New High-level Commission Will Ensure Promises Made At Nairobi Summitare Kept As Covid-19 Pandemic Threatens To Turn Back The Clock Forwomen’s Health And Rights

By Eddie Wright

New York, 17 September 2020 -- A new High-Level Commission of advocates, experts and activists will be established today to help commitments to women’s health and rights made at the November 2019 Nairobi Summit on ICPD25 stay on track, even during the COVID-19 pandemic, which is blocking access to essential services, such as family planning and antenatal care.

The Nairobi Summit secured billions of dollars in commitments from governments, the private sector, foundations and others. It rallied support to achieve “three zeros” – zero unmet need for family planning, zero preventable maternal deaths, zero gender-based violence and harmful practices – in 10 years.

UNFPA, the United Nations sexual and reproductive health agency, and the governments of Denmark and Kenya convened the Summit 25 years after the landmark International Conference on Population and Development, which culminated in a global agreement that sexual and reproductive health and rights are a necessity for growth and prosperity. But progress in securing these rights has stalled.

“Since the Nairobi Summit, the road to 2030 and the achievement of sexual and reproductive health and rights for all has grown steeper due to COVID-19,” says UNFPA Executive Director Dr. Natalia Kanem. “Yet we continue to forge ahead, to back up words with deeds and action on the ground. The new High-Level Commission will help all of us who made commitments in Nairobi keep those promises.”

Like the delegates at the Nairobi Summit, the membership of the High-Level Commission is radically inclusive. Chaired by H.E. Mr. Jakaya Kikwete, Former President of the United Republic of Tanzania, and H.E. Michaëlle Jean, 27th Governor General of Canada, its members range from former heads of state to grassroots activists and youth.

The Commission will monitor and report on progress towards fulfilling the 1,250 commitments made at the Nairobi Summit, and in particular the 12 global commitments contained in the Nairobi Statement on ICPD25, and make recommendations for removing bottlenecks so that the sexual and reproductive health and rights community maintains its momentum towards a world of rights and choices for all.

More information about the High-Level Commision, its members and activities can be found here: https://unf.pa/hlc

For media and interview enquiries, please contact:
Eddie Wright: +1 917 831 2074; [email protected]

From Commitments to Action: High-Level Commission on the Nairobi Summit on ICPD25 Follow-up

Name
Designation and Organization
1.
Mr. Hatim Aznague
Founder & President of the “Sustainable Development's Youth” Association

2.
Dr. Alvaro Bermejo
Director General, IPPF
3.
Mr. Rudelmar Bueno de Faria
General Secretary, Action by Churches Together (ACT) Alliance

4.
Ms. Franka Cadée
President, International Confederation of Midwives
5.
Ms. Dawn Casey
Deputy CEO, National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation

6.
Ms. Alexandra Chichikova
Miss World Wheelchair 2017; advocate for SRHR and GBV among people with disabilities

7.
Mr. Martin Chungong
Secretary General, Inter-Parliamentary Union
8.
Mr. Henk de Jong
Chief of International Markets, Royal Philips
9.
Ms. Jaha Dukureh
CEO, Safe Hands for Girls
10.
Dr. Mary-Ann Etiebet
Executive Director, Merck for Mothers
11.
Ms. Senait Fisseha
Director, International Programs, Susan Buffett Foundation

12.
H.E. Michaëlle Jean (Co-chair)
27th Governor General of Canada; 3rd Secretary General of the International Organization of la Francophonie

13.
Ms. Lorence Kabasele
President of AfriYAN (ESA)
14.
Mr. Martin Karadzhov
Chair of the Youth Steering Committee of ILGA World (The International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association)

15.
Mr. Sangeet Kayastha
Coordinator, Y-PEER Asia-Pacific Center
16.
H.E. Mr. Jakaya Kikwete (Co-chair)
Former President, United Republic of Tanzania
17.
Mr. Hans Linde
Chairman, Riksförbundet för Sexuell Upplysning (RFSU)

18.
Hon. Angélica Lozano
Senator, Parliament, Colombia
19.
Dr. Sara Pantuliano
Chief Executive, Overseas Development Institute
20.
Ms. Latanya Mapp Frett
President and CEO, Global Fund for Women
21.
Ms. Lucy Mulenkei
Executive Director, Indigenous Information Network
22.
Professor Friday Okonofua
Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the University of Benin

23.
Ms. Bandana Rana
Vice Chair, UN CEDAW Committee
24.
Professor Gamal Serour
Director, International Islamic Center for Population Studies, Al-Azhar University, Cairo

25.
Professor Keizo Takemi
Universal Health Coverage Advocate
26.
Dr. Nahid Toubia
Assistant Professor at Columbia University and Director of RAINBO (Research, Action and Information Network for Bodily Integrity of Women)

27.
Ms. Jayathma Wickramanayake
Envoy of the Secretary-General on Youth, UN
28.
H.E. Ms. Lindiwe Zulu
Secretary of the Board, Partners in Population and Development

Minister of Social Development, South Africa