In the aftermath of conflict and insecurity, the empowerment and inclusion of women and girls is essential to establishing a successful peace process. This session will help showcase the important roles women and girls can play in negotiating peace agreements and in prevention and sustaining peace. It will also highlight the experiences of women who have been included and excluded in peace processes, and how their involvement or absence affected overall outcomes. Expect renewed commitments that will engage and enable women to participate in negotiating ceasefires, preventing conflicts, participating in peace processes and building sustainable futures. This event will be convened by UN Women, Religions for Peace, the Global Network for Women Peacebuilders, the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, the Women's Peace and Humanitarian Fund and UNFPA.

From the first period to the last, the menstrual health life cycle is riddled with challenges long neglected by policymakers and practitioners in the public health world. Featuring experts and vibrant storytellers who will showcase experience from around the world, this session will highlight current trends and responses, key concerns, and gaps in addressing menstrual health. It will also look at how menstrual health, menstruation-related disorders, and menopause have historically been addressed, and how approaches to these issues have evolved since 1994. It will provide guidance on how to build multi-sectoral and inclusive programmes and strategies on menstrual health and related issues throughout the reproductive life cycle within development and humanitarian settings. This event will be convened by the African Coalition for Menstrual Health Management (ACMHM) and the Global Menstrual Health & Hygiene (MHH) Collective.

What barriers stand in the way of people of African descent accessing sexual and reproductive health? Where and how can policies, programmes and agendas meaningfully include marginalized populations, especially Afro-descendants? Participants in this open dialogue will reflect on these questions, with a look to promoting inter-continental conversations and an exchange of best practices. This dialogue is an opportunity to mobilize and secure global commitments for equity and inclusion of Afro-descendants.

Comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) is necessary to achieve universal access to sexual and reproductive health and rights, and it is essential to advancing gender equality. This session will engage attendees with interactive discussions and intergenerational dialogues that showcase best practices and cutting-edge research about successfully implementing CSE programmes. It will conclude with an exciting partnership launch to accelerate support and commitments for the implementation of CSE. This partnership will also aim to generate new evidence and advocate against the myths that undermine CSE. The event will be convened by AfriYAN, Teenergizer, Population Council, IPPF, Rutgers, UNESCO and UNFPA.

Conflict, violence and disasters have devastating effects on people’s minds and bodies, and these harms are often mutually reinforcing. This session will address the acute need for commitments from countries and organizations to enable and enhance high-quality mental health and psychosocial support during and after disasters and conflicts. Participants will identify barriers to implementing and receiving mental health and psychosocial interventions in humanitarian emergencies, and they will exchange best practices and lessons learned, paving the way forward for more healthy and holistic interventions.

The 'whys' and the 'hows' of providing integrated services for sexual and reproductive health and rights: What does the evidence say about taking an integrated approach, and what are solutions for overcoming challenges and barriers? The dialogue will highlight what has worked in the past and what it will take to implement the Nairobi Commitments in terms of policy, financing and delivery systems. Participants will explore different evidence-based solutions for SRHR service integration and reflect on what it means to keep people at the centre of their own health care.

Sustainable Development Goal 5 recognizes that women’s and girls’ rights and well-being are central to the long-term welfare of humanity. Yet we have gained little ground in the effort to end violence against women and girls. This signature session will begin by setting the stage in terms of scale, scope and consequences: Despite rhetoric at all levels, violence against women continues in every country, and can increase in some conditions. Services and support remain inadequate. Access to justice is scant, and security for women and girls continues to be elusive. This session will take the discussion forward with the understanding that now is the time to make real change for women and girls.

Great strides have been made since 1994. Yet access to sexual and reproductive health and rights is still uneven throughout the world, and some groups have been systematically left behind. This session will engage individuals from these groups, bringing in marginalized voices and perspectives from young people, policymakers and providers. It will focus on proven solutions to counter discrimination, with the aim of increasing access to good quality sexual and reproductive health services. The event will be moderated by Thamsanqa Sibandze (a.k.a. Krtc), a celebrated hip-hop artist and poet from Eswatini who uses edutainment to deliver sexual and reproductive health and rights messages to young people across Southern Africa. This session will be convened by the International Federation of Medical Students’ Association and UNFPA.

In almost all countries, health providers and ministries embrace the same core ethical principles: Do No Harm, Do Good, Respect Autonomy and Do Justice. Yet these principles are not always applied to sexual and reproductive health. In fact, in many places, reproductive health services are under attack, and some constituencies are unmoved by appeals about women’s rights, human rights and public health. This session will explore whether the core principles of medical and health ethics could provide a new and powerful angle from which to advocate for controversial health services, reach marginalized populations and, ultimately, save lives. The event will be convened by the Center for Health, Ethics and Social Policy and PSI.

Young leaders are key to driving transformative social change. This session shines a light on youth participation in political systems and notes that Young Parliamentarians have a key role to play in advancing the ICPD agenda. This session will take an intergenerational and interactive approach and will foster dialogue among parliamentarians of a range of ages while soliciting feedback and questions from attendees. The aim is to identify lessons learned that can advance all parts of the ICPD agenda in sub-national, national and global financing frameworks. The young politicians will also share ideas on how they can shape opportunities for the advancement of sexual and reproductive health within their mandate. Expect young parliamentarians to make concrete, life-changing commitments that can be enacted through parliamentary policy and fiscal and oversight instruments. The event will be convened by UNFPA in collaboration with the Global Parliamentary Alliance (GPA), an initiative of the European Parliamentary Forum for Sexual and Reproductive Rights (EPF), the World Health Organization and IPU.