You can find a link to the  full document here. The communication is very much based on the result of the online EC consultation organised last year.

The text paintes a very general vision of the EC on the post-2015 agenda without going into concrete proposals. It states that the new framework must be universal, with limited goals for all countries, national targets respecting different contexts and measurable indicators. Special consideration should be given to the needs of fragile states.

It identifies the following main challenges  geopolitical shifts with emerging economies, unemployment (with emphasis on youth unemployment and the low women’s participation in the labour market), violent conflict, unsustainable use of natural resources, environmental challenges, and population growth and increase in median age.

In the communication the progress made on the MDGs is evaluated, it is pointed out that “women continue to be the subject of discrimination and confront severe health risks, in particular to maternal health and their sexual and reproductive health and rights”, and that “7 Million people living with HIV/AIDS do not have access to treatment” and that “only 20% of the world population has access to adequate social protection”. It also

Priority elements for the new framework according to the European Commission should be:

1)      basic living standards (including “basic health outcomes” with qualitative goals)  with updated existing MDGs integrating social protection

2)      drivers for inclusive and sustainable growth including the provision of essential human development services

3)      sustainable management of natural resources

4)      equality, equity and justice with a specific focus on the role women

5)      peace and security mentioning insecurity and violence beyond the situation of fragile states

This communication will be followed by Council conclusions that will outline the position of the EU in negotiations on the next global framework.

The European Commission recently proposed that a greater emphasis should be placed on the promotion and protection of women’s and girls’ rights and gender equality in its Communication on the future development framework post-2015.

For CONCORD, gender issues must be at the centre of poverty eradication efforts.

Education crucial

“Girls education is critical to achieving gender equality and women’s empowerment. We know that girls who receive a quality basic education are more likely to marry later, have fewer, healthier children, and earn more. Quality basic education can have a transformational effect on girls, making them drivers of lasting change in their families, communities and countries.” Says Karen Schroh, Head of Plan EU Office.

Gender based violence overlooked

“Gender Based Violence is one of the most pervasive and yet dramatically under-addressed human rights abuses in the world. Disturbingly, one billion women will be victims of sexual violence in their lifetime, with widespread consequences for individuals, families, communities and economies. We call on the EU to use their international power to shape the post-2015 development agenda to prioritise the elimination of sexual and gender-based violence.” says Ester Asin Martinez,  EU Representative at CARE International.

Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights fundamental

“Gender equality will only be possible when every woman and every man will be enabled to make informed choices about their body, sexuality, health, marriage and whether or not to have children, and when, and how many. When women and girls are empowered and have access to their Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights, they will be able to take control of their lives. It is now the moment to work together towards a rights-based framework that puts women and girls front and center in its development.” says Eef Wuyts, International Advocacy Manager at the International Planned Parenthood Federation European Network:

Future development framework

CONCORD believes the new post-2015 development framework can act as a catalyst for progress on gender equality, but for it to be successful and truly transformational, gender equality must be both mainstreamed as well as addressed in a specific goal. It must also be tackled holistically, which means covering all spheres of life, from social issues such as health and education to economic empowerment, political participation, and the power to take their own decisions about their lives. It must also directly address the issue of violence against women and girls, which remains one of the biggest barriers to achieving gender equality.

1)     The EU announced that 90% of its citizens believe gender equality improves the way societies function and that all aid programmes should take specific account of women’s rights, according to a Eurobarometer survey published on 7 March.

2)     The threat to progress is affected by the ongoing global recession, with a decrease in primary school completion for girls and increased risks for infant mortality, research by Plan and ODI shows

CONCORD is the European NGO confederation for Relief and Development.  Its 27 national associations, 18 international networks and 2 associate members represent 1,800 NGOs which are supported by millions of citizens across Europe. CONCORD leads reflection and political actions and regularly engages in dialogue with the European institutions and other civil society organisations. At global level, CONCORD is actively involved in the Open Forum for CSO Development effectiveness, the Beyond 2015 campaign, BetterAid and the International Forum of NGO platforms. www.concordeurope.org. 

The Consortium firmly supports the fact that sexual and reproductive health and rights are essential preconditions for health, human  well-being and social  development. A maximized  healthy  life  expectancy will  not  be  achieved  without  ensuring  sexual  and  reproductive  health  and  rights. Therefore,  it is strongly recommended  that sexual  and  reproductive  health  and rights  are  explicitly  included in  the  health  related goals  and  indicators  within  the  post-2015  agenda:  what  gets  measured  gets  done.

For  the  thematic  consultation  on  health  and  the  Botswana  meeting  5-6  March  2013,   the  following  points  are highlighted as being crucial:

1.  Finish the unfinished business – improve women´s and girl´s health

2.  Universal access to sexual and reproductive health and rights – the fast way forward

3.  Equal access and equal rights –is the right thing to do

Read the full text of the recommendations here.

Please find here below an extract of the Countdown 2015 Europe’s contribution to the Global Thematic Consultation on Health. You can find the full submission here.

“We are pleased to see that the draft report clearly recognizes the importance of access to sexual and reproductive health and rights, as a crucial component in order to advance the future health achievements within the post-2015 agenda. We would also like to applaud that the draft is firmly rooted in human rights principles, as well as addressing the links between health and the wider social determinants of health, inequalities, gender inequalities, justice and development. This is clearly highlighted in Chapter 4 which also points out that the MDGs 3,4,5 and 6, are directly dependent (MDG 1,2,7,8 indirectly) on the sexual and reproductive health and  rights of women and girls (page 11).

However, we believe that the human rights based approach including; empowerment, participation, non-discrimination and accountability, particularly when it comes to the positive effect of strengthening women´s and youth sexual and reproductive health and rights, could be further detailed in the text. Participating and empowered women and youths – are important agents of change and duty holders for a healthier life and for a sustainable, just and inclusive development. The report of UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (A/HR/21/22, 2 July 2012) offers technical guidance on the human rights based approach to reduce preventable maternal morbidity and mortality, which we recommend to include as a point of reference to strengthen the text, including the suggested indicators in this regard.

Furthermore, policies in regards to population dynamics need to be formulated in a way that does not only address the needs of the people, but also proactively protect and respect  human rights and women´s choice (according to the ICPD PoA) (page 13)”

Click here for the full text.

This paper reflects the common position of  the European sexual and reproductive health and rights community on the post-2015 development framework, explaining mainly how the key European networks see SRHR feature in it.  EuroNGOs, Countdown 2015 Europe, IPPF EN and ASTRA have worked together to outline the key principles to achieve the common goal of ensuring that the next global agreement takes a human-rights-based approach to development and has a strong and explicit focus on SRHR.

The paper was developed through internal consultations carried out between December and January by each network and based on a number of strategic documents and outcomes of meetings held in 2012. It is structured around 4 sections:
- Vision for the post- 2015 framework
- Three priorities for the post-2015 framework
- Changing perspective: a multi-level framework
- Learning from the past

Please, read the position paper here.

The Dialogue directed political attention to the important link between population dynamics, governance, sustainability, and food security and why population dynamics needs to be taken into consideration as a cross-cutting issue when discussing the post-2015 development framework. The conference was attended by more than 100 high-level participants from different sectors and countries all over the world, including 40 young people.

You can find more information here:
http://www.dialogue-population-development.info/pdf/Programmes/2012_Programme_en.pdf

1)       NO BUDGET:   

Public cuts are affecting ODA more than other sectors. The 2012 cut happened in the middle of the year affect the MoFA more than any other and mainly at the cooperation line; however in the 2013 budget we see that there are lines (“external actions aboard” –embassies) that are increasing while ODA goes on with the decreasing.

The big amounts of Spanish ODA are essentially mandatory contributions as a member of the EU, but also include items whose impact on poverty reduction is questionable (loans foreseen in 2013: 385 million), or that do not generate new resources for poor countries (245 million Euros in debt cancellation operations).

In total ODA has suffered an accumulated reduction of the 70% since 2009. The total amount is important to asses in which level this government is not interested in ODA anymore, but, even more important to value this is look into detail the way the budget is organized.

2)       Prioritization of foreign policies interest over development or poverty reduction. Only 40% of ODA will be managed by the MoFA. Nearly 60% of ODA will be provided by other ministries than the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, which is, according to the Cooperation Law, the responsible for the direction of cooperation policy and the only one with a specialized agency in the field. In 2011, the ratio was the reversed (56% MoFA, 44% other ministries). The Spanish Agency for International Cooperation is still losing weight. In 2013 only 14% of total ODA will be managed by AECID, and a big part of that will be allocated in already committed programs or in the expenses of closing offices and fired people. It is easy, after reading PP’s electoral program, to understand that the money managed by other ministries is more sensible to be used according to political interests and outside of the control of civil servants and officials linked with development or with higher technical knowledge on cooperation.

3)       End of planning by sector to start a result based management framed by country-base discussions. The draft of the IV Master Plan that is going through discussion at this time is a radical change from the previous as it is not articulated by sectors anymore, but by “management for development results”, following the recommendations for the Spanish cooperation done by the DAC. It is a big change happening while the budget is so little that we can doubt about the possibility of carrying it out. The document speaks repeatedly of “prioritizing” interventions but does not set criteria for this prioritization, or either the framework of results that the Spanish cooperation want to contribute with. Apparently the objectives and prioritization will take place at country level during the negotiation of the Framework of Country Partnership (MAPs). In the current frameworks, which now need to be reviewed, basic social services, especially in the case of Latin America, have not been prioritized. If the weight of health in 2009 was around 11% of the total ODA, in 2011 will not be reach even the 5%. If you rely on MAPs, whose negotiation process has been questioned on several occasions, the% will still drop. While important decisions will take place at country level there is the need to change the way Spanish NGOs have been advocating during the last 8 years, targeting, mainly, MoFA at Madrid.

Finnish funding for sexual and reproductive health and rights is showing an increasing trend for the following three years.

Finland has made the decision on financing International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) for the next three years with 4,5 million euros (2012; 1 250 000 €, 2013; 1 500 000 € and 2014; 1 750 000 €).  In addtion to IPPF’s funding also IPAS has been pledged 3 million euros for the years 2012-2014.

Researchers estimated that in 2008 contraceptive use had averted 272,040 maternal deaths, and that meeting unmet need could prevent an additional 104,000 maternal deaths per year.

Birth spacing was highlighted as an under-resourced area in family planning, with adverse effects on child survival and maternal health. Access to long acting, reversible methods was recommended particularly in settings where emphasis on sterilisation has been high.

Discussions on population trends and policy options questioned whether fertility based policies would lead to contradictions – with some countries promoting pro-birth policies at home in the context of falling fertility, and supporting efforts to reduce high fertility in developing countries. A consensus emerged from the floor that contradictions come about when policies seek to control women’s fertility choices with a particular population goal in mind. When sexual and reproductive rights are included holistically in policies, and where the unmet need is met regardless of fertility levels, the contradiction disappears.

Economic benefits of meeting the unmet need were shown to begin at the household level, and providing the opportunities in employment and education existed, this could translate to significant economic gains at the macro level.

Closing the series, the symposium focused on the use of human rights in meeting the unmet need for family planning. Recalling the State’s obligation to make high quality information and services available to everyone, recommendations included the immediate removal of legal and regulatory barriers to access; the removal of financial barriers to access; ensuring a continuous supply of high quality commodities, and inclusive definitions and measurement of access to contraception that do not discriminate on the grounds of age, marital status or belonging to other marginalised groups.

More details can be found at: http://www.thelancet.com/series/family-planning

The debate was held ahead of the Rio+20 summit taking place in June 2012. The theme of the debate was: “the need to use our EU presidency to ensure the EU prioritise sexual and reproductive health and rights, including family planning, in its input to the post 2015 (Millennium Development Goals) UN development agenda”.

The importance of Ireland remaining committed to the issues of sexual and reproductive health and rights was highlighted, especially with regard to Ireland’s presidency of the EU in 2013. Deputy Mitchell said, “The All-Party Interest Group is concerned to ensure Ireland prioritises gender issues and, specifically, sexual and reproductive health and rights in its input into these decisions, particularly while it exerts its influence while holding the EU presidency”. She highlighted the need for strategies to reduce maternal mortality, including meeting the unmet need for contraception, in order to achieve gender equality and development goals.

Deputy Ferris said, “Next year we will hold the Presidency of the EU, which gives the Government a great opportunity to put sexual and reproductive health and rights at the forefront of the UN development agenda. The framework for the millennium development goals expires in 2015 and it is vital these rights are prioritised for the next framework. I do not think the link between sexual and reproductive rights and poverty alleviation is being made sufficiently clear and the neglect of this issue is to the detriment of the millennium development goals. This is not a controversial issue, although some may attempt to undermine it by claiming otherwise.”

The Minister for Development and Trade, Mr Joe Costello TD, agreed that the provision of reproductive health services to women is essential in tackling the continuing high rates of maternal mortality in the developing world. He stated that “the position Ireland takes in international policy discussions on sexual and reproductive health is based on a firm commitment to the programme of action agreed at the International Conference on Population and Development, ICPD, in Cairo 1994.”

Minister Costello outlined the massive unmet need for family planning globally, especially in the poorest countries and communities, stressing the need for a “broad international consensus on sexual and reproductive health issues if serious progress is to be made on meeting the MDGs’ targets”.

“Maternal, child care and gender issues have always been central to the Irish Aid programme and will continue to be so while I am Minister of State. We have a key role in preparing for the post-2015 millennium development goals. The review will start during our Presidency and the first summit meeting will take place in New York in September 2015. We are charged with developing a common European Union negotiating position. It will be done during our Presidency and agreed at the Council meetings during the Presidency. This will be the basis for the negotiations to begin in September 2013, which will continue until September 2015. The post-millennium development goals will be the second stage. We are in a position to play a key role in that respect and we note that the fifth millennium development goal, concerning reproductive health and maternal child care, is the one that has been least developed to a successful degree. It is an area to which we will pay particular attention.”