Despite recent strong economic growth, several countries in the Sahel have not seen a commensurate increase in per capita income nor in equality between men and women. Fertility remains the highest in the world, and the pace of the demographic transition in the region has been slow. There is strong evidence that empowering women and youth is a main catalyst to trigger a “demographic dividend,” which would greatly benefit these countries. This session will share best practices and innovative approaches to supporting women’s and girls’ empowerment and men’s contributions to gender equality from the Sahel Women’s Empowerment and Demographic Dividend (SWEDD) initiative.This session is convened by CREFAT-CREG University of Thiès Senegal and Promundo.
As medical technology advances, ethical questions and conflicts inevitably arise, affecting policymakers, practitioners and individuals. From assisted reproduction to embryonic gene modification, the world faces a range of ethical dilemmas that did not exist during the International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo in 1994. This session will describe various sexual and reproductive health advancements and the ethical and social implications of implementing these technologies. Expect a moderated discussion addressing how these technologies relate to reproductive autonomy, how they advance justice, and how they uphold the core ethical principle of “do no harm”. This event will be convened by The Center for Health, Ethics and Social Policy and The Center for Biotechnology and Global Health Policy, University of California at Irvine, and PSI.
With introduction by a representative of the Government of Ireland
Circumcised at eight. Raped by wandering militiamen at twelve. Fully infibulated again at thirteen, and then married off to a fifty-year-old man who regularly beat her; Ifrah Ahmed runs away to a place she had once known as home in war torn Mogadishu to find it had become the kind of battleground now known as “Black Hawk Down.”
Ifrah makes the extraordinary journey out of war-torn Somalia and arrives not in Minnesota, USA, as she had been led to believe, but Dublin, Ireland. Within months she is campaigning for better conditions for asylum — seekers arriving in Ireland. She quickly becomes a leading activist against gender-based violence and fights through her campaign work for the abandonment of FGM world-wide.
The screening will be followed by a Q & A session with Ifrah Ahmed, founder of the Ifrah Foundation
Drama/Somalia/English/112 minutes/2019
Director: Mary McGuckian
Producer: Mary McGuckian, Adrian Politowski
This youth-led signature session will focus on the more than 1.8 billion young people in the world today between the ages of 10 and 24. How the sexual and reproductive health needs and aspirations of adolescents and youth are met defines young people today and will define our common future. This signature session will discuss the challenges and opportunities of young people from around the world in realizing the ICPD agenda. It will focus on the barriers adolescents and youth face in realizing their sexual and reproductive health and rights. The session puts the young people in the driver's seat and provides a platform for young adolescents and youth to share their ideas for solutions based on their expertise and experience, and share how they are holding governments accountable to their promises.
This dialogue aims to bring visibility to the urgent challenges that prevent indigenous women and girls from enjoying their right to sexual and reproductive health. It will highlight the progress that has been achieved since 1994, the barriers that stand in the way, and the critical elements required for ensuring a rights-based and culturally acceptable approach to sexual and reproductive health and rights for indigenous peoples. Expect an intercultural exchange that puts the rights, voices, and choices of indigenous women and girls at the centre of the conversation.
