ECOM Experts Present Progress of EECA Region at ICPD30 Conference

Vitaly Djuma, Executive Director of ECOM, and Uluk Batyrgaliev, Health Officer, took part in the European regional conference #ICPD30, which was held in Geneva and was dedicated to reviewing the implementation of the goals adopted at the International Conference on Population and Development in 1994.

At that historic event in Cairo, 179 countries around the world adopted a groundbreaking Programme of Action that recognized that women's reproductive health and rights must be central to national and global development. In particular, the ICPD Programme of Action was designed to ensure universal access to comprehensive reproductive health services and the prevention and treatment of sexually transmitted infections.

The ICPD30 meeting in Geneva provided an opportunity to review progress towards achieving these goals in a large region that covers Europe, North America and Central Asia. The conference was attended by official government delegations, parliamentarians, representatives of civil society organizations and youth representatives.

Vitaly Djuma participated in the civil society consultation that took place the day before and made a statement at the plenary session of the conference on behalf of all civil society organizations in the European region. Meanwhile, Uluk Batyrgaliev was a mentor and moderated sessions at the youth consultation.

ECOM experts noted the importance of HIV prevention in the region, including promotion of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) in communities. They highlighted the challenges our communities face when accessing health services. Our experts paid special attention to the systematic violations of the rights of LGBT people in the region, hate speech, discrimination and harmful practices.

Here is a list of action points developed with the help of our experts:

counteract anti-law initiatives and movements;
fight the restriction of space for civil society;
strengthen support for public organizations that work in the field of human rights, gender equality, women's and LGBT rights, sexual health;
adopt laws to counteract discrimination on the grounds of HIV status, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation;
take actual steps to overcome sexual and gender violence;
provide universal access to services in the field of sexual and reproductive health;
implement comprehensive sexual education in schools.

Regional reviews of progress on ICPD goals are held every 5 years for countries to report on their commitments, share achievements and outline action plans for the next period. And this was the main focus of the regional European meeting held this year in Geneva from 19 to 20 October 2023.

ECOM's participation in this regional event is crucial to ensure that the barriers and sexual health needs of LGBT people in the region are included in the ICPD Programme of Action agenda at the global level.

The anniversary International Conference on Population and Development ICPD30 will be held in April 2024.