World leaders converged on Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in June for the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, marking 20 years after the first Rio ‘Earth Summit’. Members of the Global Leaders Council for Reproductive Health participated in events and media surrounding the Conference in order to demonstrate the critical role that access to reproductive health and family planning plays in sustainable development.
Read GLC members take on Rio+20:
- The Guardian Letters: Reproductive health the key to Rio+20, signed by GLC members Fernando Henrique Cardoso, Mary Robinson, Joy Phumaphi, Gro Harlem Brundtland, Fred Sai, Phumzile Mlambo Ngcuka, and Jenny Shipley
- CNN: The elephant in the room at Rio summit, by Jenny Shipley
- Reuters TrustLaw: The Word on Women – Rio+20: A Blind Eye Towards Women, by Musimbi Kanyoro
During the Summit, GLC member and CEO of the Global Fund for Women Musimbi Kanyoro led a group of 25 member state delegates, journalists and civil society leaders to visit a community center in the Cachoeirinha favela, in Rio de Janeiro. The high-level group participated in an exciting discussion with 11 young people from the favelas who are trained as peer educators – sharing information on reproductive health with their friends and classmates. The young people were able to share their own experiences with the journalists, delegates and civil society leaders, and spoke passionately about their own futures and the importance of access to services and information about family planning.
Read more about the visit:
- The Guardian: Taking sex education to Brazil’s favelas
- Reuters AlertNet: Brazil a model for slowing population growth – experts
- Nature: Twenty years after first Earth Summit, disappointment and hope
- Nature: Cachoeirinha Part II: Success (and failure) with family planning in Brazil
- Deutsche Welle: Strong women are the key to sustainable development
- RH Reality Check: Live from Rio+20 Day Two: Favelas and Protests
More about the GLC and Rio+20:
- Associated Press: Clinton: family planning key to sustainability
- The Guardian: World leaders accused of backsliding on women’s rights
- Agence France Presse: Rio+20: Rousseff defiende derechos reproductivos en cumbre de mujeres
- UN IRIN: RIO+20: “Backsliding” on women’s rights
- Globo: ‘Que sabem celibatários sobre as mulheres?’, diz Mary Robinson
- RH Reality Check: Live from Rio+20, Day One: Women and Reproductive Health
- RH Reality Check: Live from Rio+20, Day Three: “The Voices of Women” (Picked up by Gates’ Foundation Impatient Optimist blog)
- Kaiser Daily Global Health Policy Report: Blog, Opinion Piece, Press Release Address Health Aspects Of Rio+20
- Kaiser Daily Global Health Policy Report: Reproductive Health Advocates React To Rio+20 Draft Document In Opinion Piece, Blog
- Kaiser Daily Global Health Policy Report: Guardian Blog Profiles Work Of Brazilian Family Planning Organization
- NRDC Switchboard Blog: Leaders at Rio+20 Must Recognize that Empowering Women Helps Protect the Planet
- Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars New Security Beat Blog: Getting Women’s Rights on the Agenda
