Foreign Affairs Committee on March 8th, 2016

[The Chair (Hon. Robert Nault (Kenora, Lib.)), Liberal, Bob Nault]

Pursuant to Standing Order 108(2), we have a briefing on the 2015 United Nations Population Fund state of world population report.

Before us is Dr. Babatunde Osotimehin, executive director. We want to welcome this person to the committee and turn it over for 10 minutes or so. Then we'll get into questions and I'm sure we'll have lots of them.

Dr. Osotimehin.

[Dr. Babatunde Osotimehin, Executive Director, United Nations Population Fund]

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Honourable members, good afternoon, and thank you for the opportunity to speak to you today.

On behalf of all of us at UNFPA, I would like to thank you, the government, and the people of Canada for the steadfast support that we have received to the mandate of UNFPA in delivering a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe, and every young person's potential is fulfilled.

We look forward to continuing this partnership as we begin working with countries to implement the global goals agreed to by the international community in September 2015.

Let me quickly remind you that it was actually not one set of agreements last year; there were three agreements: first, financing for development which happened in July in Addis Ababa; second, the September agreement on the goals themselves which happened in New York; and third, the climate agreement which happened in Paris. We need to take the three together, because they all work together in terms of going forward for a sustainable planet.

The 2030 agenda for sustainable development calls on all of us to leave no one behind and to start with those furthest behind. All too often these are the ones that we never even reach and when you drill it down, the demography of that are women and girls.

Let's look at adolescent girls. There is overwhelming evidence that investing in adolescent girls, in their education, health and well-being, including their sexual and reproductive health and rights, yields huge returns. Whether girls flourish with opportunities or languish in poverty can determine the long-term development prospects of their countries.

Ensuring that girls are able to exercise their rights, can stay in school, not be married off at the age of 10 or 11, have the skills and opportunity to join the workforce, are free from violence, for example, female genital mutilation, free from abuse and exploitation, for example, trafficking, is essential for their own well-being, but most important, it is the critical foundation for the health and prosperity of families, communities, and nations.

We need to give these girls unfettered access to comprehensive sex education, remove laws that impede their access to information and services, including contraceptive services, and as I said, protect them from child marriage and other harmful practices that keep girls out of school.

Two examples of the programs that are yielding tangible results in reaching those furthest behind in regard to adolescent girls are the the action for adolescent girls initiative and the global program to accelerate action to end child marriage. In Niger, for example, adolescents who have participated in these programs are married later. Among those who have married, the contraceptive prevalence rate has risen from 18% to 34%. We're able to assist them to actually take charge of their lives and do something more meaningful.

In these circumstances, Canada's support makes this result possible. We would like to acknowledge the Government of Canada for doing this.

What about family planning and UNFPA supplies?

It is widely acknowledged that family planning is one of the best investments we can make for human development. Indeed, I think it is accepted now that it is the most important and most effective intervention in human development. When women and couples can choose when to have children, women's rights are advanced. Women and their families are healthier and nations and economies are stronger and more sustainable. My argument all the time is that family planning is not a health intervention, it's an intervention to empower women, and we will see it in that light. The rights of women to make choices, to take control of their bodies, and make decisions about themselves are critical to human development.

UNFPA supplies is the largest supplier of contraceptives worldwide in the public sector. Since 2007 we have provided contraceptives that have saved over 700,000 lives and billions of dollars in direct health care spending in countries with the highest maternal mortality and highest unmet need for family planning. Last year alone we helped some 33 million women in more than 46 countries receive access to modern contraceptives and reproductive health services, potentially averting an estimated nine million unintended pregnancies and the deaths of hundreds of thousands of women and newborns. Unfortunately, an estimated shortfall of about $1.2 billion over the next five years could jeopardize our ability to help countries reach additional women and girls with modern contraception and will make it difficult even to maintain existing funding of family services.

Let me give a statistic. Today we estimate that 225 million women in union want family planning and they're not getting it. In union, that is, they are married, so they need family planning. They're not getting it. That number, 225 million, is huge. When you look at it, you look at cost per capita. It's so small, less than $25 per capita. What we are looking for per capita is small and I would like to think in these hallowed chambers you believe that the life of a woman is worth more than $25. We're using this to give you a sense of where the needs are.

By resuming the support of this program, which Canada did yesterday, making contraceptive commodity security a reality for women and girls around the world, we're very glad. The amount might be small, but I think it's a mega step forward in terms of the commitment of Canada. Canada has always supported our contraceptive commodity security. This will improve lives and save lives. It will also positively impact across generations, ending poverty and helping boost economies.

Let me share with you a couple of stories. I think it will put things into perspective when we talk about real lives.

I'll tell you the story of Aisha. She was 12 when her parents took her out of school to help with the family farm. She was married when she was 14 and had a child a year later. This is a story that we hear almost every day for those of us who go out in the field. For many girls the story continues predictably: more children, fewer opportunities, poorer health for her—the mother—and her children. What you find in a circumstance like this is that she'll probably end up with six or seven children. They have children almost every year. If she survives, she's in chronic poor health; if she doesn't survive her children are orphans. This doesn't have to be. We can reverse that, and we can help girls like Aisha.

Aisha was one of the lucky ones. When she had a baby, she brought her baby to a health clinic for immunization, and when she got there she received information about family planning. The options they offered were supported by the UNFPA family planning site in our community. She went there and she received information on family planning, and she was able to have a breathing space for herself so that she could look after her baby and recover her health.

She now educates girls and women in her community about the options and has been able to go back to school and continue her education. We also assist some of these girls in going back to school so that they can pick up skills. As long as they have skills, they are able to do things for themselves. This is how we help to build stronger, more resilient families, communities, and countries, one Aisha at a time.

A big part of the work we do is in humanitarian assistance. Nearly 60 million people have been uprooted by conflict, the largest number since the end of the Second World War.

Sexual and reproductive health care and protection from sexual and gender-based violence are critical for women everywhere, but especially for those who are fleeing war zones or are in war zones. Women don't stop having babies when a conflict breaks out or a disaster strikes. Women don't stop having their regular monthly periods because of disaster. Many of them give birth on the run without even the most basic items for a clean and safe delivery. Natural disasters and conflicts can wipe out medical facilities, and the ensuing chaos can heighten women's exposure to violence. In conflicts women are more exposed to violence than in ordinary circumstances. So, it's a whole continuum of violence, lack of services, illness, and death.

I believe each of you has a copy of the report, “The State of the World Population 2015”. It calls on governments and aid groups everywhere to move women's sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights from the back seat to the front seat of the world's humanitarian agenda. We selected this because we believe that it's something we need to bring to the forefront.

In Istanbul in May there's going to be the World Humanitarian Summit. We needed to do this so that everybody would be conscious of where women's issues are within our framework. The statistics are important. Three in five maternal deaths occur in humanitarian and fragile contexts, three in five. More women die from maternal mortality in crisis than in peace time. Every day 507 women and adolescent girls die during pregnancy and childbirth in crises and conflicts. More than 100 million people need humanitarian assistance this year. Around 26 million of them are women and girl adolescents of child-bearing age.

Two weeks ago, we marked the birth of the 5,000th baby, a healthy girl named Rima at the UNFPA-supported clinic at the Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan. These are Syrian refugees who have come to Jordan. We have offered services there since 2013. We were able to take the 5,000th delivery there. What's significant for us is that since we opened in 2013, no woman has died and no child has died. All 5,000 children have lived and all the women have lived. This is a source of pride for us at UNFPA as a humanitarian agency. I'm not going to get into the politics of it, because this is something we should all find in Syria itself, but suffice to say we're saving lives.

Rima and her two-year-old sister, that is the newborn and her sister, were born in the Zaatari camp, which is also where their parents were married. I don't know if you know that each camp.... You don't want to start a camp because a camp lasts 19 years before you can round it off. People don't want to go home because they're afraid of what's going on at home, so the new normal in many parts of the world is a camp. We need to continue to provide assistance so that we can ensure that people can lead a good life.

Last year alone we provided reproductive health equipment, medicine, and supplies that served 35 million women and adolescent girls in crisis-affected countries. In 2014, we provided contraceptives and family planning supplies targeting nearly 21 million women, men, and adolescents in humanitarian settings from Syria to Yemen to South Sudan. I have to thank the Government of Canada for giving us $50 million over the next five years to actually provide midwifery services in South Sudan so that we can save the lives of women there. That was announced yesterday.

We're working to ensure safe births and safety from fear and sexual violence. With humanitarian needs increasing, and women and girls' vulnerabilities in these situations disproportionately high, I'd like to urge Canada to support UNFPA in scaling up this life-saving work.

Let me end by thanking the government and people of Canada for their long-standing political and financial support to UNFPA, particularly in the areas I've mentioned: adolescents, family planning, and the issues around disaster-risk reduction. With your help we're going to ensure that more girls like Aisha are able to stay in school and out of wedlock, and can avoid motherhood in childhood. And we can ensure that more women will deliver safely wherever they may be and that more babies like Rima will be born healthy even under the most difficult circumstances.

Honourable members, there are 59 million girls who will cross the threshold of adolescence this year. When you look at what we promised as the international community for the sustainable development goals, we have the opportunity to provide the best possible circumstances and ambience for them to grow and be the best that they can be. With your support, we can ensure that they grow up healthy and safe, empowered, educated, and employed. When you do so, they'll transform the world. I know we can fulfill their dreams and their aspirations, and I believe that together we can build a just, inclusive, sustainable world.

Thank you for listening.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bob Nault]

Thank you very much, Doctor.

We're going to go right to questions, so I'll go to Mr. Kent, and then over to Mr. Miller.

[Peter Kent, Conservative, Thornhill, ON]

Thank you very much, Chair.

Thank you, Dr. Osotimehin, for this update.

I must say I'm sure that everyone on the committee respects you greatly for taking on the challenge. Your job is incredibly challenging, given the statistics that you quote of the 100 million people around the world in need of humanitarian support, 25% of whom are young women, and the fact that there are 61 million plus or minus on any given day displaced people among whom the most vulnerable are women and young girls.

My first question has to do with a request that you made yesterday in a newspaper interview suggesting that Canada re-engage with Nigeria, with your country of birth, on the long journey to rescue the school girls and suggesting that Canada had skills, abilities, and resources that might help in locating and rescuing the school girls.

I wonder if you saw the article that was published today on a noted Canadian diplomat, of whom we are incredibly proud, Robert Fowler, who himself was a hostage for 130 days and was held by al-Qaeda in the Maghreb, but he was kidnapped in Niger. He said that he was actually skeptical that Canada could in fact provide the sort of help and resources that you suggested to rescue the school girls. I wonder what your response would be to that.

[Dr. Babatunde Osotimehin]

It was a telephone interview I had for that and I told her that what Canada can provide, like any of the developed economies, is logistics and intelligence, not boots on the ground, not military assistance. You could, for example, provide cameras to take photographs of the area where this is. You could provide that assistance. I know that around that particular part of the world, intelligence is gathered every day as to movement of people. That's what I meant. That's the sort of thing I was talking about. It was a generic thing. It wasn't a specific Canadian intervention I thought would make the difference.

I was very fortunate to be with the Secretary-General in 2014, and now I can talk about it. I was with him and we went to dinner with Prime Minister Harper and this came up, and he said that's the best they can do, that they can assist the Nigerian military, Cameroon military, Niger military to build capacity to be able to search and rescue them, but I don't think that meant in terms of Canada going in there and rescuing the girls.

[Peter Kent, Conservative, Thornhill, ON]

Okay, thank you.

I have another question, and this is a question of gender. The topic today is gender, it's International Women's Day.

In my former life as a journalist working in many parts of the world it seems that the state of women and girls is very often most likely to improve when women like Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the President of Liberia, are in positions of authority, and influence, and power.

I'm just wondering if you could comment on that, because we’ve invested mightily over the years, both Canada individually and the United Nations with your fund, in some of the countries of the United Nations. However, in a good number of countries governed by men, the improvements we seek have not been found, whereas we have seen great progress in Liberia since President Sirleaf was elected in 2006, I believe.

[Dr. Babatunde Osotimehin]

I don't want to be simplistic about it, but I don't think it's about government led by women. I think it's about communities deciding that gender parity is going to be a major issue.

When I look at the United Kingdom, it has had only one woman prime minister, but gender parity is a concern and everybody works at it. The United States has never had either a president or a vice-president who was a woman, but that doesn't imply that gender parity is not an issue. I do know the historical perspective of Canada, but what I'm saying is that gender parity as a principle doesn't have to flow from the head of government. I think it's a matter that communities, societies, and nations have to take on as a principle to pursue.

When you look at what has happened in the Nordic countries, you see a deliberate effort for this to happen, and I think that's where Canada is failing in large part. If you then follow what has happened in the intergovernmental process and the political process and public policy, you see a commitment by governments to several things—CIDA, Beijing, the ICPD agenda—that actually provide them with the tools to domesticate and take this forward.

In my country they even voted to say that 30% of parliamentarians should be women. In a country like Rwanda, 60% of parliamentarians are women. I think it's about a national consciousness. I think it's about making sure that we mobilize communities, and mobilize men and women to look at governance from a gender-neutral perspective, and I think change will come.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bob Nault]

Mr. Miller.

[Marc Miller, Liberal, Ville-Marie—Le Sud-Ouest—Île-des-Soeurs, QC]

It's International Women's Day, and in that spirit, I would propose that you permit me to switch my time with Hélène. She can take her six minutes, and I would be glad to do that.

[Hélène Laverdière, NDP, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

Thank you very much. That's very kind.

My thanks to Dr. Osotimehin for his presentation.

[Dr. Babatunde Osotimehin]

Sorry, I don't speak French.

[Hélène Laverdière, NDP, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

I can continue in English.

I found your last intervention particularly interesting. Congratulations also on the announcement yesterday by the Government of Canada, which I think was good news, and for the work you're doing.

Congratulations again. I don't know if it's the right word, because I don't think anybody can speak as eloquently as you do about family planning, and it's important not only as a matter of health but also as a basic social issue. We know it's true that when women have control of their reproductive lives they're more productive in society. We have a healthier society and healthier babies too.

But there are a lot of challenges and some barriers. You mentioned some of them, such as the issue of the services. You also mentioned laws, and I was wondering if you were doing anything in that respect. We also know that one of the big challenges is cultural. I'm not pointing at any country, because even here in Canada we have cultural barriers. I think it's 26% women in our Parliament, so we're not yet up to the level of Nigeria in that respect.

Could you comment on those three levels?

[Dr. Babatunde Osotimehin]

Thank you very much.

Let me say this. The way we work the fund is one country at a time, understanding the context within the country itself and also understanding communities within countries, because not every country is homogeneous and indeed, Canada is not. To an extent, being able to understand what the levers are within a community, particularly in terms of family planning is what enables us to penetrate and to offer services. I can tell you that we've scored very significant successes in many parts of the world just by being able to get down to communities and understanding and working with communities.

When you look at a country like Indonesia, it's the largest Muslim community in the world. It has a 50% to 60% contraceptive rate. That's good. We need to do better, but we've done well there. When you look at countries like Tunisia and Algeria, we've done well, because they're Muslims, but they have accepted it. We had success in Egypt until the fundamentalists came, but we also made progress.

I don't think it's a question of religion or whatever. I think it's our understanding of it and our ability to sit and work with people.

One of the things that I believe is also important and which the last questioner asked was on political support, political will, and leadership. Once you have the political will and leadership, things move better than you expect.

I was talking to one diplomat from Bangladesh last week. Bangladesh is one of the poor countries in the world. It has reduced the number of children per woman from 6.2 to 2.5—family planning—and it's a Muslim country, a totally Muslim country. Bangladesh has about four million women in the workforce now, so education is there. Things are moving.

I think it's just our ability to understand the context and also work with systems on the ground, government being in the lead. I think we can make a difference.

In my country, and I say this, there is a difference. If you look outside of Nigeria, progress is being made. If you look at some parts of Niger, progress is being made. About two or three weeks ago, we had a teleconference with religious leaders from northern Nigeria. They said that they were prepared to work with us on family planning. I think it is an understanding.

One of the things that I think is there that we still have to work with and that I totally see is an ability to work with young people, because even parents in modern economies don't like to talk to their children about contraception. In a sense that's the basis we need to work with, but work with them we have to, because when you look at the demographic of those who die from unsafe abortions, 40% to 50% of them are young people who are not married. We need to save them from themselves and we need to also reach them with services.

[Hélène Laverdière, NDP, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

Yes. In fact, I was very interested by your story about Aisha, and she's now teaching her peers, I would say.

How do you work with grassroots women's organizations? Do you have programs to support young women like Aisha?

[Dr. Babatunde Osotimehin]

Truly, we do, because what we do as the UNFPA is provide resources through channels to government organizations and also to civil society organizations, the IPPF and similar organizations, to be able to go to communities and work with people. That is very, very productive.

We think and I believe that in more sophisticated communities working with young people, using cellphones and information across cellphones is going to increase and liberalize the space and give them more information, so they know where to go and they know where to get services.

We're experimenting with that and I believe that's what is going to happen.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bob Nault]

Thank you.

The way we're working this, Hélène, is that we gave you the Liberal round so you have your own. We're all good with that.

We're going to go to the second round, okay?

[Hélène Laverdière, NDP, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

Okay.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bob Nault]

We'll go to Mr. Miller in the second round, because the Liberals start again.

[Marc Miller, Liberal, Ville-Marie—Le Sud-Ouest—Île-des-Soeurs, QC]

Doctor, walk us through the life cycle of a contribution from a state for a random amount of, say, $81 million.

[Dr. Babatunde Osotimehin]

[Inaudible—Editor]

[Marc Miller, Liberal, Ville-Marie—Le Sud-Ouest—Île-des-Soeurs, QC]

If you could, just walk us through the life cycle, if you will, of a contribution from a country. Any amount would do. What portion is attributed to which indicators that you measure as success as part of your reports? Which ones, for example, go to administrative costs? Where does the final amount end up, and how does that tie in to your indicators of success? I'm sorry, but it's a multi-faceted question.

[Dr. Babatunde Osotimehin]

Well, I'm going to have to do this. Canada is on the board of the UNFPA, and what we do on a four-year basis is put together a strategic plan. The strategic plan actually has outputs and outcomes that are approved by the board, of which Canada is one member.

Ideally, what we seek support for from our donors is to give money to us as core to enable us to work on those outcomes and outputs that we all agreed to. For example, what Canada did yesterday was give some money to that core. That core enables our establishment to do the work in the strategic plan and also to be able to report back on those results.

Beyond that, as we've seen in the last five or six years, many of our donors aren't actually giving us support beyond that core support. Indeed, when I started as executive director, what we had was more core support than non-core. Now what we have is more non-core than core. As for what that means, as I said, there is the adolescent girls global program, for example, or the early marriage program. Canada will give us money for it, but it will give us money for it directly to report on what we are doing to stop early and forced marriage.

For those indicators, I agreed completely with the donors. For example, on what we spend in this area, I say that I need to be able to provide resources for the dignity of women and girls. I can tell you how many thousands of those dignity kits I want to buy, and I can show you evidence for it.

In a sense, we have two streams of funding. One of them is core and enables us to implement strategic planning that is agreed to by donors and all, and the other one is the non-core, which actually gives us money for specifics in terms of what we do on the field. I've given two examples in terms of conflict and in terms of adolescent girls' education.

[Marc Miller, Liberal, Ville-Marie—Le Sud-Ouest—Île-des-Soeurs, QC]

Thank you. I was originally going to ask you about contraception, but I think you focused on that.

I want to focus on the other bucket indicators that you put at the back. Which one of those, if there is any, and if it's a number of indicators, is the better correlation as to whether you've achieved your goal in development?

[Dr. Babatunde Osotimehin]

That would be very difficult, because you're asking me to choose one.

We have a number of indicators. If you ask me where I stand and what I see, I think it's the empowerment of adolescent girls: their ability to go to school and stay in school, to not be violated, protecting their rights, making sure they don't get pregnant, and making sure they can actually be educated and get a job. That is probably one of the most significant things we can do in the life of a girl and a community. It's long term, but I think it's significant. I think that's the sort of thing I would like to see.

Also, when you take on the 2030 agenda, it's probably the most significant thing to do, because it speaks not only to education. It speaks to health, good governance, the rights of people, and to things like gender-based violence prevention and gender parity. There's a whole lot of package around that, which I believe would be important. Of course, within that frame are also comprehensive sexuality education, services, and contraception. It all comes together.

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

Thank you very much. It's fortunate to have you here on International Women's Day to talk about some very important work. I'm sure all of us in this committee agree on the importance of protecting and advancing the fundamental dignity of women and girls all over the world.

I want to ask you a question about the activity of the UN Population Fund. Maybe that goes in a bit of a different direction. Does the UN Population Fund, in any case, support the use of coercive family planning techniques?