Inter Press Service - October 9, 2003
Marwaan Macan-Markar

That was a key message that emerged Thursday at the end of a regional conference on reproductive health here. As important was the consensus that emerged after four days of discussions on the need to counter growing conservatism that undermines a freer and liberal interpretation of population policies.

The final document that came out of the 'Second Asia Pacific Conference on Reproductive and Sexual Health' also singled out other areas where countries are found wanting. They included the health risks faced by vulnerable communities like migrant populations, cultural values that keep youth out of reproductive and sexual health services and women's vulnerability to infections and violence due to gender inequity.

Participants said the rights-based message from the conference is a step forward from the areas of concern that were identified two years ago, during the first regional conference on reproductive health, held in Manila.

"At this conference, the call for reproductive and sexual health rights issue came through very loudly, marking it as an area of critical focus for many," Sunila Abeysekera, a leading Sri Lankan women's rights activist, told IPS. "The meeting helped to clarify how such rights, once secured, should be used to impact public policies."

The seeds for such ideas were sown at the gathering in the Philippines, she added. "Manila was important for us, because it marked an important conceptual shift in the region regards reproductive and sexual rights."

Others saw in the just-ended meeting another progressive step -- the presence of all the important actors on population-related issues among the 1,500 people from the 40 countries that participated at this event in the Thai capital.

"Just about every important player was invited to take a seat at the table to discuss the issues that need to be resolved," says Dede Oetomo, founder of GAYa Nusantara, an Indonesian non-governmental group that champions the rights of sexual minorities. "The conference sought to tackle most of the issues that concern us."

However, he remarked that the discussions also brought to the surface the difficulty that some activists on reproductive rights have in acknowledging the view of those pushing for sexual health rights.

"There are still walls between the two groups. Although they sit at the table, they are not talking to each other," Oetomo said during an interview.

But such hurdles are to be expected given the nature of the rights that the conference was hoping to secure, said Hajra Tariq Aziz, a Pakistani parliamentarian, during a discussion on sexual and reproductive rights legislation that also featured legislators from the Philippines, Fiji and Thailand.

"The reproductive and sexual health paradigm is very political, because it challenges the status quo," she told a packed auditorium on Thursday morning.

In fact, these difficulties were reflected when the conference heard from women with HIV who wanted to be mothers. The plight of Thai women who participated served as a reminder of the cold hearts doctors and nurses have when faced with HIV-positive women who are pregnant.

"Doctors and nurses are not happy to treat HIV patients. That comes on top of the stigma these women have to face in their community," says Angkarb Kanjapat Korsieporn, head of the Centre for Women, Children and Youth Studies at Bangkok's Chulalongkorn University.

To secure their rights, they need strength in numbers, she adds, because "Thailand, just like other Asian societies, is very patriarchal and the voices of women are not often listened to."

Yet by bringing into sharp focus these issues, this regional gathering has also shed light on the themes the Asia-Pacific representatives will take up during the 10th anniversary of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), the U.N. meeting held in Cairo, in 1994, to shape a population agenda for the world.

In fact, in December last year, the region's governments revealed the extent of their commitment to the ICPD's principles, when they refused to cave into pressure by the U.S. government to get Asia-Pacific countries to back its conservative agenda.

At the heart of that dispute was Washington's view on abortions and on the distribution of condoms to adolescents and youth. Since moving into the White House, U.S. President George W Bush has revived a conservative population policy that denies aid money from the United States to foreign non-governmental groups that are involved in abortion-related activities.

The tone set by Washington is echoed by other conservative groups in the Asia-Pacific region, too, speakers at the conference asserted. They include the upholders of "traditional values" in the Pacific Island nation of Fiji and leaders of the Catholic faith in the Philippines.

"These conservative forces have gained in strength over the past two years and are posing a big threat to the work we have been doing on reproductive and sexual health rights in the region," says Abeysekera, the Sri Lankan activist. (END/IPS/AP/PR/HD/HE/MMM/JS/03)

031009
IP031009

Always watch for outdated information. This article first appeared in 2003. This material is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between you and your doctor.

AEGiS presents published material, reprinted with permission and neither endorses nor opposes any material. All information contained on this website, including information relating to health conditions, products, and treatments, is for informational purposes only. It is often presented in summary or aggregate form. It is not meant to be a substitute for the advice provided by your own physician or other medical professionals. Always discuss treatment options with a doctor who specializes in treating HIV.

Copyright ©1980, 2003. AEGiS. All materials appearing on AEGiS are protected by copyright as a collective work or compilation under U.S. copyright and other laws and are the property of AEGiS, or the party credited as the provider of the content. .