The head of the UN’s agency for sexual and reproductive health is
urging Ireland to treat women who have had abortions with compassion.Babatunde Osotimehin, executive director of the UNFPA, said he is aware of the abortion debate here.
He said while the agency can not influence countries’ laws, he can advocate on behalf of women subject to those laws.
“UNFPA would support, and encourage, governments to ensure that abortion is performed safely where it is legal and, where it is not legal, that you have compassionate, post-abortion care,” he said.
Dr Osotimehin was in Ireland for the launch of the agency’s annual population report. This examines family planning, maternity services, and maternal and infant health in 200 countries.
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The report has an appeal on behalf of the world’s 60m 10-year-old
girls, of whom there are 33,000 in Ireland. Their progress to adulthood
will act as a barometer of the success or failure of the UN’s
sustainable development goals over the next 15 years.Dr Osotimehin said the message is for developed countries, too, as no country is without its inequalities.
“If we adopt the view that nobody should be left behind, then we should seek every 10-year-old, everywhere, to be empowered,” he said, adding that developed countries need to monitor how children of different class, colour, and ethnic groups are supported.
This year’s report uses mathematical models to put a monetary value on the economic return to countries of investment in keeping girls at school, protecting them from forced marriages, and giving them access to contraception and equal legal rights to boys and men.
Dr Osotimehin said it is necessary to use different tactics to spread a message.
“Coming from a rights perspective, it is difficult for me to say it is about money,” he said.
“But we speak to different parts of the house and sometimes the money seems to grab them. So, if you are talking about growing economies, or you talk about money, people listen to you.”
Dr Osotimehin, who was Nigeria’s health minister, was critical of his country’s initial handling of the kidnapping of the Chibok schoolgirls by Boko Haram militants two years ago. A small group were freed in the last week, but 200 remain captive.
“Initially, not enough was done,” he said. “My belief was that the government in Nigeria was in denial about it. But I think the response has stepped up and some have been recovered, but I think we should still accelerate that to get all the rest.”