New Report Calls for World Leaders to End Discrimination and Live Up to Promises Made to World’s Women and Girls

Global efforts to “make poverty history” will fail unless world leaders act now to end gender discrimination, according to The State of World Population 2005 report, released today by UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund.

The report, The Promise of Equality: Gender Equity, Reproductive Health and the Millennium Development Goals, calls upon world leaders to fulfill promises made to the world’s women and young people in order to meet poverty reduction goals agreed to at the 2000 Millennium Summit and reaffirmed by last month’s World Summit in New York. Investing in women and young people—who constitute the majority of the world’s population—will accelerate long-term development. Failure to do so may entrench poverty for generations to come.

“I am here today to say that world leaders will not make poverty history until they make gender discrimination history”, said UNFPA Executive Director Thoraya Ahmed Obaid during the launch of the report today. “We cannot make poverty history until we stop violence against women and girls. We cannot make poverty history until women enjoy their full social, cultural, economic and political rights.”

The report—which coincides with the 60th anniversary of the United Nations Charter that enshrined the equal rights of women and men—says that investing in women and girls makes sound economic and social sense. This is because discrimination leads to lower productivity and higher health costs. It also results in higher death rates among mothers and children and significantly threatens efforts to reduce poverty around the world.

Worldwide, reproductive health problems—including HIV/AIDS—constitute the leading cause of death and illness among women between the ages of 15 and 44. Indeed, more than 250 million years of productive life are lost worldwide as a result.

Every year, about 529,000 women die of pregnancy-related causes that are almost entirely preventable. Lack of access to modern contraceptives is the major factor behind an estimated 76 million unintended pregnancies in the developing world alone, and an estimated 19 million unsafe abortions worldwide each year. Many of these lead to permanent disabilities or death.

Investing in political, economic and educational opportunities for women and girls, on the other hand, yields quick wins and high pay-offs that lead to improved economic prospects, smaller families, healthier and more literate children, lower HIV prevalence rates and reduced incidence of harmful traditional practices. Furthermore, studies show that when women control the family purse strings, they are more likely than men to invest a higher percentage of their earnings in family needs.

Nevertheless, despite new laws and programmes to improve the condition of the world’s most impoverished women, the pace of change is far too slow. While many countries are working to close gender gaps in education and improve health-care access for women, adolescents and other marginalized populations, statistics continue to tell a troubling tale.

Intimately associated with poverty is lack of access to family planning and reproductive health. Today, world population stands at almost 6.5 billion and is expected to reach 9.1 billion in 2050. This projection is predicated on whether men and women will continue to have the means to decide when and how often to have children.

Violence—perhaps the most systematic and pervasive of human rights abuses—continues to terrorize millions of women and girls regardless of geography, race or socio-economic status, says the report. Worldwide, 1 in 3 women is likely to experience physical, sexual or other abuses during her lifetime—usually by a family member or acquaintance. Adolescent girls are particularly vulnerable, with nearly 50 per cent of sexual assaults worldwide involving girls aged 15 years and younger. In far too many cases, survivors are offered little in the way of recourse, justice or help.

Globally, women hold only 16 per cent of parliamentary seats—an increase of only 4 per cent since 1990. Some of the greatest strides are being made in developing countries. Rwanda, for example, has now surpassed Sweden with the highest proportion of women holding parliamentary seats in the world.

“Many leaders call for free trade to spur economic growth,” said Ms. Obaid. “It is time to call for action to free women of the discrimination, violence and poor health they face in their daily lives.”

“And I can assure you that women all over the world are tired of promises, promises, promises,” she added. “The time has come; we have the means, we have the commitment. Now we need action.”

Introduction

Palestinian women in Gaza are subjected to overlapping forms of violence by Israel that converge into a single, coherent structure of domination. Starvation, sexual and gender-based violence, and reproductive violence do not occur as isolated abuses, but as an interlocking system enacted simultaneously and reinforcing one another. These practices operate across psychological, social, and biological dimensions of harm. While Palestinian women’s bodies are the immediate site of this violence, its intended target is Palestinian society as a whole. By systematically targeting women, Israel undermines collective survival, erodes social cohesion, and attacks the continuity of Palestinian life itself. Taken together, these practices constitute a gendered architecture of genocide that must be recognized and addressed as such.

The Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy (MIFTAH) has documented these three crimes throughout Israel’s genocide in Gaza. Firsthand testimonies collected from the Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank reveal the distinctly gendered impacts of these violations and their cumulative effects on Palestinian women.

I. Sexual and Gender-Based Violence

Sexual and gender-based violence is systematically instrumentalized by Israel as a means of humiliating and isolating Palestinian women while dismantling family and community bonds. These violations should not be understood as isolated or aberrational incidents, but rather as part of a broader historical pattern in which sexual violence has been deployed as a tool of terror and social control against the Palestinian population.

Historical records document that during the 1948 ethnic cleansing of historic Palestine, Zionist paramilitary forces including the Haganah engaged in acts of sexual violence alongside mass killings and expulsions of Palestinians. The Haganah later became the institutional foundation of the contemporary Israeli military. This historical continuity underscores how sexual violence has long functioned as a weapon of war, embedded within military practices aimed at terrorizing civilians and facilitating population displacement.

Testimonies collected by MIFTAH fieldworkers across the West Bank and Gaza Strip reveal recurring patterns. Arrests conducted in family homes routinely transform domestic spaces into sites of domination. Soldiers storm houses, often in the middle of the night, restrain family members, destroy personal belongings, steal valuables, and dictate all movement within the home. Male relatives are frequently forced to witness or participate in the abuse of female family members, a tactic designed to emasculate men and dismantle the household from within.

Sexual violence also functions as a form of psychological torture in Israeli detention and interrogation settings. Alongside sleep deprivation, starvation, and physical assault, sexual violence is deliberately employed to induce psychological breakdown and assert total control. Testimonies describe forced strip searches, removal of hijabs, invasive bodily touching, slut-shaming, and explicit threats of rape against detainees or their relatives . Testimonies collected by the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) describe in detail the systematic use of secual torture in Israeil detention settings. Sexual violence is further enacted through blackmail, including the use of nude or indecent photographs taken during interrogation to coerce compliance or enforce silence. These practices aim to strip women of dignity, break them psychologically prior to or during interrogation, and inflict lasting harm that weakens their sense of self long after release.

The full extent of sexual violence against Palestinian women today remains difficult to quantify, as survivors rarely disclose sexual assault or rape causing underreporting to be widespread. This silence reflects structural, legal, and social barriers rather than the absence of abuse. Palestinian survivors of violence perpetrated by Israeli soldiers or settlers seldom pursue legal avenues due to the well-documented lack of accountability within Israeli law enforcement mechanisms, where investigations rarely result in prosecution or redress .

Social stigma also plays a role in silencing survivors. In a predominantly conservative social context, sexual violence carries stigma that extends beyond the survivor to her family and community. Israeli forces exploit this reality deliberately, using sexual violence and threats to women’s “honor” as mechanisms of coercion, intimidation, and social fragmentation. In this way, sexual violence operates not only as an assault on individual women, but as a strategic instrument of collective harm.

II. Reproductive Violence

Reproductive violence targets women’s capacity to give life through the systematic destruction of healthcare systems, maternity services, and the material conditions necessary for survival. It refers to deliberate actions intended to impair an entire population’s ability to reproduce and sustain itself. In Gaza, reproductive violence is not incidental to armed conflict; it is enacted through policy-driven destruction that reflects intentionality rather than collateral harm.

This violence is carried out through the systematic targeting of life-sustaining infrastructure, including hospitals, maternity wards, neonatal units, fertility clinics, and embryo preservation centers, as well as the blockade of medicines, medical equipment, and hygiene supplies. The consequences are visible in rising maternal mortality, increased miscarriages linked to malnutrition and extreme stress, untreated reproductive infections, and the repeated displacement of pregnant women seeking care within a collapsing healthcare system .

These measures directly undermine women’s ability to safely conceive, carry pregnancies to term, give birth, and raise children. Women’s reproductive health is further compromised by the deliberate obstruction of humanitarian aid and the collapse of sanitation and water infrastructure. The destruction of healthcare facilities, combined with ongoing bombardment and repeated displacement, has rendered movement dangerous and unpredictable, making access to medical care nearly impossible and severely limiting the ability of humanitarian organizations to provide reproductive and maternal health services.

As a result, there has been a sharp increase in preventable reproductive health complications. Women report rising cases of fever linked to untreated vaginal infections caused by inadequate hygiene and the absence of feminine hygiene products, as well as unnecessary hysterectomies . Women using intrauterine devices experience prolonged bleeding and infections due to unsanitary living conditions, yet no options for safe removal currently exist in Gaza, posing serious long-term risks to reproductive health and bodily integrity . Women have also been forced to undergo emergency hysterectomies to control excessive post- partum bleeding that could not be managed due to the lack of healthcare.

Reproductive violence in Gaza is therefore both biological and symbolic. It constitutes an assault on the present population and on the possibility of future generations. The objective of preventing Palestinian continuity is further evidenced by the sustained and disproportionate killing of children, who have consistently been the most targeted demographic group throughout the genocide. This killing is reinforced by an ideological framework that dehumanizes Palestinian women and children. Public statements by Israeli political and military officials have repeatedly framed the killing of women and children as militarily justified . Within this logic, women are targeted not for their actions, but for their reproductive capacity and their role in sustaining Palestinian continuity. Such rhetoric has informed and legitimized military operations in Gaza. Throughout the genocide, civilian spaces including schools, homes, and hospitals, have been deliberately targeted as a matter of state policy. These are precisely the spaces where women and children sought refuge. The systematic killing and endangerment of women and children is not a secondary effect of warfare but a central component of the broader genocidal strategy.

III. Starvation as a Weapon of Genocide

Another grave factor to the reproductive health of women in Gaza has been starvation. Prolonged malnutrition, combined with physical exhaustion, repeated displacement, and lack of healthcare infrastructure, have contributed to increased miscarriages, loss of amniotic fluid, and heightened maternal mortality . Numerous women have reported using prenatal supplements distributed by humanitarian organizations as meal substitutes for themselves or their families, or exchanging them for food and essential supplies. Breastfeeding has become increasingly difficult due to suppressed milk production associated with undernourishment, while infant formula remains largely inaccessible, placing newborns at heightened risk. Chronic stress and nutritional deprivation have also resulted in amenorrhea, fertility complications, and potential long-term reproductive harm.

For women in Gaza, starvation functions not only as a form of biological deprivation but as a structural assault on familial roles, social reproduction, and dignity. It undermines women’s capacity to fulfill caregiving responsibilities, destabilizes family life, and produces severe physical, reproductive, and psychological consequences. Women disproportionately experience the embodied impacts of hunger while simultaneously carrying the emotional labor associated with sustaining children and dependent family members.

Testimonies collected by MIFTAH from displaced women subjected to Israel’s forced starvation consistently begin with descriptions of pre-displacement life, including homes, employment, family routines, and domestic spaces. The loss of the home, particularly the kitchen, emerges as a recurrent theme, reflecting the erosion of women’s agency and identity. The destruction of homes and domestic spaces traditionally associated with women’s autonomy has contributed to a marked erosion of dignity and self-perception. Reported symptoms include anxiety, insomnia, hair loss, emotional dysregulation, and post-traumatic stress, with many women suppressing their own distress to maintain caregiving roles.

Repeated displacement has further exacerbated women’s vulnerability. Multiple forced relocations have resulted in the loss of personal possessions, kinship networks, and community-based support systems. Overcrowded shelters lack adequate privacy, sanitation, and safety, compelling women to manage childcare and food preparation under unsafe and degrading conditions. Everyday survival practices are thus shaped by constant exposure to risk and instability.

For women who serve as the primary caretakers of their families, providing for loved ones often comes at great personal risk. They are frequently reducing or skipping their own meals so that their children can eat, often continuing caregiving responsibilities despite severe physical exhaustion . In displacement, they prepare rudimentary meals using limited ingredients and improvised methods, such as cooking lentils over burning toxic materials like plastic. These practices function both as survival strategies and as efforts to maintain a sense of continuity and stability for children amid profound disruption. In these contexts, women disproportionately bear the responsibility of caring for sick, injured, or disabled family members, despite acute shortages of medical care, clean water, and shelter. Overcrowding and unsanitary conditions contribute to widespread illness, while attempts to obtain food or humanitarian assistance expose women and children to ongoing risks of injury or death.

Starvation has additionally intensified gendered pressures within households. Men’s inability to secure food or protection has been associated with increased psychological distress, thereby expanding women’s emotional and caregiving responsibilities. For women whose spouses have been killed, detained, or disappeared, starvation enforces sole provider roles under conditions that systematically undermine the possibility of survival.

Conclusion

MIFTAH has documented violations of sexual violence, reproductive violence, and starvation at various points during the genocide in Gaza. These violations, however, do not occur in isolation; they operate simultaneously, reinforcing and amplifying one another as part of a single system of control. Sexual violence isolates women from themselves and alienates them within their communities. Reproductive violence deliberately targets women because of their childbearing roles. Starvation acts as both a biological and psychological assault. Taken together, these crimes compound one another, deepening harm and undermining the survival of Palestinian women and their communities. A single woman may experience all three forms of violence, being violated in detention, displaced and denied healthcare, and later starved while unable to feed her children. Together, these crimes transform daily life into a persistent site of punishment. They attack the Palestinian female spirit, disrupt women’s societal roles, and, in doing so, fracture society across generations, making recovery increasingly difficult.

The failure to confront these violations reflects a long colonial history, in which the rhetoric of “saving women” was used to justify empire while violence against women perpetrated by colonial powers was silenced or dismissed. To resist normalization and impunity, these crimes must be recognized and addressed as mutually reinforcing acts of genocide. Understanding these violations as an interconnected system of oppression is essential to grasp their full impact on Palestinian society. These gendered crimes are not about women alone; they aim to dismantle the foundations of Palestinian life. Women are targeted not only as individuals but as mothers, community anchors, and bearers of generational continuity, while Palestinian society is systematically weakened and broken at its core.

Sources and References

Executive Summary

On 17 November 2025, the United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 2803, establishing a new governance framework for Gaza. The resolution endorses U.S. President Donald Trump’s Comprehensive Plan to End the Gaza Conflict (CPEGC) and the creation of a transitional international administration through a U.S.-led Board of Peace (BoP) and authorizes an International Stabilization Force (ISF). Rather than ensuring Palestinian sovereignty, this framework transfers control of Gaza’s civil administration, security, reconstruction, borders, and humanitarian aid to external actors, entrenching foreign oversight and further consolidating Israeli dominance over the occupied Palestinian territory.

This resolution raises grave legal and political concerns. It departs from foundational principles of international law and undermines the Palestinian people’s inalienable right to self-determination. By providing no mechanisms for accountability for Israel’s documented violations, offering no concrete safeguards for Palestinian rights, and presenting an undefined framework with no clear timeline or benchmarks, Resolution 2803 risks perpetuating systemic injustices, enabling a reconfigured form of occupation, and further entrenching the colonial-style control already in place.

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Executive Summary

The outbreak of famine in the Gaza Strip has been a deliberate, man-made policy pursued by the Israeli government as part of its genocide. In August 2025, famine was declared by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) for the first time in the region.

Evidence gathered by MIFTAH through sworn testimonies from women and girls demonstrates that starvation in Gaza is not an unintended by-product of war, but a deliberate and systematic policy used to subjugate and besiege the civilian population.

MIFTAH’s report, “Famine and the Violation of the Right to Food,” outlines the intersection of starvation, displacement, and bombardment, highlighting the gender-specific impacts these practices have on women. It situates the famine within the framework of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and acts of genocide under international law. Article 8(2)(b)(xxv) of the Rome Statute defines as a war crime the act of “intentionally using starvation of civilians as a method of warfare by depriving them of objects indispensable to their survival, including willfully impeding relief supplies as provided for under the Geneva Conventions.” The report also shows how the militarization of humanitarian aid and the manipulation of financial systems have turned basic survival into a tool of political coercion against Palestinians, especially women.

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Editorial

By: Hafedh Chekir, UNFPA Representative

This fourth issue of the UNFPA newsletter coincides with the 20th anniversary of UNFPA action in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT). Following its first ten years of project-based work, UNFPA began implementing an action programme in 1996 that sought to respond to Palestinian needs in the area of population and development. It also launched an emergency assistance programme that supported efforts by the Palestinian Authority (PA) and other national institutions to maintain their services and respond to the emerging needs of the population.

UNFPA completed two programme cycles during this period.

UNFPA notes significant achievements over its twenty years of work in the OPT. It has contributed to the development of reproductive health strategies, upgraded the provision of services, contributed to building an information system based on the 1997 census, proposed different population scenarios to be used as planning tools, and helped to build the capacity of PA institutions and civil society.

Since the outbreak of the current Intifada, UNFPA has adopted a strategy of combining the developmental programmes with an emergency aid programme. In the emergency programme, UNFPA has provided basic supplies and reproductive health commodities to clinics and hospitals and offered training to service providers in emergency obstetrics. In addition, UNFPA has continuously advocated in all international and regional arenas for the ending of the siege imposed on the Palestinian people and for ensuring that Palestinians have access to primary health care, education and other basic humanitarian services.

In spite of the many achievements, much still needs to be done.

UNFPA will continue to use its valuable experience and strong partnership with Palestinian institutions to work toward the achievement of sustainable development of the Palestinian society within the Palestinian Midterm Development Plan (MTDP) and as part of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). This will be the basis for the third programme cycle 2006-2009.

MDGs include eradicating poverty and hunger, ensuring universal primary education, reducing child mortality, improving maternal health, combating HIV/AIDS, ensuring environmental sustainability and developing a global partnership for development. MDGs include another goal of extreme importance for achieving the above seven goals, which is to promote gender equality and empower women.

Ensuring women and youth access to education, reproductive health and economic opportunities is a threefold intervention of strategic importance for achieving MDGs.

The elimination of violence against women is another important factor. Investment in these areas would have an immediate outcome that would also yield long-term results benefiting future generations.

In planning for its third programme cycle, UNFPA adopted the principle of effective partnership. Different national sectors have been involved in setting out the priorities in the areas of population and development, reproductive health and gender equality.

These priorities were based on the country situation analysis carried out by a specialized national team in cooperation with a national steering committee composed of various line ministries, NGOs and local universities and chaired by the Ministry of Health (MOH). In addition, a number of consultative meetings and workshops with the partners helped to identify activities for the programme cycle.

In drafting its programme of action for the next four years, UNFPA employed the following strategies:

• Building on the achievements made during the two previous cycles;
• Providing strategic support at the programme and policy level in the areas of population and development, reproductive health, gender equality and women’s empowerment;
• Maintaining a balance between emergency and development needs of the population by using a rights-based approach, ensuring long-term sustainability of activities within the MTDP and linking emergency relief activities with development to promote the process of Palestinian state-building;
• Addressing Palestinian youth as a main element in development. With appropriate investment in their development, young people can actively contribute and become an important asset rather than a responsibility for society.

Throughout the past twenty years, UNFPA has based its development and emergency programmes and projects on the needs of the Palestinian society. Achievements made by UNFPA in the OPT would have not been possible without donor contributions.

Therefore, we would like to extend our appreciation to all donors and partners, whether they are governmental institutions, NGOs or international agencies, for their important role in assisting UNFPA to effect positive change in the lives of many Palestinians.

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The Promise of Equality Gender Equity, Reproductive Health and the Millennium Development Goals

The world has an unprecedented opportunity to realize the promise of equality and freedom from want. During the next decade, hundreds of millions of people can be released from the stronghold of poverty. The lives of 30 million children and 2 million mothers can be spared.1 The spread of AIDS can be reversed. Millions of young people can play a larger role in their countries’ development and, in turn, create a better world for themselves and generations to come.

Gender equality and reproductive health are indispensable to the realization of this promise.

In the year 2000, leaders from 189 countries met at the United Nations Millennium Summit and forged a unique global compact to reduce poverty. From the Summit’s declaration, eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were derived, with 2015 set as the date for their achievement. In 2002, the UN Millennium Project brought together more than 250 leading experts to advise the UN Secretary-General on how to implement the MDGs. Their conclusions are reflected throughout this year’s State of World Population report.

Gender equality is a human right, one of the Millennium Development Goals and key to achieving the other seven. The UN Millennium Project concluded that reproductive health is essential to achieving the MDGs, including the goal of gender equality.

Investments in gender equality and reproductive health offer multiple rewards that can accelerate social and economic progress, with lasting impact on future generations.

Gender Equality and Equity: The costs of gender discrimination are highest for low-income countries, and within countries, for the poor. Women constitute a large share of the labour force and play a central role in rural economies and food production. They are also primary guardians of the next generation. Gender discrimination squanders human capital by making inefficient use of individual abilities, thus limiting the contribution of women. It also undermines the effectiveness of development policies.

When discriminatory burdens are removed, the capacity and earning power of women increase.

Furthermore, women tend to reinvest these gains in the welfare of their children and families, multiplying their contributions to national development.

Empowering women propels countries forward towards the MDGs and improves the lives of all.

Reproductive Health and Rights: The considerable, and largely preventable, burden of poor reproductive health falls most heavily on the poorest women and their families, who can least afford its consequences.

The ability to make free and informed choices in reproductive life, including those involving childbearing, underpins self-determination in all other areas of women’s lives. Because these issues affect women so profoundly, reproductive health cannot be separated from the wider goal of gender equality.

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New Report Calls for World Leaders to End Discrimination and Live Up to Promises Made to World’s Women and Girls

Global efforts to “make poverty history” will fail unless world leaders act now to end gender discrimination, according to The State of World Population 2005 report, released today by UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund.

The report, The Promise of Equality: Gender Equity, Reproductive Health and the Millennium Development Goals, calls upon world leaders to fulfill promises made to the world’s women and young people in order to meet poverty reduction goals agreed to at the 2000 Millennium Summit and reaffirmed by last month’s World Summit in New York. Investing in women and young people—who constitute the majority of the world’s population—will accelerate long-term development. Failure to do so may entrench poverty for generations to come.

“I am here today to say that world leaders will not make poverty history until they make gender discrimination history”, said UNFPA Executive Director Thoraya Ahmed Obaid during the launch of the report today. “We cannot make poverty history until we stop violence against women and girls. We cannot make poverty history until women enjoy their full social, cultural, economic and political rights.”

The report—which coincides with the 60th anniversary of the United Nations Charter that enshrined the equal rights of women and men—says that investing in women and girls makes sound economic and social sense. This is because discrimination leads to lower productivity and higher health costs. It also results in higher death rates among mothers and children and significantly threatens efforts to reduce poverty around the world.

Worldwide, reproductive health problems—including HIV/AIDS—constitute the leading cause of death and illness among women between the ages of 15 and 44. Indeed, more than 250 million years of productive life are lost worldwide as a result.

Every year, about 529,000 women die of pregnancy-related causes that are almost entirely preventable. Lack of access to modern contraceptives is the major factor behind an estimated 76 million unintended pregnancies in the developing world alone, and an estimated 19 million unsafe abortions worldwide each year. Many of these lead to permanent disabilities or death.

Investing in political, economic and educational opportunities for women and girls, on the other hand, yields quick wins and high pay-offs that lead to improved economic prospects, smaller families, healthier and more literate children, lower HIV prevalence rates and reduced incidence of harmful traditional practices. Furthermore, studies show that when women control the family purse strings, they are more likely than men to invest a higher percentage of their earnings in family needs.

Nevertheless, despite new laws and programmes to improve the condition of the world’s most impoverished women, the pace of change is far too slow. While many countries are working to close gender gaps in education and improve health-care access for women, adolescents and other marginalized populations, statistics continue to tell a troubling tale.

Intimately associated with poverty is lack of access to family planning and reproductive health. Today, world population stands at almost 6.5 billion and is expected to reach 9.1 billion in 2050. This projection is predicated on whether men and women will continue to have the means to decide when and how often to have children.

Violence—perhaps the most systematic and pervasive of human rights abuses—continues to terrorize millions of women and girls regardless of geography, race or socio-economic status, says the report. Worldwide, 1 in 3 women is likely to experience physical, sexual or other abuses during her lifetime—usually by a family member or acquaintance. Adolescent girls are particularly vulnerable, with nearly 50 per cent of sexual assaults worldwide involving girls aged 15 years and younger. In far too many cases, survivors are offered little in the way of recourse, justice or help.

Globally, women hold only 16 per cent of parliamentary seats—an increase of only 4 per cent since 1990. Some of the greatest strides are being made in developing countries. Rwanda, for example, has now surpassed Sweden with the highest proportion of women holding parliamentary seats in the world.

“Many leaders call for free trade to spur economic growth,” said Ms. Obaid. “It is time to call for action to free women of the discrimination, violence and poor health they face in their daily lives.”

“And I can assure you that women all over the world are tired of promises, promises, promises,” she added. “The time has come; we have the means, we have the commitment. Now we need action.”

Sixty years ago, the founders of the United Nations proclaimed their determination to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, to reaffirm faith in human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small. They pledged their determination to establish conditions under which justice and the rule of law could be maintained and social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom could be promoted.

Six decades later, it is clearer than ever before that human rights must be at the center of efforts to reduce poverty, discrimination and conflict. Today on World Population Day, let us recommit ourselves to this vision of a better world. Let us commit ourselves to equality, justice and human rights for all.

The benefits of gender equality are many. They include a higher quality of life for individual women and girls, and stronger families, communities and countries.

On the other hand, the costs of maintaining inequality are also high and can be measured by broken bodies, shattered dreams and crushed spirits. The costs include high rates of maternal death and disability because women’s health is not made a political priority. Today, poor sexual and reproductive health is a leading cause of death and illness for women in the developing world. No other area of health reflects the large inequities between rich and poor, both among and within countries. Poverty and inequality also fuel the acceleration of HIV infection, because women lack the power to negotiate their personal safety. Another cost is the continuation of harmful practices that place the lives of women and girls in danger. For tens of millions of girls, child marriage and early childbearing mean an incomplete education, limited opportunities and serious health risks. But perhaps the highest cost of gender discrimination is widespread violence against women and girls, which remains one of the most pervasive and shameful human rights violations, compromising the personal security, liberty, dignity and well-being of millions of women and children worldwide.

The world can do better. The solutions are well known and effective. They include universal education for all girls and boys, the removal of barriers to women’s equal participation in social, cultural, economic and political life, the engagement of boys and men in the struggle for equity, mass awareness raising campaigns, and the implementation of laws and policies that promote and protect the full range of internationally agreed human rights, including the right to sexual and reproductive health. All of these actions fall under the banner of “equality”.

Equality is an end in itself and a cornerstone of development. Equality is a goal that demands sustained political commitment and leadership. Today, on World Population Day, I urge leaders at every level to speak about the great gains that equal rights offer the entire human family and to take concrete and urgent action to make these rights a reality.