At population and development summit, Slovenia commits to adopt guidelines on gender equality through development cooperation

13. 11. 2019

Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Senior government representatives from around the world have gathered in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi to celebrate at the highest level the 25th anniversary of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD). Slovenia is being represented by Aljaž Arih, Deputy Director-General for Multilateral Affairs, Development Cooperation and International Law. The conference, which took place in Cairo in 1994, adopted a groundbreaking programme of action on gender equality and sexual and reproductive rights and health.

Viewing reproductive health, women’s empowerment and gender equality as the pathway to sustainable development, the participants adopted the Nairobi Statement on ICPD25 to accelerate the implementation of the ICPD programme of action.

Slovenia further committed to ending violence against women by means of its National programme for the prevention of family violence and violence against women 2020–2025, and to adopting by the end of 2021 Guidelines on the promotion of gender equality through development cooperation and humanitarian aid, thus mainstreaming gender equality as a crosscutting priority of development activities. As an indispensable element of gender equality and women’s empowerment, guaranteeing sexual and reproductive health and rights will feature as one of the main objectives of Slovenia’s development aid focused on gender equality.

Slovenia was also among the supporters of the joint statement by 55 countries recognising women’s empowerment and sexual and reproductive health and rights as essential for attaining the goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and calling for universal access to sexual and reproductive health services.