- IPCI to be held in Ethiopia
The location and dates of the 4th International Parliamentarians’ Conference on the Implementation of ICPD (IPCI/ICPD) and the High-level Meeting on Maternal Health/MDG5 have been changed to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on 26 October (HLM-MH) and 27-28 October 2009 (IPCI/ICPD IV) at the UN Conference Center. (UNFPA)
2. Thailand will have population census next year
“What Thailand would achieve from the 2010 population and housing census” was discussed at the Thai parliament on 30 June at a conference organised by the Parliament Standing Committee on Children, Youth, Women, Elderly Persons and Persons with Disability and UNFPA. Mr Chai Chidchob, President of the National Assembly and Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr Najib Assifi, Deputy Regional Director for UNFPA and others spoke on the benefits of the census and the need for proper budget allocation.
3. Mongolian parliamentarians visit Thailand
From 21-27 June, three parliamentarians and one senior parliamentary staff visited Thailand to discuss strategies and experience in advocating for ICPD and integrating ICPD agenda into the national development framework. The delegates met with senior staff of the UNFPA regional office in Asia-Pacific, members of the Thai parliament and various NGOs and health facilities. The study visit was co-organised by UNFPA-Mongolia, AFPPD and Mongolia’s Parliament Standing Committee on Social Policy, Education, Culture and Science.
4. G8 parliamentarians’ meeting highlights unmet needs in women’s health
In the run-up to the G8 Summit in Italy, about 100 parliamentarians from G8 countries and around the world gathered in Rome from 22-23 June to discuss “Strategic Investments in Times of Crisis – The Rewards of Making Women’s Health a Priority.” Participants engaged each other in extensive dialogues on how women’s health issues sit against the current background of the global economic downturn and the urgent need to provide additional resources to guarantee women’s health, promote best practices on SRHR, and enhance accountability for Official Development Assistant (ODA) funding and expenditure. It was organised by the Italian Parliament, the European Parliamentary Forum (EPF) and other partners.
5. Cook Islands settle on affirmative action to get more women into parliament
Cook Islands’ two political parties will be urged to adopt affirmative action plans in order to raise the number of women MPs to 30 percent by 2014, reports Radio New Zealand International. The resolution was one of the outcomes of a workshop in late May aimed at developing a temporary special measure to encourage more women into politics. Women hold three of the 24 seats in the Cook Islands parliament. (PNS)
6. Pakistan sets up Young Parliamentarians Forum
A Young Parliamentarians Forum has recently been constituted in the National Assembly of Pakistan. The Forum includes MPs 40 years of age or younger in order to create and consolidate young leadership and engage them in a multi-faceted agenda of addressing all national, regional and international issues by moving beyond national boundaries and seek broad parliamentary action and cooperation. It is in the process of adopting its own Constitution and outlining its broad aims and objectives. To achieve these goals, the platform has elected its own 6-member Executive Committee under the chairmanship of Mr Faisal Karim Kundi, Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly.
7. PNG reintroduces motion to nominate women parliamentarians
Papua New Guinea’s Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare will reintroduce the motion for the nomination of three women representatives to Parliament in the July session. Community Development Minister Dame Carol Kidu, senior vice president of the PNG Parliamentary Group on Population and Development, confirmed this on 29 June. Dame Carol said the motion will be debated on before votes will be taken during the July session. She said lessons were learnt from the March session when the Opposition refused to support the motion, first introduced by the Prime Minister. (PacNews)
8. Solomon Islands lack HIV/AIDS laws
As Solomon Islands faces the real possibility of a rise in HIV-positive cases next year, the Pacific nation is still without specific laws to deal with HIV and AIDS prevention and management, reports Solomon Times online. A recent health report from WHO has predicted at least 350 HIV positive cases for Solomon Islands by 2010. National Coordinator of the HIV and STI Unit of the Ministry of Health and Medical Services Mr Isaac Muliloa admits there is still a great gap in the Unit's work without specific HIV and AIDS related laws in the Constitution. Mr Muliloa said an area of discrimination with those living with HIV is in the workplace “and this needs to be addressed through legislation” (PNS)
9. International Forum on Sexual and Reproductive Health
The International Forum on Sexual and Reproductive Health took place in Madrid from 22-24 June. It was organised by the Vice-presidency of Spain, the Spanish Cooperation Agency, the Ministry of Equity, the Ministry of Health and the Spanish Interest Group on Population, Development and Reproductive Health with the collaboration of UNFPA and UNIFEM. This conference gave account to one of the commitments adopted by the Spanish and African Women's Network in its last annual meeting in Niamey, where it was decided that a special focus should be put on the situation of sexual and reproductive health in Africa and in cooperation policies. Participants included government ministers, high-level UN officials and experts, and representatives from civil society organizations.
10European Parliament issues directive on patients’ rights in cross-border health care
Despite several clear European Court of Justice rulings confirming that the EU Treaty gives individual patients the right to seek healthcare in other Member States and be reimbursed at home, uncertainty remains over how to apply the principles of this jurisprudence more generally. The general aim of the draft directive on cross-border healthcare is to ensure that there are no obstacles to patients who seek treatment in an EU Member State other than their own. It also clarifies the right for patients to be reimbursed after treatment in another Member State.
11. 5th Asia-Pacific Conference on Reproductive and Sexual Health & Rights
The 5th Asia-Pacific Conference on Reproductive and Sexual Health and Rights will be held in Beijing, China from 17-20 October 2009. The deadline for submitting application for capacity building workshops and satellite sessions is 31 July 2009. Details can be found on www.5apcrshr.org. |
