Statements and speeches
Statement
Statement from UNFPA Executive Director Dr. Natalia Kanem on the International Day of the Midwife 2024
02 May 2024
Right now, around the world, millions of lives are in the hands of midwives. Whether they are wading through flood waters to reach pregnant women or delivering babies amid the rubble of an earthquake, midwives are the unsung heroes of community health services. Thanks to midwives, births are safer. The sexual and reproductive health care they provide is more attuned to women’s needs, desires and local cultural practices.
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Statement by Principals of the Inter-Agency Standing Committee on the Democratic Republic of the Congo
30 April 2024
NEW YORK/GENEVA/ROME/WASHINGTON – Escalating conflict is driving record levels of gender-based violence, displacement and hunger in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), threatening to push the country to the brink of catastrophe without urgent international action.
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Opening Remarks by UNFPA Executive Director Dr. Natalia Kanem at the Commission on Population and Development 2024
29 April 2024
Opening remarks by UNFPA Executive Director Dr. Natalia Kanem at the 57th session of the Commission on Population and Development in New York.
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Opening Remarks by UNFPA Executive Director Dr. Natalia Kanem, at the General Assembly ICPD30 Commemorative Event
29 April 2024
Opening remarks by UNFPA Executive Director Dr. Natalia Kanem at the informal plenary meeting of the General Assembly to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the International Conference on Population and Development in New York.
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Statement by UNFPA Executive Director Dr. Natalia Kanem on efforts to repeal the ban on female genital mutilation in the Gambia
17 April 2024
Turning back the clock on FGM in the Gambia would deprive women and girls of their rights
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Opening remarks by UNFPA Executive Director Dr. Natalia Kanem at the launch of the State of World Population 2024
17 April 2024
Opening remarks by UNFPA Executive Director Dr. Natalia Kanem at the launch of the State of World Population 2024 at the Palais des Nations, Geneva. (Check against delivery.)
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Opening remarks by UNFPA Executive Director Dr. Natalia Kanem at the 3rd Session of the Permanent Forum for People of African Descent
15 April 2024
Opening remarks by UNFPA Executive Director Dr. Natalia Kanem at the 3rd Session of the Permanent Forum for People of African Descent
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Statement by UNFPA Executive Director Dr. Natalia Kanem as war in Sudan reaches one year mark
13 April 2024
Famine is bearing down on the women and girls of Sudan as the deadly conflict reaches its one year mark. The war has triggered one of the world’s worst hunger crises, with 1.2 million pregnant and breastfeeding women facing acute malnutrition, robbing them and their newborns of health and potentially even life.
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Keynote address by the Executive Director at the 8th International Parliamentarians’ Conference on the Implementation
10 April 2024
Keynote address by UNFPA Executive Director Dr. Natalia Kanem at the 8th International Parliamentarians’ Conference on the Implementation of the ICPD Programme of Action (IPCI) in Oslo, Norway.
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Statement by the Executive Director at the ICPD30 Global Youth Dialogue's Closing Ceremony
05 April 2024
Mr. Deputy Chief of Staff representing His Excellency Mr. Abdoulaye Bio Tchane, Minister of Planning and Development Excellencies, Prof. Fatou Sow Sarr, Commissioner ECOWAS Youth Ambassador Sophie…
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Statement from UNFPA Executive Director Dr. Natalia Kanem on World Health Day 2024
05 April 2024
On World Health Day, we celebrate the successes achieved since the adoption of the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) Programme of Action in Cairo, which placed sexual and reproductive health and rights at the heart of development.
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Speech by UNFPA Executive Director Dr. Natalia Kanem at the Global Youth Dialogue
04 April 2024
I begin by quoting a proud daughter of Benin, a cultural artist of world renown, Angelique Kidjo. Angelique has said: “Your brain is your greatest weapon. Connect it to your heart and you can go anywhere.”
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