More than forty countries will participate on Thursday in the Brussels International Conference She Decides
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Development Cooperation Alexander De Croo will this Thursday welcome about twenty ministerial delegations at the Brussels International Conference ‘She Decides’. In total, more than forty countries will participate in the conference. Also European Commissioner for Development Neven Mimica, the Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Babatunde Osotimehin, the Executive Director of UN Women Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, the Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights Kate Gilmore and the Assistant Director General of the World Health Organisation Flavia Bustreo will be present.
The Brussels International Conference 'She Decides' is an initiative of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Development Cooperation Alexander De Croo. The Netherlands, Denmark and Sweden are co-organizing. The conference 'She Decides' should be a formal starting point for a broad movement that will keep the rights of girls and women high on the international agenda in the following years.
In total, about 400 representatives of governments, international organizations and NGOs will rally support during the conference for the sexual and reproductive health and rights of women and girls. In addition to the four co-organizers, the Ministers in charge of development cooperation, healthcare and equal rights of Afghanistan, Albania, Canada, Cape Verde, Chad, Ethiopia, Finland, France, Luxembourg, Mali, Moldavia, Mongolia, Nepal, Norway, Portugal and Vietnam will take the floor in Brussels to express their support. Alexander
De Croo: "When we took the initiative a month ago, together with the Netherlands, Denmark and Sweden, we never thought we would so quickly mobilize so many countries. The challenge now is to strengthen that support. We cannot accept that women and girls are denied access to information about family planning, HIV prevention and care for mother and child. Sexual and reproductive health and rights are a crucial part of the development agenda. I am confident that we will be able to mobilize on Thursday a lot of people and resources."
Representatives of international NGOs and institutions specialized in sexual and reproductive health and family planning, such as IPPF, the Guttmacher Institute and Marie Stopes International, will be present on Thursday. They will explain the impact of the decree of the president of the United States to stop supporting organizations that work on family planning in developing countries.
