The UN Population Fund (UNFPA) has launched an advocacy platform of proposed goals, targets and indicators for the post-2015 development agenda.
'Empowering People to Ensure a Sustainable Future for All' outlines stand-alone goals on gender equality and youth, and targets on universal access to sexual and reproductive health and rights, eliminating violence against women and girls, and universal birth and death registration, for inclusion under various goals.
24 October 2013: The UN Population Fund (UNFPA) has launched an advocacy platform of proposed goals, targets and indicators for the post-2015 development agenda. ‘Empowering People to Ensure a Sustainable Future for All’ outlines stand-alone goals on gender equality and youth, and targets on universal access to sexual and reproductive health and rights, eliminating violence against women and girls, and universal birth and death registration, for inclusion under various goals.
Under a stand-alone gender goal, UNFPA calls for: protection and fulfillment of women’s sexual and reproductive rights; universal access to services for survivors of gender-based violence; and prevention and elimination of sexual coercion and violence against women and girls, including child marriages and female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C), among other aims.
Under a stand-alone youth goal, the document calls for investments in education, sexual and reproductive health services, and decent employment and livelihoods. It proposes engaging young people in finding and implementing solutions for sustainable development, and ensuring safety for girls in public places, so they can travel safely to school, for example.
UNFPA also envisages a health goal that would include targets on eliminating inequalities in access to sexual and reproductive health services, and improving the quality of services to meet human rights norms.
The Fund calls for guarantees of an enabling environment that will ensure: equity and human rights; good governance and the rule of law; fair and transparent national policies supported by national resources and official development assistance (ODA); and meaningful public participation.
The paper cites evidence for the positive impacts of investments and the costs of inaction in dollar figures. It also highlights the importance of building national capacity to anticipate and plan for expected shifts in population dynamics as an essential part of planning and monitoring sustainable development. [Publication: Empowering People To Ensure A Sustainable Future For All] [UNFPA Press Release]