COVID-19 pandemic  is deepening existing inequalities and vulnerabilities, particularly for women and girls, said United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres in a  message marking the World Population Day on Saturday,   “The pandemic affects everyone, everywhere, “but it does not affect everyone equally,  said the UN Chief.   He also said that “With many countries on lockdown and health systems struggling to cope, sexual and reproductive health services are being sidelined and gender-based violence is on the rise”. 

31mn gender-based violence may occur

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) predicts that if lockdown measures continue for six months with major disruptions to health services, 47 million women in low- and middle-income countries may not be able to access modern contraceptives.
 
This would result in seven million unintended pregnancies.  
 
Some 31 million additional cases of gender-based violence can also be expected, the UN body predicted.
 
“Every year, millions of girls are subjected to practices that harm them physically and emotionally, robbing them of their right to reach their full potential”, said the UNB Secretary-General.
 
According to UNFPA’s State of World Population 2020, more than four million girls will be subjected to female genital mutilation and 12 million forced to marry this year.  
 
Guterres acknowledged that “Lockdowns stemming from the pandemic are expected to make matters even worse.”
 
Grassroots approaches recommended

The top UN official said that decades of experience and research show that bottom-up, grassroots approaches can change gender-biased norms and attitudes.  
 
Through international declarations and agreements, the world has committed to ensuring universal access to sexual and reproductive health care; eliminating the unmet need for contraception; and ending all forms of violence against women and girls by 2030.

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The UN chief emphasised that “We cannot allow the pandemic to reverse progress we’ve made towards these goals”.
 
“On this World Population Day, let us act to safeguard sexual and reproductive health care, protect the health and rights of women and girls, and end gender-based violence”, concluded the Secretary-General.  
 
“The pandemic has made our jobs much harder, but we must prevail,” he added.
 
Long way to go

UNFPA Executive Director Natalia Kanem underscored that women have a right to make their own decisions about “whether, when and how often to become pregnant”.
 
That right was reaffirmed in 1994 in Cairo at the landmark International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), where 179 governments agreed that sexual and reproductive health is the foundation for sustainable development.
 
Yet, despite considerable gains over the past 25 years, there is a long road ahead to live up to the promise of Cairo, with too many women still unable to enjoy their rights.
 
“More than 200 million women and girls want to delay or prevent pregnancy but don’t have the means”, explained Dr Kanem, noting that the most vulnerable and marginalized women and girls “who face the greatest gaps in services”.

Human rights can’t be quarantined!

This #WorldPopulationDay, see how @UNFPA is protecting the rights of millions of people affected by the #COVID19 pandemic: https://t.co/hswtETDidx#StandUp4HumanRights pic.twitter.com/9XbBptPQ83

— UNFPA (@UNFPA) July 10, 2020

 
Against the backdrop of more unintended pregnancies, unsafe abortions, pregnant girls shamed out of school and that more women and girls are dying, she spell out: “The cost of inaction is simply too high”.
 
“There is no time to waste”, underscored the UNFPA chief, “our future depends on it”.
 
She also urged Governments to recalibrate policy and programmatic changes to benefit women, especially for women and girls “who are invariably at the bottom of the ‘pyramid of the vulnerable.’”
 
“Humanity will be as strong as the weakest of our members – same for nations, and families”, upheld the UNFPA representative.