Paris, January 15, 2020
On Wednesday, January 15, UN Women announced the themes for the Generation Equality Forum's action coalitions, the major international event of the year on gender equality. There will indeed be a coalition on "bodily autonomy and SRHR," as Equipop and its partners had requested in recent weeks.
Freedom to control one's own body and the promotion of SRHR (sexual and reproductive health and rights) have been central causes of feminist movements for several decades. Much progress has been made, but immense challenges remain around the world. Furthermore, the gains made are regularly called into question, including in international negotiations, as SRHR is a red line for conservative states. For example, it was not possible to discuss the issue within a forum such as the G7 in 2019.
In July 2020, France will host the Generation Equality Forum, co-organized by Mexico and UN Women, to mark the 25th anniversary of the Beijing Conference on Women. Among the six themes selected, the third action coalition is entitled "Freedom to control one's own body and SRHR." The existence of an action coalition on this issue puts the "Beijing+25" meeting on a solid footing.
On the initiative of Equipop, Planning Familial, and Médecins du Monde, more than 90 organizations around the world sent a letter to President Emmanuel Macron at the end of 2019, asking him to personally ensure that France creates and leads an SRHR coalition as part of the Generation Equality Forum in July 2020. France did not decide alone on the themes chosen for the six "action coalitions" that will structure this Generation Equality Forum and the commitments for the next five or ten years, but it obviously had an important voice.
The main challenge now is to define the content of this SRHR coalition, its leadership, and its composition, in consultation with feminist movements and organizations in all their diversity. Equipop is committed to contributing to this effort, with a particular focus on the participation of governments and young feminist activists from French-speaking West Africa.
Contact: Nicolas Rainaud, Advocacy Manager for France and International, nicolas.rainaud@equipop.org, +33 (0)6 73 72 25 37
