EPF President Hon. Carina Hägg, MP (Sweden) and EPF Executive Committee Member Hon. Birute Vesaite, MP (Lithuania) represented EPF at the NGO Forum on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Development that was held from 2-4 September 2009 in Berlin/Germany and hosted by the German Government and UNFPA.

Bringing together leaders of NGOs and Civil Society from more than 130 countries, working on sexual and reproductive health as well as International Organisations, major donors and Ministry Officials, this high-level event aimed to strengthen NGOs working in partnership to advance sexual and reproductive health and rights for sustainable development. (Hon. Birute Vesaite, MP, (3rd left) and Hon. Carina Hägg, MP (4th left)

Speaking during the Interactive Session “Tackling the ICPD Messages: Sexy, Boring, or Just Plain Hard?”, Hon. Birute Vesaite, MP voiced the need for better cooperation between NGOs and Members of Parliament to promote ICPD amongst decision-makers. “Many of my parliamentary colleagues have never heard about ICPD and in my country SRHR is still a sensitive issue to deal with”, Hon. Vesaite pointed out before stating that there is an urgent need for clear and concise messages that can be adapted to the relevant political context.

Hon. Carina Hägg, MP emphasised the importance to “better include our U.S. counterparts in fora and during important conferences such as the upcoming International Parliamentarians’ Conference in Addis Ababa”. Hon. Hägg sees the need to build better platforms amongst Parliamentarians around the world but also between NGOs and Parliamentarians.

Finally, Members of Parliament from Europe, Latin America, Asia and Africa symbolically received the Berlin Call to Action, a forward looking advocacy tool for NGOs with concrete suggestions on priorities for the last five years of the ICPD Programme of Action and beyond. Parliamentarians were asked to consider this document during the IPCI/ICPD Conference to be held in Addis Ababa from 27-28 October 2009.

For more information on the conference and the outcome documents, click here.