IPU, Alm.del - 2011-12 - Bilag 5: Resolutionstekster fra IPUs session i Kampala til udenrigsministeren

The 126th Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union,Recognizingthe United Nations Millennium Declaration (2000), which established eight MillenniumDevelopment Goals (MDGs),Underscoringthat a human-rights approach is fundamental to achieving these MDGs,Notingthat MDG 4 aims to reduce the under-five child mortality rate by two thirds between 1990 and 2015and that MDG 5 aims to reduce the maternal mortality ratio by three quarters between 1990 and 2015,Concerned that the funding gap to ensure universal access to reproductive health remains unacceptably highand that donor and developing countries need to step up their commitments to achieve the MDGs, inparticular MDG 5,Drawing attentionto the fact that improvements in maternal and child health require progress related topoverty and hunger (MDG 1), access to education (MDG 2), gender equality and the empowerment of women(MDG 3), and the prevalence of HIV/AIDS and malaria (MDG 6),Underscoringthat the international community has committed to achieving the MDGs by 2015,Concernedthat in 2008 an estimated 358,000 women worldwide died from complications related topregnancy and childbirth, andunderscoringthat 99 per cent of these deaths occurred in developingcountries,Also concernedthat in 2010 an estimated 7.6 million children died before reaching their fifth birthday, with41 per cent dying in their first month, and that over 170 million children under five worldwide are affected bystunting,Deeply concernedthat maternal and child mortality rates remain unacceptably high globally and that manycountries are not on track to achieve MDGs 4 and 5,Recognizingthat less than half of all pregnant women in sub-Saharan Africa and only half of all pregnantwomen in Southern Asia are attended to by skilled health professionals, including midwives, during labourand delivery, which is one of the major factors contributing to maternal and newborn deaths; that midwivesare in short supply in many developing countries; and that there is an urgent need, particularly in countrieswith high maternal mortality rates, to provide assistance in the recruitment, training and support ofprofessional midwives,Also recognizingthat lack of access to quality sexual and reproductive health services and supplies, inparticular family planning services, which include contraceptives, is a major contributing factor to maternalmortality,Notingthat ineffective and poorly-resourced health systems, particularly the lack of human resources forhealth and inaccessible health care facilities, are key impediments to improved health outcomes,Also notingthat the burden on health professionals in many developing countries could be lightened byimprovements in health governance, including measures to expand and improve access to skilled birth

attendant services,Reiteratingthat universal access to reproductive health is one of the targets of MDG 5b,Concernedthat contraceptive prevalence rates are low and the need for family planning and level ofunwanted pregnancies are high in many countries with worrisome maternal mortality rates, particularlyamong adolescents, and that international assistance for family planning has diminished significantlysince the year 2000,Consideringthat unwanted pregnancies are disproportionately high among young unmarried girls, who alsorun the highest risk of pregnancy-related morbidity and mortality,Notingthat unsafe abortions account for 13 per cent of maternal deaths,Also notingthat although maternal mortality is the leading cause of death among adolescent girls in mostdeveloping countries, adolescent girls are most likely to give birth without skilled birth attendants,Further notingthat young people remain disproportionately affected by HIV/AIDS, accounting for 41 per centof all new infections among 15 to 49 year-olds, and that young women between the ages of 15 and 19 areparticularly vulnerable because of gender inequalities, sexual violence, early marriage, intergenerationalrelationships and more limited access to education,Awareof the importance of providing information, education and services that are appropriate to people’sage and needs throughout the life cycle,Affirmingthat comprehensive sex education that is age-appropriate, gender-sensitive and evidence-based iscrucial if young people are to be provided with the knowledge and skills they need to make informeddecisions about their sexuality and given the means to protect themselves from unwanted pregnancies andsexually transmitted infections, including HIV and AIDS,Awarethat a critical window to improve children’s health and secure their prospects for life-long developmentthrough adequate nutrition exists between pregnancy and a child’s second birthday, so as to guarantee theman appropriate role in the country’s long-term development with the capacity to assimilate what they learnthrough the education system,Affirmingthe commitment to uphold the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenanton Civil and Political Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, theInternational Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, the Convention on theElimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), the Convention on the Rights of the Childand the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities,Consideringthe Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, adopted at the Fourth World Conference onWomen (1995),Recallingthe political declaration adopted by the UN General Assembly in June 2011, which committed toworking towards the elimination of mother-to-child transmission of HIV/AIDS by 2015 and to substantiallyreducing AIDS-related maternal deaths,Also recallingResolution 11/8 onPreventable maternal mortality and morbidity and human rightsadopted bythe UN Human Rights Council on 17 June 2009,Welcomingthe resolution onEliminating maternal mortality and morbidity through the empowerment ofwomen,adopted by consensus at the 54th session of the United Nations Commission on the Status ofWomen,Appreciatingthe commitment made at the G8 Summit held in Canada in June 2010 to allocate US$ 7.3 billionto carry out initiatives in the least developed countries (LDCs), to contribute to implementing the GlobalStrategy for Women’s and Children’s Health launched by the UN Secretary-General, and the commitmentmade at the 15th African Union Heads of State Summit (Uganda 2010) to fulfil the pledges taken at theAbuja Summit by allocating 15 per cent of the overall State budget to health,Mindfulofthe 2005 Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness and the 2008 Accra Agenda for Action, as well as

the 2011 Busan Partnership for Effective Development Co-operation,Consideringprevious IPU resolutions, in particular those pertaining to the MDGs, women’s and children’shealth, and gender equality and human rights, and the outcome document of the Sixth Annual Meeting ofWomen Speakers of Parliament held in 2010,Affirmingthat enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health is aninternationally recognized human right,Awarethat gender is a key determinant of health and that the causes of many of the differences andinequalities between women’s and men’s health status are social, economic and cultural,Underscoringthat the enhancement of women’s and children’s health is much more than a policy goal andthat States have an obligation to respect, promote, protect and fulfil women’s, children’s and adolescents’right to health on a non-discriminatory basis,Committedto realizing the goals of the Global Strategy for Women’s and Children’s Health, and therecommendations of the Commission on Information and Accountability for Women’s and Children’s Health,andunderscoringthe centrality of parliamentary action therein,Encouragedby the increasing parliamentary attention in the national, regional and international spheres, andresources being devoted to reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health,Noting,however, that progress in reducing maternal and child mortality has been uneven across regions andwithin countries, and that this must be addressed as a matter of urgency,Stressingthat special attention must be given to the health needs and rights of women, newborns, childrenand adolescents who belong to one or multiple vulnerable and disadvantaged groups, including those in thepoorest households, living in rural and remote areas, and affected by HIV/AIDS, adolescent girls, indigenouswomen and children, migrant women and children, refugee and internally displaced women and children aswell as those in humanitarian, conflict and post-conflict situations, sex workers, and women and children withdisabilities, andrecognizingthe importance of introducing measures to reduce inequalities and ofcommitment to equality of access and outcome for these disadvantaged groups,Underscoringthat equal access to quality education and sexual and reproductive education for all women,children and adolescents is a key intervention that can reduce health inequities and improve health in casesof communicable and non-communicable diseases,Also underscoringthat efforts need to be focused on young people as young men and women, married orunmarried, need access to sexual and reproductive health information and services,Further underscoring,in keeping with the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD)Programme of Action and key actions for its further implementation, the importance of universal access topost-abortion care and access to safe abortions where they are legal,Underliningthat most maternal and child deaths are preventable and that many are the result of conditionsthat may be avoided through immunization or treated by well-known and cost-effective interventions,Convincedthat the rationale for prioritizing women’s, newborn, children’s and adolescent health indevelopment strategies is compelling and that the need to do so is indisputable,Emphasizingthe need for parliamentarians and governments to tackle the problems of ill-health caused bythe smoking of tobacco and tobacco products, to coordinate efforts to protect adults and children from theharmful effects of second-hand smoke, to deplore the activities of the tobacco companies in targetingmarkets in LDCs and developing countries, and the need for all countries to adopt the World HealthOrganization (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control,1.Calls uponall parliamentarians, both men and women, and the IPU, to take all possible measures togenerate and sustain the political will as well as the appropriate resources needed to achieve theMDGs by 2015, and to put in place the policies and commitments needed for the post-2015 period;2.Encouragesparliamentarians to collaborate and build partnerships with relevant stakeholders toachieve the health-related MDGs, working closely with governments, civil society, local communities,health care professionals, academics and research institutions, multilateral organizations, global

funds and foundations, the media and the private sector;Recommendsthat national parliaments, regional parliamentary assemblies and the IPU hold regulardebates on progress towards the realization of MDGs 3, 4, 5 and 6 and target 1.C;Calls uponthe parliaments of States that have not yet done so to support ratification of theInternational Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Socialand Cultural Rights, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women(CEDAW), the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), and the Convention on the Elimination ofAll Forms of Racial Discrimination, as well as the relevant Optional Protocols, the Convention on theRights of Persons with Disabilities, and to commit to the Global Strategy for Women’s and Children’sHealth;Urgesparliamentarians to closely monitor the domestic implementation of international, regional andnational human rights instruments so as to ensure that all health-related obligations andrecommendations, including those under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, CEDAW, theCRC and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, are fully implemented andrespected by all levels of government, andcalls uponparliaments to participate in the deliberations ofthe UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women and the Committee on theRights of the Child, and to seek the support of the IPU Coordinating Committee of WomenParliamentarians;Recommendsthat parliaments request annual updates on the steps taken by their governments toimplement international human rights instruments and programmes related to health and genderequality;Encouragesparliaments to include gender impact assessments with the introduction of all health-related legislation, andalso encouragesthe IPU to facilitate exchanges among its MemberParliaments so as to build capacity in this area;Invitesparliaments to see to it that national health policies and strategies incorporate a genderperspective, and that education of health care workers and research take full account of the existinggender differences in health;Urgesparliaments to introduce or amend legislation to guarantee equal access to health services forall women and children without discrimination, and to provide free essential health services for allpregnant women and children;Also urgesparliaments to establish specialized parliamentary committees on women and children, tomonitor progress on the implementation and ratification of resolutions and declarations on womenand children, and to address women’s and children’s health issues more comprehensively;Further urgesparliaments to pass laws explicitly criminalizing all forms of violence against womenand girls, including domestic and sexual violence and in situations of armed conflict, and other formsof violence such as forced sterilization, forced and early marriage and female genital mutilation, andcalls uponparliamentsto enactlaws to prevent violence and provide support and reparation tosurvivors;Calls uponparliaments to use the oversight and accountability tools at their disposal throughout thebudgetary process, as well as innovative financing approaches, to ensure that adequate domesticfinancial resources are allocated for sexual, reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health, and forachieving MDGs 4, 5 and 6 at the national level;Requestsparliaments to ensure that the domestic funds and aid allocated to women’s and children’shealth are released and used for the relevant programmes;Calls uponparliamentarians to use the oversight and accountability tools at their disposal to work toensure that all commitments made to the Global Strategy for Women’s and Children’s Health arefulfilled, and that all the recommendations of the subsequent Commission on Information andAccountability for Women’s and Children’s Health are implemented;Requeststhe agencies of the United Nations system, in particular the WHO, the United NationsPopulation Fund and UNICEF, to provide countries with more of the multifaceted support they need toimplement policies and programmes aimed at reducing maternal and infant mortality;Calls uponparliaments to further enhance support for education in order to improve long-term healthoutcomes in general and to promote individuals’ contribution to society;Encouragesparliaments to advocate for lines in the health budget to be earmarked for the provisionof essential sexual, reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health services to vulnerable womenand children, including those in the poorest households, those living in rural areas, those who aremembers of indigenous communities or minority groups, those with disabilities, those living withHIV/AIDS, and adolescent girls;Also encouragesparliaments to support gender-sensitive budgeting as a tool for addressing women’shealth needs;Further encouragesparliamentarians to advocate for increasing the number of midwives, assistancewith the recruitment, training and support of professional midwives, and the provision ofaccommodation for mothers, near or in the hospital if necessary, before their delivery, in order togain access to professional and monitored delivery;Urgesparliaments to ensure that parliamentary committees entrusted with monitoring issuespertaining to health and gender equality are adequately resourced and operational;

21.Also urgesparliamentarians in African States to establish a broadly-agreed timetable for theirgovernments to honour their commitments under the 2001 Abuja Declaration;22.Invitesthe African States that have not yet done so to implement the Maputo Plan of Action forAfrica, adopted by the African Union (AU) Summit in 2006, which provides inter alia for the adoptionof national roadmaps to reduce maternal, newborn and infant mortality in accordance with the AUroadmap, andcalls forthe Campaign on Accelerated Reduction of Maternal Mortality in Africa(CARMMA), initiated and launched by the AU in 2009, to be introduced in all countries;23.Calls uponMember Parliaments, in particular those of the G8 countries, to use the oversight andaccountability mechanisms at their disposal to monitor the fulfilment of financial commitments madetowards health initiatives in the LDCs;24.Urgesparliaments and their members to take all necessary measures to enhance women’s effectiveparticipation and leadership at all levels of health governance;25.Calls uponparliamentarians in countries providing official development assistance (ODA) to worktowards increasing their country’s ODA for health and to hold their governments to account forhonouring their commitments and for reporting – on the basis of common international indicators –on the proportion of ODA being channelled towards reproductive, women’s, children’s and adolescenthealth and the promotion of gender equality, and to ensure that these funds are audited in terms oftheir efficiency and effectiveness;26.Also calls uponparliamentarians in countries that provide ODA to evaluate this spending, includingthrough parliamentary field visits and deliberations in committees on development assistance, toensure that it prioritizes the recipient countries, sectors, communities and programmes with thegreatest demonstrated needs and vulnerabilities, and that these resources are distributed in a moreequitable manner;27.Encouragesparliamentarians in countries that provide ODA to examine the degree to which theirgovernment’s ODA is being coordinated with other donors and harmonized and aligned with thehealth systems, plans and priorities of recipient countries;28.Also encouragesparliamentarians in countries that provide ODA to verify that the aid programmesare implemented, in particular in the field of maternal and child health, that they are managedagainst results-based objectives, and are based on the principle of shared responsibility;29.Calls uponparliamentarians to scrutinize all government health interventions to ensure they are, asfar as possible, evidence-based, conform to international human rights standards, and are responsiveto regular and transparent performance reviews;30.Also calls uponparliamentarians to promote integrated health services, and to advocate for balancedresources to meet the needs of women and children in the pre-pregnancy, pre-natal, birth, post-natal, infancy and early childhood stages, particularly through the decentralization of health services;31.Encouragesparliamentarians to ensure a coordinated approach to all matters pertaining to maternaland child health, such as sanitation, access to safe drinking water, the fight against malnutrition, andgender equality;32.Calls uponparliamentarians to ensure free access to vaccines and medicines to protect women andchildren from disease;33.Urgesparliaments to support the training of health professionals, including midwives and birthattendants, as well as universal access to reproductive health information, services and supplies,including contraceptives;34.Appealsto parliamentarians to promote the establishment and/or enhancement, before 2015, ofaccurate civil registration systems to register all births and deaths and causes of death, particularly inrelation to women, children and adolescents;35.Urgesparliaments to encourage the development of national information systems that include agender perspective and data from all health facilities and administrative sources and surveys, whichshould subsequently be used to inform parliamentary debates;36.Encouragesparliaments to take into consideration, including as part of development cooperation, theWHO recommendations on maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health, such as the Guidelinesfor preventing early pregnancy and poor reproductive outcomes among adolescents in developingcountries, and to support the implementation of the WHO Global Code of Practice on the InternationalRecruitment of Health Personnel;37.Also encouragesparliaments to explore innovative approaches to health service design and delivery,including the use of information and communications technologies such as tele-medicine and mobilephones, in order to reach women, children and adolescents in remote areas, to facilitate emergencyresponses to births, and to collect and disseminate health information as widely as possible and inaccessible formats to women with disabilities, and to ensure sex education;38.Calls uponparliaments to work with governments to consider the establishment of transparentdomestic accountability mechanisms for maternal and child health, one form of which could be amulti-stakeholder national commission that reports to parliament;39.Requeststhe IPU to facilitate collaboration and exchanges among its Member Parliaments so as tobuild the capacity of parliamentarians to monitor all policy and programme areas, as well as theabove-mentioned budgetary and legislative activities;40.Encouragesthe IPU to enhance cooperation with the specialized UN agencies and parliamentary