World Population Day Focus is on Human Rights

World Population Day is July 11: Theme is "Equality Empowers"

NEW YORK, July 7, 2005 – Preparing for World Population Day July 11, United Nations leaders have agreed that nothing could do more to benefit the world’s 6.4 billion people than planet-wide protection for every individual’s human rights – especially the rights of women.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said equality between men and women is central to achievement of world leaders’ Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) of cutting world poverty, illness and hunger, set in 2000. “Respect for this human right benefits everyone – men, women, boys and girls alike,” he said in a statement. “Every society that wishes to overcome poverty, hunger, armed conflict and disease must draw fully on the talent and contribution of all its members.”

Related Resources:

More Statistics from UNFPA Statement by Thoraya Obaid, Executive Director, UNFPA Millenium Development Goals & Sexual and Reproductive Health Briefing Cards from Family Care International Fact Sheet: What is U.S. International Population Assistance? from Population Action International "Reproductive Choice and Women's Human Rights:" A Position paper by MADRE

Thoraya Obaid, executive director of UNFPA, the UN Population Fund, called on world leaders to speak out “about the great gains that equal rights offer the entire human family,” and to guarantee those gains for their own people.

The two leaders called for investments in education for all, especially girls; for removing barriers to women’s equal participation in the workforce and in civic life; and for provision of universal reproductive rights and health care services.

At the moment, 30,000 children under five die every day, 99 percent of them in the developing world – 11 million every year.

IMPORTANT NUMBERS:

(from Interact Worldwide) 529, 000: number of women in developing world dying needlessly from pregnancy-related causes each year $1 (US): cost of a birthing kit which could save a woman's life every 60 seconds 34,000,000: amount owing by US government in 2004 to UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund 120,000,000: number of couples wanting, but not having, access to contraception

Most die from causes long ago controlled in developed countries, such as malnutrition and lack of vitamins, or illnesses like malaria, measles and diarrhea. An estimated six million children could be saved with relatively simple, cost-effective interventions like antibiotics, vaccinations, and insecticide-treated mosquito nets. Investment in global health is a prescription for child survival.

At the same time, nearly half the world’s people are under 25, just entering their reproductive years, and their childbearing choices will determine the planet’s future. Yet hundreds of millions have no access to modern means of contraception, and women worldwide remain powerless to negotiate the terms of sexual relations.

“For tens of millions of girls, child marriage mean an incomplete education, limited opportunities and serious health risks,” Obaid said. “The world can do better.”

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