30 years after Beijing: Experts tasks govts on barriers to gender equality, right to health

Some experts have called on governments to increase efforts towards addressing barriers to gender equality and access to health, 30 years after Beijing and other commitments. In a lead up to World Health Day commemoration , they said there are still critical gaps in the delivery of gender equality and human right to health across […]

Some experts have called on governments to increase efforts towards addressing barriers to gender equality and access to health, 30 years after Beijing and other commitments.

In a lead up to World Health Day commemoration , they said there are still critical gaps in the delivery of gender equality and human right to health across Sub-Saharan Africa and the rest of the world.

They spoke  at a virtual side event organised at the 69th United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW69) by Global Centre for Health Diplomacy and Inclusion (CeHDI), Women’s Global Network for Reproductive Rights (WGNRR) and CNS.

This year 2025 marks the 30th anniversary of the fourth UN World Conference on Women and adoption of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for action in 1995. This year also marks 10 years since the 2030 agenda for sustainable development and its sustainable development goals were adopted. The two commitments placed gender equality and women’s empowerment at the heart of development.

Dr Tlaleng Mofokeng, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health said, “We are not on track to realise the right to health and gender equality. Despite committing to Agenda 2030 with a common vision and work plan, we are not doing well on delivering on the promises of UN Sustainable Development Goals.”

She said the idea that one can dislocate the right to health from other human rights is impossible, adding, “It is also good to remember that when we realise the right to health, we enable many other human rights. Therefore, by realising the human right to health, we can actually get to gender equality too.”

Dr Payal Shah, Director of Legal, Research and Advocacy at Physicians for Human Rights called for immediate action by global stakeholders to address critical attacks on gender equality and healthcare, including funding freezes and the growing criminalisation of healthcare.

Shah said there was also a need to demystify the concept of “reproductive violence” in conflict and crisis settings with a focus on devastating, systematic deprivation of reproductive autonomy for example, in Gaza and Ethiopia.

Dawn Minott, Advisor on Gender and gender-based violence, at United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) said women in Sub-Saharan Africa are 130 times more likely to die from pregnancy or childbirth than women in Europe or North America.

She said, “Maternal deaths have plateaued globally, but more alarming is that maternal mortality is on a rise in some regions. Inequalities in access to sexual and reproductive health services also persist. Gender-based violence remains rampant. We have one in five girls that are married before they are 18 years of age, and a woman dies every two minutes due to pregnancy or childbirth. In this day and age, a woman should not die giving life.

“When we bring in race and geography, then we see stark determinants. Women in Sub-Saharan Africa are 130 times more likely to die from pregnancy or childbirth than women in Europe or North America. Even within the Americas, African-descendent women and girls face higher rates of obstetric mistreatment contributing to significantly worse maternal health outcomes. These inequalities sadly extend also to gender-based violence. When we break data down by age, sexuality, race and ethnicity, we see alarming trends.”

She explained that 30 years ago, the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD)’s Programme of Action of 1994 and the Beijing Declaration’s Platform for Action of 1995 were remarkable.

She said that these conferences established that a woman’s control over her fertility is fundamental to all her rights, noting that the vision that also drives the 2030 Agenda and the call for universal sexual and reproductive health and rights is central to achieving SDG5 on gender equality and SDG3 on health and well-being.

 

 

 

Fadekemi Akinfaderin, Chief Global Advocacy Officer, Fòs Feminista said anti-rights and anti-gender movements are trying to roll back the hard-fought gains and wins towards gender equality and human rights.

 

 

 

She said it is alarming to recognise that anti-rights movements are using the similar-sounding frameworks that they seek to dismantle to advance their own (anti-gender and anti-rights) agenda.

 

“For example, the (regressive) Geneva Consensus Declaration, which is not an internationally recognised instrument and not legally binding, rather it is just basically a group of friends that came together and said, ‘this is what we think’ (and undermines gender equality and rights),”  Akinfaderin added.

 

 

 

Biruk Tewodros, Advocacy Officer, Global Centre for Health Diplomacy and Inclusion (CeHDI) said the World is not on track to deliver on SDG5 which promises gender equality by 2030 where no one is left behind.

 

 

 

She added that whatever progress has happened towards this goal and “The Beijing declaration of 1995 is threatened by the global anti-rights push that we are seeing today.”

 

 

 

Dr Haileyesus Getahun, Chief Executive Officer of HeDPAC, an organisation dedicated to strengthening south-to-south partnerships in health development and founder of Global Centre for Health Diplomacy and Inclusion (CeHDI), said, “We are at the crossroads when it comes to gender equality and human right to health. The assault on the right to health is more than any other time. This is a time that we need to unite and make sure that everyone has the right to health regardless of gender, sexuality or where they are born. That is why the Global Centre for Health Diplomacy and Inclusion (CeHDI) was established to raise the voice of the global south in global health negotiations.”