- Lead-organizer: Population Action International
- 13:15 - 14:45
- Date: 19 Jun 2012
- Room: UN2 (Barra Arena)
Youth SRHR in the Context of Sustainable Development
Organizing partnersPopulation Action International, Washington DC, USA
Advocates for Youth, USA
Sierra Club, USA
IntroductionToday, nearly half the world?s population ?more than 3 billion people?are under the age of 25. Globally, 215 million women around the world want to limit or delay births, but don?t have access to the family planning resources they need. When women have power over if, when and how many children to have, communities are better equipped to adapt sustainably, access education and health, and manage community resources. Yet, in some regions young women ages 15-19 are twice as likely to lack access to the contraception they want and need as women over twenty. Collectively, we as young people have a critical role to play in the shaping policies and programs surrounding young people?s sexual and reproductive health and rights, and a just and sustainable world.
Detailed programmeWhy this side event?
In 1994, the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), also known as the Cairo Consensus, declared a ?new era of population? by 2015, where Member States demonstrated a shift from the previous focus on achieving demographic targets to placing the individual needs and rights of men, especially women as the single most important factor for governments in determining population and development policies and strategies, now in 2012, the Rio+20 Summit allows an opportunity for young people?s SRHR to be at the fore fronts as they are the half of the world?s population and largest young generation in human history
It is expected that the event will engage participants of the Rio+20 Summit in a dialogue focused on young people?s sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) as a priority in the Rio+20 Summit discussions and post-2015 development agenda
1. Taking a rights-based perspective to SRHR in the dialogue surrounding sustainable development
2. Putting particularly emphasis on young women and girls ? looking at what sustainable development means to young women and girls, highlighting the gender-based inequalities that they face in relation to the 7 critical issues, and how
3. Leveraging young people's sexual and reproductive health and rights in the context of sustainable development:
The event will start with a viewing of a short film, created by Population Action International, ?Weathering Change,? which takes us to Ethiopia, Nepal and Peru to hear the stories of women as they struggle to care for their families while enduring crop failures and water scarcity. The film shows how women and families are already adapting to the climate change challenges that threaten their health and their livelihoods.
Following the film, the event?s moderator will facilitate a discussion among youth leaders working to advance young people?s sexual and reproductive health and rights and sustainable development. The moderator will share the topic of the discussion and introduce the youth leaders. The moderator will then open the discussion with a few questions that the youth leaders will respond to and comment on. The moderator will facilitate a dialogue among the discussants and pose additional questions. At the end of the discussion, the moderator will open the floor for questions for the discussants and facilitate and question and answer period prior to concluding the session.