Following an initiative from Equipop, Le Planning Familial, and Médecins du Monde, 93 networks and associations working on "sexual and reproductive health and rights" in more than 30 countries are calling on President Emmanuel Macron to ensure that France creates and leads an SRHR coalition at the Generation Equality Forum ("Beijing25").
Letter to Emmanuel Macron,
December 2, 2019
Dear President Macron,
Re: For the Generation Equality Forum to be successful, France must lead a ‘Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights’ (SRHR) coalition
At the Sixth Replenishment conference of the Global Fund to end AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria held in Lyon on October 10 this year, you referred to the synergy that needed to be developed between matters of health and gender. You stressed that questions of sexual and reproductive health mirror those in the fight for gender equality. You identified the Generation Equality Forum as an arena where these themes, which are fundamentally linked, must be brought together in a tangible way.
The Generation Equality Forum will be the feminist gathering of the year, tackling a host of gender-equality themes. Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights, which are regularly excluded from multilateral negotiations, must be the focus of one of the special coalitions for action scheduled for launch in July 2020. Such an initiative is all the more meaningful in the context of the25th anniversary of the Beijing Conference, where one of the most significant advances was encapsulated in the words: ‘The human rights of women include their right to have control over […] their sexuality’.
SRHR are a source of diplomatic tension. It takes significant effort to drive them up the international agenda. In this regard, France is ideally placed as the organizing body to lead a SRHR coalition in the context of the Generation Equality Forum. In addition, the other States which have taken a stance on this issue are less influential. Lastly, such action could subsequently have a significant impact on a large number of Francophone countries whose SRHR indicators are among the most alarming in the world.
To date, the speeches given in various national and international contexts by Marlène Schiappa, French Minister of State for Gender Equality, and Delphine O, Secretary General of the Generation Equality Forum 2020, and, more generally, France’s position on SRHR at the UN represent positive signs. When the time comes to make a decision, we are asking you personally to ensure that France heads up a SRHR coalition at the Generation Equality Forum.
Furthermore, the 93 networks and associations that have endorsed this letter and work on SRHR issues in more than 30 countries wish to convey to you their desire to contribute to the momentum that would be generated by such a coalition in the coming years, particularly given the absence of any vertical funding earmarked for SRHR.
We have much to offer as a result of our expertise, our networks and our capacity to relay recommendations based on individuals’ genuine needs in a variety of contexts. In Lyon you yourself commented that: ‘We should draw more heavily on the many innovations in health led by local stakeholders on the ground.’ Beijing+25 is the first opportunity to put this approach into practice.
We appreciate you taking time to consider our request. Against a background of aggressive questioning of women’s rights and SRHR in particular, France has assumed a huge responsibility as organizer of the Generation Equality Forum. July 2020 must mark the launch of an unprecedented international pro-SRHR movement. In this we are counting on you.
Sincerely yours,
Aurélie Gal-Régniez, Executive Director, Equipop
Catherine Giboin, Vice President, Médecins du Monde
Véronique Séhier, Co President, Le Planning Familial
On behalf of 93 networks and associations working in more than 30 countries:
(Albania, Bangladesh, Belgium, Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Croatia, Denmark, France, Germany, Guinea, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Latvia, Madagascar, Mali, Niger, Netherlands, Norway, Peru, Portugal, Republic of Northern Macedonia, Senegal, Serbia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States)
ABBEF
AfriYAN Madagascar
Action Against Unwanted and High-Risk Pregnancies
AIBEF
ASSISTANCE
AIDOS (Italian Association for Women in Development)
Albanian Center for Population and Development
Women's Alliance for Democracy
International Alliance of Women
International Youth Alliance for Family Planning of Guinea (IYAFP Guinea)
Asia-Pacific Human Rights Information Center
Family Planning Association (APF) Associação para o Planeamento da Família (APF)
Association of Women Lawyers of Côte d'Ivoire (AFJCI)
Help Me Be a Mother Association
Association for Opportunity and Protection for All
Association for the Education of Disabled Children (AAEEH)
Association for Assistance with Infectious Diseases
Association of Women of Southern Europe
Association of Women Lawyers of Côte d'Ivoire
Association of Young People for Active Citizenship and Democracy Mali
Association for human rights and active citizenship Pariter
Association for the Promotion of Youth Rights
Association for the promotion of young people and children communicators
Association for Sexual Health and Youth Empowerment
Songui Manegré Association/Aid for Endogenous Development (NGO ASMADE)
BOCS Foundation
BURCASO
Coordination of associations for the right to abortion & contraception Paris Coordination of associations for the right to abortion & contraception Paris
Center for Reproductive Rights
Center for the Promotion and Defense of Sexual and Reproductive Rights
CeRADIS
Center for Health and Gender Equity
Guinea Young Women Leaders Club
National Council of French Women
Coalition PLUS
National Advisory Council for Children and Youth in Mali
Convergence for Sustainable Development
Danish Family Planning Association
Directorate for the Promotion of Inclusive Education, Girls' Education, and Gender Directorate for the Promotion of Inclusive Education, Girls' Education, and Gender
DSW
EngenderHealth
Together, Let's Secure the Future
Equipop
European Youth Network on Sexual and Reproductive Rights (YouAct)
State Family Planning Federation State
Femnet Senegal
Awesome Green Africa
Health Education and Research Association
Humanity Diaspora
Pananetugri Initiative for Women's Well-being (IPBF)
International Campaign for Women’s Right to Safe Abortion
International Planned Parenthood Federation, International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF)
International Youth Alliance for Family Planning
Japanese Organization for International Cooperation in Family Planning
JCI University Bamako
Youth and Development
Latvia’s Association for Family Planning and Sexual Health
The African Support and Advisory Office for Achievements
The cheeky ones
Family Planning
Free MarianneS
Marie Stopes International
Doctors of the World
Burkinabe Humanitarian Missions
NGO Namané Coalition of Nawa
NGO Children in Need
MESSI NGO
ORASUR NGO
NGO SongES Niger
Organization of Young Africans for Development and Emergence
Oxfam USA
PAI
Children's Parliament
African Platform for Young Francophone Women Leaders
Department of Cultural, Musical, and Oral Arts Initiatives
Network of champions advocating for adequate health financing in Côte d'Ivoire
Ivorian Youth Network Against AIDS
RFSU/IPPF Sweden
Rutgers
Sensoa
Serbian Association for Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights
Society of Gynecology and Obstetrics of Ivory Coast
AIDS Solidarity
SOLTHIS (Therapeutic Solidarity and Health Initiatives)
TERRAM PACIS
The International Civil Society Action Network
Uhuru Community Development Project
UNFM France Europe
World of Burkinabe Truck Drivers for Health and Development
WAVE Foundation
Women Deliver
Women Included
Youth Women for Action
