U.S. Ambassador For Women Affirms Administration's Commitment To Global Reproductive Rights

Main Category: Women's Health / Gynecology
Also Included In: Sexual Health / STDs;  Pregnancy / Obstetrics
Article Date: 28 Apr 2009 - 3:00 PDT

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Melanne Verveer, the U.S. ambassador for global women's issues, said last week that the Obama administration has a "deep commitment" to the United Nations' 1994 Cairo Platform for Action and its assertions that women's reproductive rights and empowerment are fundamental components of human rights, the AP/Kansas City Star reports. Verveer spoke at a luncheon honoring Nafi Sadik, the former head of the U.N. Population Fund who served as secretary general of the U.N. population conference that adopted the action platform. Verveer said the Obama administration's decision to contribute $50 million to UNFPA "will send an unambiguous signal to the world that the U.S. supports the Cairo Platform for Action." Verveer also said she wants to "clearly reiterate the renewed and deep commitment" that the U.S. has to the platform, as well as the "Obama administration's steadfast determination to continue to work with other governments and [non-governmental organizations] to meet the goals we have set."

Sadik, who now is a special representative for U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on HIV/AIDS and global health issues, said that the first step must be to "shed the baggage" that the administration of former President George W. Bush "put on us ... so unnecessarily." She added, "We need urgently to increase family planning and reduce maternal mortality. It is, frankly, a crime against humanity that half a million women are allowed to die every year as a direct consequence of pregnancy" (Lederer, AP/Kansas City Star, 4/23).

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