Young people are leading the way on global concerns from climate change to gender equality, especially amid the COVID-19 pandemic. They have the right to make choices about their bodies and lives.

Yet it’s true that they cannot always realize their rights. UNFPA pledges to do everything we can to act with young people on the challenges they face. We stand with them in their fight to claim the world they imagine - and deserve.

To celebrate Nelson Mandela International Day, the Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, Patricia Scotland, invited UNFPA Executive Director, Natalia Kanem for a Fireside chat. During the conversation, the two leaders discussed the significance of celebrating the day, their personal experiences and the challenges and successes they faced to get to where they are now.

The COVID19 pandemic has compromised health care systems particularly in the area of sexual and reproductive health. As the international community observes World Population Day (11 July), UNFPA advises against reactionary policy responses, which can be extremely harmful if they violate rights, health and choices. 

The world is currently facing an acute shortage of 900,000 midwives, which represents a third of the required global midwifery workforce. The COVID-19 crisis has only exacerbated these problems, with the health needs of women and newborns being overshadowed, midwifery services being disrupted and midwives being deployed to other health services.

To mark the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade, UNFPA Executive Director Dr. Natalia Kanem honours the memory of those forced from their homelands and calls for the end of slavery's legacy of racism and discrimination that continues to oppress people of African descent today. 

In her remarks at the CSW65 high-level event "An inter-generational dialogue on child, early and forced marriage," UNFPA Executive Director Dr. Natalia Kanem explained how child marriage is a manifestation of gender inequality that robs girls of say and choice and appealed for a gender-equal world in which girls would know their rights and value and be empowered to make their own informed decisions. 

In remarks for “Bodily Autonomy and SRHR for Generation Equality: What Kind of Leadership is Needed?” at the 65th session of the Commission of the Status of Women, UNFPA Executive Director Dr. Natalia Kanem emphasized the importance of women’s and girls’ right to make decisions about their bodies. The foundation of gender equality, bodily autonomy empowers women and girls politically and economically, leading to prosperous, peaceful societies from which we all benefit.