Statement of UNFPA Executive Director Dr. Babatunde Osotimehin to the 50th session of the Commission on Population and Development on changing population age structures and sustainable development.

Gender equality is a human right. Women are entitled to live in dignity and in freedom from want and fear, without discrimination. Gender equality is also vital to sustainable development, peace and security. It’s not just a women’s issue. It’s an issue for all of humanity.

It irreparably damages girls’ bodies, inflicting excruciating pain. It causes extreme emotional trauma that can last a lifetime.

It increases the risk of deadly complications during pregnancy, labor and childbirth, endangering both mother and child.

It robs girls of their autonomy and violates their human rights.

Statement of UNFPA Executive Director Dr. Babatunde Osotimehin to the 2017 First Regular Session of the Executive Board of UNDP, UNFPA and UNOPS.

In the midst of the painstaking efforts to evacuate civilians and rebels from besieged eastern Aleppo, UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, is concerned about the women, girls and young people who are in urgent need of protection and assistance.

Today, as we commemorate the anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, we recall its opening words: All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. This principle is at the heart of the Programme of Action of the Cairo International Conference on Population and Development, which guides the work of UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund. As we join in this year’s theme to “Stand up for Someone’s Rights Today”, I applaud our staff who, working with national partners, are defending the rights of the most marginalized and excluded and bringing to light the discrimination they face.

It is past time to get serious about HIV prevention. We cannot hope to end the AIDS epidemic when every day almost 6,000 people are infected with HIV.

This is 2016 and yet one in three women worldwide still experiences or has experienced some form of physical or sexual violence, usually perpetrated by someone she knows. Moreover, millions of women and girls have been subjected to other forms of violence and harmful practices, such as female genital mutilation, which affect an estimated 200 million women and girls, or child marriage, with one in three girls in developing countries being married off before the age of 18.

I am deeply concerned about the rapidly escalating humanitarian crisis in Mosul, Iraq, and the heightened threat to the health and lives of pregnant women who may be cut off from life-saving emergency obstetric care.

To eradicate poverty – like any other goal to improve the human condition – we need to fully understand the world’s demographics.

Poor countries with burgeoning youth populations may find it difficult to meet many of our global development goals, as they face more people entering primary and secondary school age, more people looking for health care, and many more entering labour markets, looking for productive jobs in the coming years.

“Is anyone out there even thinking of improving our lives?” asks Susmita, a teenager from Odisha, India.

Susmita has never gone to school. She tends the few animals her family owns and attends to household chores. Like more than one in three girls in her community, she may be married before turning 18. She dreams about going to school – even just for one day.

Population ageing – one of the most significant trends of the 21st century – represents both a cause for celebration and a challenge. To ensure that everyone’s well-being is enhanced through this demographic shift, more efforts are needed to minimize lifelong inequalities and improve the life conditions of older people.