OTTAWA, 22-23 October – The IPCI 2018 conference took place in the Canadian capital’s National Arts Center. Over 100 participating MPs from all world regions, spanning 73 countries, as well as several invited experts, got the opportunity to discuss sexuality education, funding SRHR, backlash to women's rights, contraception, maternal health, ending harmful practices and gender-based violence.
We heard from EPF President, Hon. Ulrika Karlsson, MP, (Sweden), FPA President Hon. Marie Rose Nguini Effa, MP, (Cameroon), Hon. Dr. Hedy Fry MP, (Canada), Hon. Marie-Claude Bibeau, MP, (Canada) and UNFPA Executive Director Dr. Natalia Kanem, among many other MPs and expert speakers from all world regions.
The conference included various break-out sessions which ranged from interactive workshops from midwives about childbirth, to panel discussions on the current ideological threats to reproductive freedoms.
This was a rare and valuable opportunity for many of the world’s political advocates for gender equality and reproductive rights to come together and exchange ideas and perspectives, and ended with the modification and signing of a new Statement of Commitment, progressing on from the six previous versions and acting as ample motivation for words exchanged to turn into actions.
