Statements and speeches
Speech
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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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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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 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 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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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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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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Statement by the Executive Director on Impending Famine in Gaza
27 March 2024
The threat of famine is looming over Gaza. Hunger and malnutrition, driven wholly by manmade causes and by a lack of humanitarian access, have spread through Gaza at frightening speed, causing…
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Statement by UNFPA Executive Director Dr. Natalia Kanem on International Women’s Day 2024
04 March 2024
A peaceful and prosperous future depends on the empowerment of women and girls. Thirty years ago, at the International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo, 179 countries agreed that this was the right thing to do and the necessary path forward for sustainable global development.
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Statement by UNFPA Executive Director Dr Natalia Kanem
29 February 2024
I note with deep concern the Parliament of Ghana’s passage of the “Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill''. If the bill becomes law, it will expose many individuals to the risk of arrest…
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