Ashley Judd speaks out on women’s rights to control their bodies and be free from male violence

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Actor Ashley Juddwhose allegations against movie mogul Harvey Weinstein helped spark the #MeToo movement, spoke out Monday on the rights of women and girls to control their own bodies and be safe from male violence.

A goodwill ambassador for the United Nations Population Fund, she spoke at the United Nations General Assembly’s commemoration of the 30th anniversary of the historic document adopted by 179 countries at its 1994 conference in Cairo, which recognized for the first time that women have the right to control their reproductive health. and sexual health – and choosing if and when to get pregnant.

Judd called the program of action adopted in Cairo a “glorious and ambitious document” that was “imprinted on my psyche… (and) guided my 20 years of travel around the world, attracting necessary attention and raising awareness.” sexual and reproductive health and rights. in slums, brothels, refugee and internally displaced persons (IDP) camps, schools and reception centers.

The Cairo conference shifted the focus of the United Nations Population Fund, known as UNFPA, from numerical targets to promoting choices for women and men, and supporting economic development and girls’ education. This change is explained by research showing that educated women have smaller families.

Although Cairo recognizes women’s sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights, it does not recognize sexual rights. This happened a year later, at the 1995 United Nations conference on women in Beijing.

On one of the most controversial issues of the Cairo conference, delegates acknowledged that unsafe abortion is a fact that governments must address as a public health issue to save women’s lives. But he did not condone abortion as a method of family planning or mention legalization, and 30 years later the issue remains controversial.

Judd recalled some of her travels, including to Madagascar, where she said she spoke to women who were commercially exploited by men. She said they were all compelled to this work by the same fundamental cause: “the sexual, reproductive, legal, political, social and cultural inequality of girls and women.”

In Turkey last August, Judd said he met Turkish families and refugees living in tents and containers “with one semi-functional latrine for hundreds of people.”

Many said they were in no emotional, mental or physical condition to deliver another baby, and Judd expressed gratitude that UNFPA was doing all it could “to provide modern choices.” family planning to those who wish it, despite the government’s withdrawal of their right. availability in the public sector.

A UNFPA Goodwill Ambassador since 2016, Judd emphasized the importance of women choosing when to have children and “the ability to say no to sex without retaliation.”

Natalia Kanem, executive director of UNFPA, which now calls itself the United Nations agency for sexual and reproductive health and rights, cited the considerable progress made over the past three decades on the Cairo platform during the commemoration.

Maternal mortality fell by a third between 2000 and 2020, the number of women using contraceptives has doubled since 1990, teenage births have fallen by a third since 2000, and child marriage rates have declined to globally, she said.

Kanem also highlighted that more than 60 countries have passed laws against domestic violence and that punitive laws against LGBTQ+ people are “falling faster than ever.”

“And yet today, progress is slowing,” she said. “Annual reductions in maternal deaths have stabilized and inequalities between and within countries are widening. And the rights of women, girls and people of diverse gender identities are under increasing criticism.

U.N. Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed told the packed General Assembly that the great progress made in 30 years “has been obscured by those who have been left behind.”

She cited many developing countries whose infant mortality rates remain too high and the 164 million women of childbearing age worldwide who lack access to family planning.

“We must remain vigilant and continue to address situations where sexual and reproductive health and rights are challenged,” Mohammed said. “We must respond and react when women’s rights are eroded. »