnant. Yet often, these women lack access to birth control pills, IUDs, diaphragms, and other means of modern contraception. Consequently, one out of every four births worldwide is unplanned, resulting in 42 million abortions each year, killing 68,000 women as a result.

Fulfilling the unmet need these women have for safe, affordable and available family planning would protect their lives while reducing the global population growth that undermines environmental sustainability. Global population currently numbers over 7 billion and is projected to reach 9 billion by 2050. Many scientists believe this number is beyond the earth’s “carrying”capacity, given human demands for energy, water, and other natural resources along with the impact using these resources has on the climate, air and water quality, food availability, and more. Providing women with the family planning and reproductive services they want would improve both the health of women and the world on which they live.

Women are already feeling the impact of a planet stretched to the limit. A study by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the Women’s Environment and Development Organization (WEDO) reported that “women are disproportionately vulnerable to environmental changes.”

* Women and children are 14 times more likely to die than men during natural disasters like heat waves, droughts, and hurricanes.

* In areas of spreading drought, women must spend more time and travel greater distances looking for firewood and trying to raise crops, often risking assault, rape and even death.

* Pregnant and lactating women are more vulnerable to diseases like malaria and dengue fever, both of which are extending their reach into new regions of the world as climate change forces temperatures to rise.

* Women find it harder to make ends meet as food prices increase to compensate for agricultural shortages due to drought or natural disaster. In developing countries, women may be forced to migrate if their lands become uninhabitable. Yet moving off their land to relocation camps or crowded urban areas makes many women homeless and unable to support themselves and their children.

“Sustainable development isn’t sustainable if it doesn’t include empowering women to plan their families, educate themselves and their children, and have a voice in government at all levels,” says Musimbi Kanyoro, president and CEO of the Global Fund for Women. “Rio+20 must have human rights – and women’s rights – at its core.”

So why doesn’t it? Providing family planning services is not complicated. Indeed, thousands of successful programs are operating on every inhabitated continent and in every religious, cultural and political milieu. Nevertheless, reproductive rights have not been included in the Rio+20 agenda.

Dr. Carmen Barroso leads the International Planned Parenthood Federation/Western Hemisphere Region. On a conference call with her and Ms. Kanyoro prior to their departure for Rio, I asked her why, if family planning offered so many human and environmental benefits, it wasn’t a greater priority.

“People in power hold strong ideologically based, extreme religious convictions that women should not be equal,” she replied without reserve. “Anything that favors women’s autonomy is a threat to a world vision that rests on the assurance that the world will not change.”

Nevertheless, said Ms. Kanyoro. “We are not going to be quiet…We no longer see ourselves as isolated, in small groups…we’re stronger because our voices are together.”

The two women leaders said they and a large contingent of women advocates will be pushing for three significant milestones during what’s also being called an Earth Summit. First, they will be urging participating governments to commit to finance reproductive health for any and all who want it. By and large, family planning is among the most affordable strategies for improving women’s health and well-being. And as the graphic below shows, dollar for dollar, investments in reproductive services generate far greater reductions in the greenhouse gases that disrupt the climate and wreak environmental havoc than the same level of investments in non-fossil fuel-based technologies, even solar energy and hybrids.

Second, governments need to adopt policies that actually improve health for women of all ages, including in that sphere a commitment to reduce violence against women. In many countries, women still do not enjoy basic human rights. Women comprise 51 percent of the world’s population, says Ms. Kanyoro, “yet own only one percent of its assets; are two-thirds of the world’s workers but earn a mere 10 percent of wages. Rio+20 must not become another forum in which women’s issues are not heard. Instead, the summit must demonstrate that women’s voices are integral to all development. “

Finally, governments must actually provide family planning services to women. It will be meaningless to make financial and ideological commitments if those are not followed up with on-the-ground, government-initiated programs that ensure reproductive rights for all.

Even though she’s not attending the forum, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton seems to concur.

“It’s rather odd to talk about climate change and what we must do to stop it and prevent the ill effects without talking about population and family planning,” she has said.

This is the first in a three-part series I’ve been retained to write about the efforts women are making to ensure that family planning and reproductive rights are priorities in any sustainable development goals that emerge from Rio+20. Part two of the series will feature an interview with Misumbi Kanyoro and Dr. Carmen Barroso from Rio. Part three will summarize the results of Rio + 20 and next steps.

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