The teenage years are for some girls a time of exploration, learning and increasing autonomy. But for many others, it is a time of increasing vulnerability and exclusion from rights and opportunities, or just plain discrimination.

Today, 23 May 2016, as world leaders gather for the World Humanitarian Summit, we jointly commit to intensify support to ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights in crisis settings to save lives, uphold human rights and dignity, and ensure that no one is left behind.

Statement by Dr. Babatunde Osotimehin, Executive Director, UNFPA, The United Nations Population Fund: On this International Day of the Midwife, UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, salutes the contribution of midwives to saving the lives of women, adolescent girls and newborns, sometimes under very difficult circumstances, in hard-to-reach communities, in humanitarian emergencies, and in fragile and conflict-torn countries.

Statement of UNFPA Executive Director Dr. Babatunde Osotimehin to the 49th session of the Commission on Population and Development on strengthening the demographic evidence base for achieving the ICPD beyond 2014 and SDGs.

Concerned by reports of the Zika virus spreading through sexual contact, UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, strongly urges governments and all other partners to provide information and access to voluntary family planning, including condoms.

For millions of women and girls around the world, gender equality and the full enjoyment of human rights remain elusive.

UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, is closely monitoring the outbreak of the Zika virus and warning about its potentially adverse effects on the health of women and babies, particularly in Latin America. We are also closely monitoring its possible spread to other regions.

Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is a violent practice, scarring girls for life – endangering their health, depriving them of their rights, and denying them the chance to reach their full potential.

The world will make history tomorrow by officially launching the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – the new development agenda that promises to lift millions of people from poverty, save and improve the lives of billions, and protect our planet. We at UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, reiterate our full commitment to the achievement of these goals by 2030.

Today, we mark the launch of a year-long campaign for the 50th anniversary of two landmark international treaties. Together, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights have shaped the integral and indivisible nature of the international human rights framework.

One in three women worldwide has experienced physical or sexual violence, most often by an intimate partner. In most countries, fewer than four in 10 survivors of such violence seek help.