OPENING CEREMONY AND INTERVIEW OPPORTUNITIES: 7 JULY 17:30

Keynote speakers

• Jet Bussemaker, Minister for Education, Culture and Science, Government of The Netherlands
• Dr. Babatunde Osotimehin Executive Director of UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund
• Navi Pillay UN High Commissioner for Human Rights

The ICPD International Conference on Human Rights will take place in Noordwijk, The Netherlands, from 7 to 10 July 2013. The event is convened by UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, the Netherlands and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. Over 250 participants, including government representatives of 126 countries, are expected to attend.

The conference is part of the UN General Assembly mandated review of the 1994 ICPD Programme of Action, a landmark document that placed human rights, in particular the rights of women and girls, at the heart of global development policy. In addition to country representatives, participants will include representatives of civil society and UN agencies, as well as experts and human rights defenders. They will work together to identify achievements and best practices in delivering ICPD goals and make recommendations on how to address outstanding gaps and challenges.

Dr. Nafis Sadik, who was Executive Director of UNFPA and the Secretary General of the Cairo Conference in 1994 and is currently Senior Policy Adviser to the Executive Director, UNAIDS will give a keynote speech on Monday, 8 July at 9.20am.  Plenary sessions throughout the conference will be open to journalists. 

Plenary sessions will focus on aspects of gender, discrimination, empowerment and sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights, including:

• maternal death
• access to voluntary family planning and age- appropriate comprehensive sexuality education
• access to safe abortion where legal
• harmful traditional practices e.g. female genital mutilation/cutting and child marriage
• tackling discrimination against marginalized groups, including people with disabilities and indigenous groups, amongst others.

Contacts for confirmation of attendance and for further information:
Abubakar Dungus, UNFPA    dungus@unfpa.org
Anita Wiseman, UNFPA/ICPD Secretariat    dungus@unfpa.org