Warsaw, November 23, 2012
ASTRA Network proudly presents:
RECLAIMING AND
REDEFINING RIGHTS. ICPD+20:
Status of Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights
in Central and Eastern Europe.
The report was written within the frames of Southern
Voices: Reclaiming and Redefining the Global South SRHR Agenda for 2015
coordinated by
the Asian-Pacific Resource & Research
Centre for Women (ARROW).
To read the Executive Summary, scroll
down.
RECLAIMING AND
REDEFINING RIGHTS. ICPD+20: Status of Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights
in Central and Eastern Europe.
Executive
Summary
The 1994 Cairo International Conference on Population
and Development (ICPD) adopted a 20-year Programme of Action (PoA) with a broad
mandate on interrelationships between population, sustained economic growth and
sustainable development, and advances in the education, economic status
and empowerment of women. The year 2014 marks the 20th anniversary
of the Cairo Conference. It is, therefore, necessary to reflect on the progress
made, the challenges encountered and, based on these, to formulate
strategic goals for ICPD’s agenda beyond 2014.
Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries failed to
use ICPD as a framework to build a sustainable
architecture to protect and promote women’s rights. The social and
economic upheaval that took place in the CEE region in the 1990s has brought
declining socio-economic conditions and increasing inequity throughout the
region, and in all CEE countries there is a huge gender gap in
the economic activity rate. Decision-making and political power is firmly held
by men and not one of the seven countries surveyed for this report is even
close to reaching the 30% quota of women’s political participation. This
reflects the prevalence of deep-seated gender
stereotypes that define women primarily as mothers and wives, assigning their
role to the private sphere. Countries of the region
are suffering a resurgence of patriarchal discourses and religious
fundamentalisms which is reflected in setbacks with population and reproductive
rights policies. In Hungary, Poland, Ukraine, and Russian Federation, there is
a swing back towards pre-Cairo right-wing positions which limit people’s rights
to make their own sexual and reproductive choices.
As a result, twenty years after Cairo, women still die
unnecessarily due to unsafe abortion, pregnancy, or childbirth. Women and teen
girls are suffering from the consequences of unsafe abortion and childbirth,
and lack of access to respectful, caring, quality health services to which they
have a right as citizens. A similar scenario of continued ill health and
suffering exists for women with HIV/AIDS, reproductive cancers and infections,
and unwanted pregnancies, in spite of the fact that the necessary technology
and medical interventions are known. Neoliberal health policy transforms patients with rights to sexual and reproductive health into
consumers who can (or cannot) pay for sexual and reproductive health. Another
common denominator for the region is rampant homophobia and transphobia.
ICPD implementation has been slow in all countries,
despite the acknowledged need to accelerate commitment and the effort to meet
women’s needs and rights, known as the spirit of Cairo. While many new
population and reproductive health policies have been introduced in the
countries that form part of this study, they still do not clearly incorporate a
human rights and women’s rights framework, either at a conceptual or programme
level. There is also a large gap between what is stated and the actual
implementation.
Barely two years to the end of the ICPD, the prognosis
for achieving the objectives of the ICPD is generally not reassuring. Time is
limited and population issues are generally difficult to turn around quickly.
However, strategic or targeted planning, coupled with commitment, could still
achieve much within a short time. While national conditions vary, the outcome
of this monitoring project suggests that renewed focus by all countries –
regarding the accessibility of sexuality education, affordable contraception
and abortion services, as well as addressing the spreading HIV/AIDS pandemic –
could galvanise Central and Eastern Europe’s lackluster move towards 2014 and
beyond.
ASTRA Secretariat, ul. Nowolipie 13/15, 00-150
Warsaw, Poland,
