News

News

25 April 2019
News
Communities can collectively choose to abandon FGM. As a result of community-led engagement with the UNFPA-UNICEF Joint Programme to Eliminate Female Genital Mutilation, more than 20,000 communities have made public declarations of abandonment. Lucas Zordan for UNFPA.
Top 5 things you didn’t know about female genital mutilation
UNITED NATIONS, New York – Too often, the first message a girl receives about her body is that it is imperfect – too fat or too thin, too dark or too freckled. But for some girls, the message is that... Read more
10 April 2019
News
World must work harder to secure sexual and reproductive rights for all, says new UNFPA report
UNITED NATIONS, New York, 10 April 2019— The global reproductive rights movement that began in the 1960s transformed the lives of hundreds of millions of women, empowering them to govern their own... Read more
6 February 2019
Statement
Take action to eliminate female genital mutilation by 2030
Mary Oloiparuni was 13 when she was mutilated. Restrained in a doorway early one morning in her home, she was cut, bled profusely and experienced agonizing pain. The scarring she endured then... Read more
25 November 2018
Statement
Joint UN Statement on International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women
To commemorate this year’s International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, the Secretary-General’s UNiTE Campaign is calling upon us to stand in solidarity with survivors and... Read more
11 October 2018
Statement
A Skilled GirlForce is a force for change!
Dr. Natalia Kanem Executive Director of UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund Statement on the Occasion of the International Day of the Girl 11 October 2018   We believe in the power of girls to... Read more
6 June 2018
News
UNFPA ANNUAL REPORT 2017
MESSAGE FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR    Year on year, millions of women and adolescents in 155 countries and territories have been progressively able to exercise their sexual and reproductive health... Read more
13 May 2018
News
“I thought family planning was for married people, not for girls,” said Blessings Sonkhanani, a nurse in Malawi, in 2015. She has been trained to provide sexual and reproductive information and care to young people. “Now I know that anyone of childbearing age is eligible for family planning,” she said. © UNFPA/Meaghan Charkowick
Nine standards to uphold the human right to family planning
Fifty years ago, on 13 May, the world declared family planning to be a basic human right. Until family planning is a universally available choice, this human right will not be fully realized. UNFPA... Read more
13 May 2018
News
Article 16 of the Teheran Proclamation declared, "Parents have a basic human right to determine freely and responsibly the number and spacing of their children." © UN Photo
Fifty years ago, it became official: Family planning is a human right
UNITED NATIONS, New York – Fifty years ago, on 13 May, the world declared family planning to be a basic human right. Throughout all of human history, efforts to plan, avoid or delay pregnancy had... Read more
8 March 2018
News
Protecting reproductive rights of rural women: a pathway to a more equal world
UNFPA Executive Director Dr. Natalia Kanem International Women’s Day, 8 March 2018 The economic inequalities plaguing much of the world today are reinforced by many other forms of inequality,... Read more
6 February 2018
News
Latty, 14, was inspired by her mother to call for the elimination of FGM. Luca Zordan for UNFPA
“I refused”: Brave women and girls take a stand against FGM
UNITED NATIONS, New York/Ouagadougou, BURKINA FASO – Fourteen-year-old Latifatou Compaoré learned the spirit of resistance from her mother. Her mother was subjected to female genital mutilation (FGM... Read more

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