ARHA e-newsletter Sept 21 2005

Bulletin 5 September 21
Welcome to the ARHA e-newsletter, providing updates on ARHA news and activities, as well as the latest news on population and development, and sexual and reproductive health.
FROM THE CEO Hijacking support for the Millennium Development Goals Many Parliamentarians recently spoke in the Senate and the House in favour of Australia doing its part in helping to achieve the MDGs, especially in the Asia Pacific Region. Some of their speeches focused on the plight of women including in relation to HIV/AIDS, health and maternal health, lack of gender equality and women’s empowerment. Many acknowledged that without an emphasis on the provision of reproductive health care for women and men these goals could not be achieved. “When women are supported by investments in family planning and reproductive health care their whole family is freed from poverty’. (Kelly Hoare MP.) ‘Achieving gender equality will protect the human rights of women, including their reproductive rights’. (Margaret May MP). So let us be clear about what reproductive health and care is. The best definition is in the ICPD Cairo Program of Action but in summary it includes family planning and birth spacing; ante-natal care; safe, skilled services—and help, management of obstetric and neo-natal complications in emergencies; and prevention and treatment of reproductive tract infections and sexually transmitted infections, including HIV and AIDS. It does not include the ‘right’ to abortion as that is a matter for countries themselves to decide. So what is so controversial about saving lives and highlighting the plight of some of the weakest and most vulnerable? Well, narrow interest religious groups decided that they would hijack the term reproductive health for their own agenda and redefine it as a call for abortion- on- demand. The logic is hard to see. But if they are successful in their attempted propaganda to stop support for poor women who have no voice they will have won. It is a reflection of the selfishness of those who have never lacked such services that they would deny others the same opportunities to space births, to access emergency obstetric care and therefore to live, not die and to protect themselves against HIV/AIDS and other ST infections. As Thoraya Obaid Executive Director of UNFPA says "When a woman’s reproductive rights are protected she has the freedom to participate fully in society". The consequences for women in our region whose plight receives little acknowledgement or publicity and who are dying disproportionately from pregnancy complications, unsafe abortion, lack of health services and HIV/AIDs, are already disastrous. The hijacking of a well intentioned motion of support for these and other women was unforgivable and yet another example of how insidiously the religious right has taken over not only our Federal Parliament but also our State Parliaments and Universities. Research has shown that 80% of Australians are more liberal in their views now than since the start of the Howard government. Isn’t it strange then that a small group of well funded religious extremists manage to inflict their minority views on the rest of us and in the process damage understanding and compassion for those less fortunate than themselves. We need to be ready to counter such narrow extremist views and ARHA would welcome your support. If you feel moved to write letters to the Editor of newspapers or to write letters or emails to your federal or local MP please do so. It will all help counter the huge number of well funded, well orchestrated letters and emails they receive from other groups. Chris Richards DOMESTIC NEWS Women's Health Statement Blocked The Age Sept 12 Natasha Stott Despoja—Leave Alone A Woman's Right To Reproduce The Advertiser 12 Sept Natasha kicks it to the boys Minor chaos broke out in the Upper House last Thursday when Democrats leader Lyn Allison introduced an ammendment to a motion supporting women's rights to sexual and reproductive health services.... Crikey.com 12 September Abortion Pill Attacked Faifax Digital September 12 AIDS rates rising in Indigenous Communities AAP Aug 25 The Australian Reproductive Health Alliance (ARHA) is a non-government advocacy organisation based in Canberra, Australia. Established in 1995, ARHA has a deep commitment to sexual and reproductive rights, particularly in Australia and the Asia Pacific region. ARHA believes these rights to be integral to sustainable development and the response to HIV/AIDS. ARHA promotes women’s rights as a core value and works for the empowerment of women by advocating for gender equality including access to education, the ability for women to control their own fertility and freedom from all forms of violence and poverty. JOIN ARHA You will have the benefit of: Fortnightly e-bulletins Invitations to our events Access to our library Mail outs on the latest information on S&RH and population issues Opportunity to contribute to our Campaigns ICPD DEFINITIONS ICPD DEFINITION OF REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH WHAT THE ICPD SAYS ABOUT ABORTION NEW RESOURCES Population Development Planning in the Pacific Secretariat of the South Pacific Population Issues-Why Are They Given Low Priority Gavin Jones Asia-Pacific Population Journal April 2005 Population Dynamics and Economic Development- Elements of A Research Agenda Centre for Global Deveopment Making Their Own Rules-Police Beatings, Rape, and Torture in New Guinea Human Rights Watch Report – Aug 2005 Review of AusAID Multisctoral HIV Initiatives in PNG April 2005 A Systematic Multidisciplinary Review of the Evidence (Fetal Pain) The Journal of the American Medical Association Fact Sheet: The Global HIV/AIDS Epidemic – 2005 Update Kaiser Family Foundation En Route to Equality - a gender review of national MDG reports through a gender lens (UNDP) The Inequality Report (UN) - reviews national MDG reports through a gender lens. Financing Urban Shelter - explores the challenges of urban development within the broader context of the MDGs. Please visit the resources page for further information	UN WORLD SUMMIT Click to read the full text of the Summit Outcome document and the 2005 World Summit: Outcomes in Brief Sections from the draft outcome document of particular interest to sexual and reproductive health (SRH) advocates are: Under the title "HIV/AIDS, Malaria, Tuberculosis and other health issues" 57 g) Achieve universal access to reproductive health by 2015, as set out at the International Conference on Population and Development, integrating this goal in strategies to attain the internationally agreed development goals, including those contained in the Millennium Declaration aimed at aimed at reducing maternal mortality, improving maternal health, reducing child mortality, promoting gender equality, combating HIV/AIDS and eradicating poverty; and under the title "Gender equality and empowerment of women" 58 c) Ensuring equal access to reproductive health; ARHA's Reaction to Summit Outcome The 2005 World Summit outcome document has finally linked the issue of universal access to reproductive health to the Millennium Development Goals. It has additionally strengthened phrases regarding the empowerment of women. These are welcome additions to the range of goals that all nations should all aspire to. But the strong deliberations prior to the Summit have led to many missed opportunities. Statements affirming reproductive health as a right are still absent, and while universal access to reproductive health is included as a goal, the targets and indicators remain the same as those in the MDGs. Potential indicators for RH that ARHA was advocating for prior to the summit were: Contraceptive prevalence rate, Proportion of births attended by skilled birth attendants Proportion of demand for family planning satisfied Adolescent fertility rate Availability of emergency obstetric care HIV prevalence amongst 15-24 year old women ARHA will continue its efforts in coming forums for the incorporation of these indicators as measures of improving reproductive health. News Items from the Summit UNFPA press release. Summit Release UNFPA Sept 19 Editorial-The Lost UN Summit Meeting New York Times Sept 14 UN Envoys Agree Reform Blue Print BBC Online Sept 13 Family Planning Subtracted From MDG Equation Inter Press Service Sept 13 US Retreats Under Fire at UN Planet Wire News September 12 Millennium Goals A Step Backwards for Women Inter Press News Agency Sept 5 Australian Reproductive Health Alliance and Other Key Agencies Calls On the Australian Government to Maintain Focus on the Millennium Development Goals and to Support Gender Equality in the Australian Statement at Next Week’s UN Summit. SPEECHES IN PARLIAMENT MDGs and World Summit, September 2005PGPD Members Hon Bob McMullan MP, Kelly Hoare MP, Margaret May MP and Maria Vamvakinou MP spoke to a Private Member's Motion in the House of Representatives on 5 September 2005 which urged the Australian government to work towards supporting the MDGs. Members also spoke on the need for reproductive rights to to be protected to achieve the MDGs. Motion and full transcript of speeches 5 September 2005 Senator Claire Moore also made a speech in the Senate on the MDGs and the need for women's rights, in particular their reproductive rights, to be upheld. Speech 6 September 2005 Speech 7 September 2005 Speech 13 September 2005 OTHER INTERNATIONAL NEWS Editorial–Wrong Again. Administration Still Thwarts Population Fund's Good Works Herald Tribune (USA) Sept 20 IMF Policies Thwart Poverty Goals IPS News Sept 19 New Global Partnership for the Health of Women and Children IPPF News Sept 13 Migrants in Tsunami Hit Thai Regions Need More Access To Health Services UN News Services August 31 NZ Warned of HIV Impact In Region PNG Post-Courier ( Papua New Guinea) August 31 Better World For Women Online Star ( Malaysia) August 28 Fetuses May Not Feel Pain in Early Months Associated Press August 23 Indian Women Bear Brunt of AIDS Epidemic Reuters August 23 Seven Billion in Seven Years Interpress service August 23 EVENTS 2005 Annual Meetings of the World Bank Group and IMF, 26^th- 27^th September Washington D.C Pan Pacific AIDS Conference, 25^th - 28^th October Auckland , New Zealand . The 10^th AWID International Forum on Women's Rights and Development October 27-30 Shangri-La Hotel Bangkok, Thailand 3^rd Asia Pacific Conference on Reproductive and Sexual Health (APCRSH), 17 - 21 November Kuala Lumpur East-West Center, Population and Health Studies 37^th annual Summer Seminar on Population 30 May - 29 June 2006, Honolulu, Hawaii. Full information on workshop content, and on application procedures and deadlines can be obtained from the seminar website.

News Items from the Summit