Demographic Resilience and Access to Justice: Securing Rights and Choices in a Changing World (CSW70 Side Event)

Anyone drop out from our joint battle. Thank you.

Okay. Yeah. I have in a way to disappoint Christian with my response because we as an office for Democratic Institutions and Human rights, our work targets states that are

either having democratic institutions or are struggling with their democratic institutions. When democratic institutions are taken over by anti gender actors, we have not identified, you know, immediate recommendations and solutions and we can only rely on the mobilization from the ground in the.

In the specific country to bring the change. So sorry, Christian, but that. That would be response. The response to the question. Thank you very much.

And then Baroness talked to the sister who talked about rural communities. And I would go back to what Sassia said earlier on. It's local and it's owning the local space.

It's about taking the argument locally in politics, but it's also about owning the bigger spaces as well, which feeds down to the local. I don't think there's any other way of doing it, particularly with women who are in isolated situations.

It's a local. Yeah. Thank you very much. I don't know how satisfied you are. We are still here hanging around after.

So please catch us because we are human being and we who are touchable. So. And then let's close the session with the Secretary General of the Council of Europe General assembly who is the first woman hold yes. For this position. Re elected for the second term and the driving force behind beaming pace.

I think it was an excellent idea, isn't it? And by the way, I also would like to ask her to talk a bit about the biggest prize. She's 93. It's amazing. She has been the Icelandic vice president for 16 years.

Let's have a clap hand for Icelandic who did a great job.

Thank you, Zeta. Mission Impossible to sum up this so rich discussion, a very big thanks to start with to all parliamentarians and all participants, especially young people, civil society representatives, for this strong commitment against the backlash of on women's rights. Some takeaways. This is not accidental, but instead intentional and well organized. This is why we need also a well organized, strong, determined political response.

We've heard from our Secretary General of the Council of Europe how calls to so called traditional family values are used to undermine what is well known as a gold standard. Our Istanbul convention and coded lgbti anti LGBTI narratives are used against women's rights. But please tell me how violence, how protecting women, including mothers, daughters, sisters from violence is against traditional family values. Now Baroness Lynn highlighted how this backlash is led by transnational coalitions including populist movements, religious and extremists and anti gender equality organizations well funded and well organized. And Sevillai also reminded us that violence against women is often state led.

Women and girls are the first victims of male led wars and state led violence across our globe today. This is not for the future. It is happening now. And now we should, with determination stop it. The digital world.

It was mentioned also how it is used to spread disinformation and fake news, misogyny and hate speech to threaten and harass women, including in politics. The President of the General assembly of the United Nations, Annalena Bergbock is a strong example of is therefore very urgent that politicians, together with civil society and citizens devise legislations, policies, means of control and most importantly societal culture to put a stop to this. Here too, access to justice is of key importance. Perpetrators must be punished and their victims must be provided with ready access to redress what they deserve. Let us instead use the online world.

Use it as in place to organize, to form coalitions, to deny false narratives and stand up against attempts to remove the rights of women and girls. Let me finish by recalling the words of our President Petra Bayer, who spoke about how the Parliamentary assembly of the Council of Europe has worked for years to combat the pathless and protect and further women's rights. I'm afraid we cannot any longer now only focus on progress. We can focus on what we need to preserve and on that research and based on evidence, actions like Sass and Sevilla I mentioned is offensive. Our parliamentarians from 46 European countries will continue to work together and in partnerships with civil society, with many of you, with UN Global partners, because together we are strong.

And let me conclude, as the first female Secretary General of Parliamentary assembly after 72 years, that I wish that we will soon celebrate the first female Secretary General of the United Nations.

Okay, thank you. Thank you all for participating. Let us leave here committed to action. Thank you. To defend human rights wherever they are threatened and ready to ensure that progress is never ordered.

But can I have a last request? Can you all stand up with hands and hands and to make a solidarity action for all those women who could not be here at the CSW because we really miss them badly. So just to have a message of solidarity for all the women who could

not be here, just to show that we miss them badly and human rights are women rights as we thought so thank you so much.

Characterized by youthful populations, aging populations, low fertility or population decline, combined with other megatrends such as migration, climate change and crisis all around the world as societies adapt and anticipate this Demographic change. We must safeguard and protect human rights and put gender equality at the center. And that's why we're having this conversation at CSW70, which is focused on justice for all women and girls across the life course. Justice is about addressing structural barriers. It's about having the right to legal frameworks, and it's about ensuring their social inclusion.

So today's conversation will unfold in three segments. First, a keynote address, setting the broader global context. Second, reflections from government representatives on national policy responses. And third, perspectives from experts in civil society exploring efforts to support demographic resilience across the life course. We hope to have some time for discussion after our three segments, and in that regard, I kindly ask our speakers to keep to their time so we can have that interaction.

It is now my great pleasure and honor to introduce our keynote speaker. We're honored to be joined by Ms. Diane Keita, under Secretary General of the United nations and Executive Director of unfpa, who will share reflections on the importance of safeguarding rights and choices in this changing world. Madam Executive Director, the floor is yours.

Thank you so much, Leila. Good morning, everyone. Your Excellency, State Secretary, Ministry of Social Policy, Demography and Youth, North Macedonia.

Excellence, Monsieur l', Ambassador Excellence, Ambassador Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Mali.

Your Excellency, Permanent Representative of Uruguay,

colleagues and friend, Dr. Jennifer Cuba. Sorry, I forgot politically.

Doctor Jennifer Cuba, President and CEO, Population Reference Bureau. My dear Claudia Mahler, independent expert on enjoyment of all human rights by older person. And I will finish by my dear sister, Assistant Secretary General Bjork Sanker for Policy Coordination, United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affair. It's so nice to be here with you and Desa. Distinguished guests, dear partner and friends, welcome to our signature event during this CSWU on demographic resilience and access to justice.

We are so pleased that you have joined us for this critical discussion. Many thanks to all our co hosts, North Macedonia, Uruguay, Tunisia, Mali and the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs. In a changing world. We are grateful for your steadfast commitment to rights based policy and programs. Together with all our partners, I would say that we have firmly embedded demographic resilience into the lexicon when we remove all the UN jargon, meaning is simple yet profound.

It is the ability to plan for and adapt to demographic change while protecting people's rights, choice and dignity. At unfpa, our position has never wavered. Demographic shifts cannot dictate the boundary of women's rights. There can be no sustained response to demographic change unless it is grounded in Gender equality and fundamental human rights. This ethos is reflected in our new strategic plan which sustains our commitment to advancing sexual and productive health and rights and ending gender based violence while placing a renewed focus on demographic resilience.

This is absolutely not a new conversation. It's rather it is a continuation of an approach anchored firmly in long standing evidence and immutable rights. More than 30 years ago, at the International Conference on Population Development, it was affirmed that population policy should not be about hitting birth rate target, but about providing choices so that women can make their own decision. While some part of the world today are seeing high fertility rates, with rapid population growth and youthful population, more than 2/3 of the world population live in countries where fertility rate are below 2.1 replacement level. In these countries, many people are concerned about falling fertility rates and conversations about an impeding population collapse are not uncommon.

Yet population shifts are not a threat, but an invitation to listen to people's desire. Wherever country lands on the demographic spectrum, individual rights and choices must be upheld. What we want to avoid are population shifts translating into policies that undermine gender equality and reproductive rights. This carries a real risk of eroding support to forced sexual and reproductive health and rights, including family planning, while reinforcing harmful gender roles and stereotypes. Plus, history shows us that these measures are unlikely to reverse demographic trends.

Instead, we should focus on helping people to plan their family and ultimately achieve their desired number of children, whatever that number may be. UNFPA's 2025 State of World Population Report reveals a stark gap between people, people's fertility aspirations and lived reality. Our findings show that one in three women experience an intended pregnancy, while one in five adults cannot reach their desired family size. In high income countries, people often end up having fewer children than they want because of economic barriers, while in low income countries, women often have more children than they want due to a lack of health care and body autonomy. To be an architect of your own future, you must first and foremost be in control of your own agency and including into that your own body.

So we must address the barrier, including a lack of bodily autonomy, economic insecurity and the burden of unpaid care that shape relationship reproductive choices.

When countries invest in gender responsive labor policies and legal framework, affordable child care and social protection, they strengthen equality and resilience. When societies support healthy aging and enable older persons to participate fully, people can thrive throughout the life course. This is what makes access to justice possible and it can only become a reality when we include all those systematically marginalized. UNFPA supports countries across the full demographic spectrum Helping those with large youthful populations maximize their human capital to fuel their economic development and assisting aging societies in navigating the labor shortages and pressure of population decline. We have success stories that point the way to collective progress.

In Moldova, for example, family friendly workplace have enabled women to re enter the workforce with expanded childcare access. In Korea, rights based policy includes parental leave and reduced housing. Housing costs are being embraced to adapt to low fertility and rapid aging. The question is, how can we best support countries to adapt to demographic change while consistently upholding rights, choices and equality? To make this happen, let us commit 1 enacting laws that protects autonomy and agency, 2.

To ensuring inclusion for women and all those too often left behind and three to providing the funding needed to make rights and choices a reality for all together. Let us approach demographic change not as a challenge to be managed, but as an opportunity to get things right. This is our moment to build societies that are just inclusive and work for everyone. Let us move forward with renewed purpose, leaving behind outdated way and working together to create productive and thriving societies that value the full contribution of women and of everyone. By that matter, let us invest in equality today to build the resilience we need for tomorrow.

I thank you,

Thank you very much, Madam Executive Director, for those important reflections and for really framing the discussion today for our conversation. And thank you for giving concrete examples as well towards the end of your intervention on how this adaptation is really happening already to this rapidly changing world. We'll now move to our high level panel and in this segment we're delighted to welcome government representatives who will share national perspectives on responding to demographic change while addressing again upholding human rights and gender equality. I'll invite each speaker to offer brief remarks of approximately five minutes, reflecting on two guiding questions. First, how governments are ensuring that policies remain grounded in human rights and choices rather than focusing on demographic targets and two, what legal or policy reforms are helping advance gender equality and women's empowerment as strategies for long term social stability and inclusive development.

So let me now invite our distinguished speakers. It's my pleasure to first begin with Mr. Fatima Sabru, State Secretary at the Ministry of Social Policy, Demography and Youth of North Macedonia. Mr. Sabru, the floor is yours.

Thank you.

Honorable ministers, distinguished representatives of the United States Nations, Ladies, Women, Girls, Dear youth, it is a great honor for the Republic of North Macedonia to be part of this important discussion on demographic resilience and access to justice, a topic essential for the future of our societies and for achieving the sustainable development goals. Just a few months ago, I visited A small municipality in eastern Macedonia where the primary school had just closed its doors due to a lack of students. The local sentiment was one of inevitable decline. However, just a few miles away, a neighbor town was thriving, not because of their birth rates were higher, but because they had repurposed their local community center into a hub for both remove youth employment and active aging programs. This taught me that demographic resilience isn't about the number of people we lose.

It's about the quality of life we offered to those who stay. That's why demographic questions can therefore no longer be treated as mere statistics. They are deeply connected to human rights, social justice and sustainable development. In many contexts, we see the resurfacing of alarmist rhetoric about too few or too many people. North Macedonia has chosen a different way, a different path.

Our demographic policies are not driven by numerical targets, but by respect for human dignity, reproductive autonomy, and the rights and choices of each individual.

In this context, the concept of demographic resilience is becoming increasingly important. For us, demographic resilience means the ability of society to anticipate, adapt to and manage demographic changes, including population, aging, low fertility, migration and change in population structure, while keeping human rights and gender equality at the center. It means policies that expand people's choices, not restrict them. For North Macedonia, developing a comprehensive demographic policy is a strategic priority. Our vision is to build a society that invests in human capital, in young people, in families, and in equal opportunities for all across the life course.

We place particular emphasis on supporting families, strengthening the child protection system, developing social services and crusaders, creating conditions that enable young people to plan their future at home with dignity, security and perspective. Our social policies are designed to recognize unpaid care, to support parents, and to enable women to participate fully in the labor market. One of our key democratic challenges, which we share with many countries in the region, is the immigration of young people. That is why we treat migration and return migration policies as an integral part of our demographic resilience strategy. Our diaspora represents an enormous potential.

They bring knowledge, experience and professional skills from around the world. Their return is both a personal decision and a contribution to our country's development. We are therefore working on policies that facilitate their reintegration through better access to employment, education, social and health care, and through recognition of qualifications and skills acquired abroad. The Government of Republic of North Macedonia, through the Ministry of Social Policy, Demography and Youth, has placed demographic development among its highest strategic priorities. With the support of unfpa, we have completed an intensive process of drafting a national strategy for Demographic development and Resilience.

This strategy will be our roadmap forward and is fully aligned with the National Development Strategy and with the United Nations Cooperation Framework. We are currently holding public consultations with all relevant stakeholders, after which the strategy will be submitted to the government and Parliament for adoption. In parallel, we are preparing a new framework law on migration management and the reintegration of returners and we are investing in the modernization and digitalization of services so that all citizens, whether they live in the country or abroad, have easier access to their social and civil rights. However, demographic resilience cannot be built without strong institutions and equal access to justice across the life course. Legal identity and the registration of births, marriages and deaths through robust civil registration and vital statistic systems are the foundation for realizing human rights.

They are a precondition for access to education, health care, social protection, property and inheritance rights and economic opportunities. In this regard, we are strengthening our civil registration system so that every child is registered at birth and every vital event is recorded in a timely and accurate manner. In line with SDG Target 16.9 on legal identity. This is especially important for women and girls. When women have legal identity, access to education, to sexual and reproductive health services and to legal protection from violence, they not only exercise their own rights, they drive the development of the whole society.

We are also strengthening our legal and institutional response to gender based violence, including access to justice protection orders, shelters and support services, so that the right to live free from violence becomes a reality for all women and girls. Strong data systems are equally essential for evidence based policy making and accountability. Our experience shows that the most sustainable demographic policies are those that put people at the center, policies that respect rights, expand individual choices and create conditions for every person to plan their life freely and with dignity at each stage of the life course. Distinguished colleagues, allow me also to Highlight that on 7th and 8th of May 2026 in Skopje, Republic of North Macedonia will host the Regional Ministry Conference leading pathways to demographic resilience grounded in people's needs. The conference is organized jointly by the Ministry of Social Policy, Demography and Youth and unfpa.

This conference will also be an opportunity to critically examine the remaining gaps and challenges and to mobilize political support for joint steps toward sustainable development and demographic resilience in our region. Our goal for 2026 and beyond is not to return to the demographics of the 90s. It is to build a North Macedonia where every young person sees a future where every woman feels safe and supported, where our elders remain the backbone of a resilient, digitalized and inclusive society. Let me conclude with a simple but important message. Demographic resilience begins with respect for human rights.

When societies ensure equal access to justice, when they uphold the rights of women and girls, when they invest in young people and create conditions for all people to realize their potential, then they become truly resilient. Only in this way can we build more inclusive, just and sustainable societies where no one is left behind. Thank you.

Thank you very much, State Secretary. I really appreciated how you opened by saying it's not about too few or too many. It's really about respecting reproductive agency, dignity and rights. You really touched on all aspects of what your government is doing. Thank you so much for sharing your experience.

I now would like to turn to and have the honor to introduce His Excellency Isa Konferu, permanent representative of Mali to the United Nations. We're honored to have you here with us today to share your experience and tell us about how Mali is continuing to address these issues.

Thank you very much, Madam Moderator, Madam Director General of UNFPA, Mr. Secretary of State, State Secretary, ladies and gentlemen, representatives of Tunisia, Northern Macedonia and Uruguay. Dear friends of this agenda to promote women's rights, I would like to express the regret of our Minister in Mali. She did want to come to this meeting, but at the very last minute, something came up. So I am here to deliver her message. Mali welcomes the opportunity to join North Macedonia, Uruguay and Tunisia to organize along with unfpa, this exceptional signature event.

Because in Mali, in our country, women and girls represent about half of the population. And they have been part of every single struggle in Mali for our independence, for our development on a social and economic level. And they are pillars of our society. So for us, investing in women and girls means investing in the future of our country. And it's what the government is doing, and we will continue doing it every single year.

And to reach these goals, Mali first has crafted institutional mechanisms. We have a constitution that ensures women's rights. Rights, our constitution for 2022. And we also have laws inside the country that ensure that women and girls have access to elected office. And the goal is to help them participate in official decision making in order to create together the future of our country.

So we do have constitutional rights and laws that ensure the rights of women and girls. The situation in Molly when it comes to demographic challenges is completely different than what we just heard in North Macedonia. Our demographic growth has a rate of 3, 6 children per woman, and our rate of economic growth is about 5% per year. And I'm giving you these statistics so that you can understand that our efforts to develop the country is something that is affected by our demographic growth. This isn't something negative, but we need to be able to invest in our population and invest in key areas such as education, health, fundamental rights for women and girls.

So.

Because we have this rate of demographic growth, we can catch up in terms of economic development. So the idea is to control that rate of demographic growth so that whatever we have in terms of economic growth can be invested to provide for the population and give them a development that benefits all of them. What we see right now is that we have more births than investments

in the area of education, at least. So we're doing these very same things and our priority right now in the country, as you know, we are in a transition. We've been fighting for our sovereignty for several years now. Despite the challenges, the government continues to invest, to consolidate robust institutions, to intensify investments in education and health.

And this includes reproductive health, by the way, in order to ensure that births are registered even in remote areas, and also to ensure the legal protection of women's rights in the country. So today we are investing to improve our national governance. So we have a governance that is inclusive and that takes into account all segments of society. This is key for us in order to ensure stability in the country and to ensure safety in the country. And one of the priorities that we have is to uphold respect for human rights.

So my last message for you is a message of hope. Despite all of the problems that we are facing, we continue to be committed to the respect of women's rights. And this also means demographic resilience for us. And right now, I would like to welcome the excellent cooperation that Mali has with all of our partners in Bamako, and specifically unfpa. UNFPA works with us in these different areas that I've mentioned.

Reproductive health, education, upholding rights. This is something that we are truly thankful for, and I wanted to share it with you. So for me, it is a pleasure to be here. I see we have a packed room, so it's definitely an issue that is very important for our partners. And we really welcome the opportunity to participate in this event.

Thank you, Missy Boku. Excellency, thank you for sharing Molly's perspective. And I appreciated you. You opened with. Investing in women and girls means investing in our future, and I really appreciated that bold start to your statement.

Thank you so much. And now it's my pleasure to introduce Her Excellency, Ms. Laura DePuy Lesser, Permanent Representative of Uruguay to the United Nations. Your Excellency, you have the floor.

Muchisima Gracias. Thank you very much.

I'm going to speak Spanish. Thank you to the UNFPA and UNDESA for organizing this event. It's such a relevant event in the context of the CSW meeting this week. And thank you for inviting us to share some of the actions that Uruguay has undertaken. Also underscoring that we fully share all of the principles and values that the Executive Director of UNFPA underscored.

Insofar as all policies must include the gender perspective, I must recall that the same goes for the SDGs and the 2030 Agenda that we all share. And what we need to do is bring this into reality. I also thank UNFPA for the support that they're providing for us in the advisory and follow up role in demographics, demographic changes. In Uruguay's case, we have a small population that's aging and these are perhaps tens trends that we're going to see spread across the whole of the Latin America and the Caribbean region. Therefore, follow up in our case can show different avenues on where we can work.

There's also human rights, but also the importance of having data polls, disaggregated data, because these can inform our decisions and they're very clear in all cases. I'll give you an example, perhaps on a bit of a more sensitive issue. Now this is the case of abortion.

Raw data on the reality in Uruguay is very important in terms of unwanted pregnancies and voluntary abortions thereof that take place in unlawful and unsafe conditions. This is the third cause of maternal mortality. However, when we started to take measures to provide access to healthcare services as well as information and other services, we saw that figure reduced to zero. So in the past we were losing both women and children because both were being lost and then at least we managed to save women whilst at the same time defending the right to life. This is a very sensitive issue, of course, and we were able to do this thanks to the data.

And of course in the past it was only poor women dying, not rich women. So that was a decisive moment when we dealt with this. Providing services, informing people, providing education, education is another matter. Human rights education, comprehensive sex education in both informal and formal contexts and legal frameworks, like we were saying, are extremely important. We have a comprehensive sexual and reproductive health act that addresses the situation of both men and women.

We also have the parental license system that's quite novel in Uruguay to provide support for care work and enable women to be autonomous. We also have a national care system. We understand that society, as well as the care economy, the care Economy in society is very relevant because women can then access sources of remuneration and are empowered economically.

I apologize if I'm speaking for too long. I'm going to wrap up now. There's also the Tlatelolco Treaty on a regional level. So I'd also like to mention the 2013 Montevideo Consensus. That's a very relevant framework, a very cutting edge one on human rights.

And we also have a strategy to eliminate and prevent unwanted pregnancies in minors. So that's in girls and teenagers. Of course, we have the issue of addressing violence against women and girls also because often these unattentional unwanted pregnancies are the result of abuse and exploitation. So these are our priorities to work on. And we're also prioritizing resources being allocated from our national budget to these issues like children and women.

Thank you very much,

Excellency. Thank you so much for highlighting the importance of ensuring access to health services and also respecting women's time and the care work that they do and how Uruguay is really addressing these issues head on. Thank you so much. I'd like to now welcome Mr. Yassin Salah, Deputy Permanent Representative of Tunisia to the United nations and one of our co hosts today as well. Thank you so much.

We welcome you to tell us about how you're addressing demographic change in Tunisia. The floor is yours. Thank you so much. Madam Moderator Executive Director, Ms. Diani Keita. Excellencies.

Honorable Minister Excellencies. It's our pleasure to participate today in this discussions. We are very proud to participate and to listen to experience from Uruguay, North Macedonia and Mali and Tunisia. I think the geographical representation is well balanced and I thank you NFPA for the choice of countries and for this timely meeting. So for Tunisia as we believe that as societies experience demographic shifts ranging from population growth to aging, national policies must remain grounded in human rights and the dignity of individuals.

We believe that democratic resilience is closely linked to equality between women and men and to the ability of women and girls to exercise their rights and make informed choices through their lives. My country has long adopted a progressive approach in this area. Since 1974, abortion has been legal in Tunisia, reflecting our commitment to protecting women's health, autonomy and dignity. This policy is part of a broader framework that recognizes the importance of sexual and reproductive health and rights and ensures access to services, information and justice. The legal institutional framework to protect women from violence and discrimination has strengthened Indonesia, notably in 20002017 through the law 58 on the elimination of violence against women and through other policies that promote women's participation in economic and public life.

This law especially represents an advanced framework based on a comprehensive approach, ground and prevention first, then protection, accountability and victim care and enhances women's right to protection and access to justice. Dear friends and colleagues, we believe that democratic change should not be approached through population targets or Alamo narratives. Policies that prioritize human rights, gender equality and reproductive autonomy provide the most sustainable foundation for resilient societies. We believe in Tunisia that ensuring access to justice, protecting sexual and reproductive health and rights and empowering women are essential elements for resilience society. When women are able to exercise their rights and participate fully in society, communities become stronger, more stable and more prosperous.

My country continues to adopt a comprehensive approach to enhancing women's and girls access to justice based on developing legal, social and health services for the benefit of women, especially women in vulnerable situations, while ensuring these services are brought closer and ensuring an immediate and appropriate response to needs of victims. Tunisia remains committed to advancing these principles and to working with partners, especially unfpa, to promote inclusive and rights based policies that respond to demographic change. And before concluding, let me share with you that the last statistics in tunisia shows that 55% are women and 50% me personally I thought it's like women are 70%, but the last six dated 2024 is 51 for women. And also let me thank my colleague Marwa, excellent diplomat for making this happen and Raya too for hosting us and for making thank you so much. Once again, thank you so much Deputy

Permit Representative and excellent, thank you for pointing out the data and the services and the comprehensive approach to supporting women's empowerment which is part of access to justice. And that can't be said. It's critical for that to happen in order to have this demographic resilience that we're talking about. Please welcome me in applauding our high level government representatives for this panel and then we'll shift to the next panel. Panel, Thank you so much.

So now we turn to our panel of experts who will explore structural and rights based dimensions of demographic change with us. And we are very pleased to have Dr. Jennifer Shuba with us who's the president and CEO of the population Reference Bureau and she's a leading expert on global demographic trends and population policy. And we're very pleased to hear you talk a little bit about the enabling political, legal and social environments that we really need to have to empower individuals to make this demographic resilience a reality. Dr. Subha, over to you. Thank you so much.

Leila, thank you to unfpa for the invitation. It's an honor to be here alongside the distinguished representatives from North Macedonia and Mali and Uruguay and to and the United nations and other panelists and hosts. The question before me is what kind of environment enables individuals to make their own reproduction?

It was working, okay, to make their own reproductive decisions across the life course. I want to suggest that the answer is actually embedded in three words already in the question. Life course decisions and environment. So let's start with the life course, specifically the almost nearly four decades a woman spends in her reproductive years. When we discuss fertility in settings like this one, we're really tempted towards binaries.

Women either trying to avoid pregnancy or trying to achieve it. And at the global level, we've tended to map those binaries onto geography. Women in higher fertility countries focused on avoiding pregnancy, women in lower fertility countries wishing to conceive. When we're zoomed out in the aggregate, that is a useful binary. But at the individual level, the binary doesn't hold.

And I think most women know that from their experience. There are women struggling with infertility in high fertility settings and women trying to avoid pregnancy and low fertility ones. And. And most importantly, women spend decades toggling back and forth, sometimes and often more than once, between trying to conceive and trying not to. A feminist framework recognizes that nonlinear journey.

Most of our policy frameworks do not. Conditions compound across and along the life course. The family environment you're born into, educational opportunities you're given, health care, access, economic stability. The enabling environment has to work across all of it, not just at the moment of a single decision. But rights are fundamental to well being and justice across that life course journey.

Now the second one, the word decisions. To ask about reproductive decisions implies that women face a complete set of options and simply maximize among them. We know that's not quite how it works. A 28 year old woman in Texas, here in the United States may want children, but forestall having them because she lacks stable employment, affordable housing and reliable childcare. A 35 year old woman in Uruguay may hope to expand her family only to face secondary infertility she can't afford to treat.

These aren't failures of individual decision making. They're constrained choices. And constraint is the rule, not the exception. Formal reproductive rights are necessary and non negotiable, but they're not sufficient. The right to choose means little if the conditions that make choice real are absent.

We must have both, and a reproductive justice framework makes that clear. And the third word, finally, the environment. We are rightly grateful for the legacy of Cairo. That framework brought us firmly into a rights based approach to reproduction and it was an important tool, particularly for that moment when the dominant threat was coercive fertility reduction. We must not discard the progress of Cairo, but we should build on it.

In many ways, Cairo was built for the 90s. Demographic trends have changed and the environment has changed. Today we face a broader and more complex set of threats to reproductive autonomy. The enabling environment needs to be right for this time. That means protecting rights and covering a broader spectrum.

Housing, child care, health care, paid leave, access to fertility treatment, maternal mortality and more. These are not separate policy silos. They're all conditions of reproductive autonomy and they must be held together in one frame. Now close with a caution, as both demographic trends and the context they are embedded in continue to change. I think we're entering a phase when across many contexts, having children is becoming a luxury good, accessible primarily to those with the income, housing, flexibility and security to afford it.

That is a reproductive justice crisis and it is not the path to demographic resilience. Just as access to contraception and reproductive health care has historically been easiest for the wealthy, we now risk the same stratification on the other end of the spectrum. Enabling environments must be assessed by outcomes for the most constrained, not the most privileged. If the framework only works for those who already have resources, it isn't the yardstick for measuring the enabling environment. It's just describing a privilege and calling it a right.

Thank you.

Thank you so much, Dr. Suba. That was excellent. And thank you for bringing up this issue of reproductive agency and decisions across the life course. And we spoke to that very concept in UNFPA's 2025 State of the World Population Report. And thank you for bringing up the reproductive justice framework.

And of course, yeah, talking about all of the challenges, but yet some of the things that we're seeing that have shifted from 1994 ICPD Program of Action. Really appreciate that framing. And you were with us last year, in fact, at CSW 69 talking about demographic change and gender equality. So thank you for helping us continue to advocate and beat the drum about the importance of keeping rights and choices in the center of demographic conversations. So I'd now like to invite, and it's my pleasure to invite Ms. Claudia Mahler.

She is the United nations independent expert on the enjoyment of all human rights by Older Persons. Ms. Mahler, we'd like to invite you to share reflections on how a life course approach can help ensure that women can exercise their rights and access essential services throughout their Lives in particular, talking about the legal and policy frameworks and of course, supporting healthy aging, which is really a critical part of this conversation on demographic resilience. Over to you.

Thank you so much, Madam Moderator, for the nice introduction. And thank you UNFPA and DESA for having me and bringing also the information on all.

I also thank all the previous speakers. They focused more on the other end of my life course approach. So what I also wanted to start with is we also have to keep in mind that the younger population of today are the older population of tomorrow. So we really need to get prepared to ensure that also the older women in this regard have access to their rights. So one thing I would also like to share with you because I have been working in the field now for more than 20 years.

I recall that we had an interview 15 years ago. So what I wanted to share with you is that what I see right now is that older women are still invisible. Why are they invisible? Because there is no data. We already heard about the data.

But this is also that in the end the policies are not informed. This also limits all the choices of older women because if there are no policies, there are no resources dedicated to the different aspects. And so they don't have any choices and preferences in the end, because there is nothing there. So having said that, I also would like to once again raise awareness that when we are talking about reproductive rights, the end shows at first, which is not still what we see around the world. So I think we could also increase the numbers because there are also treatments which we really need for all the women in this regard.

We are talking about cancer prevention and all the other issues. So I would also urge you to rethink the framework on reproductive rights in this regard to ensure that that older women also have chances to have healthy aging in the end. Because if we don't invest in prevention, we might get the costs in later life. And I really urge you to really shift a little bit your focus when you're talking about healthy aging, that this needs to start much earlier than at the stage of 60. You really need to start much earlier to ensure that the prevention is.

Is provided in regard of healthy aging. And then you really gain more healthy years, which also is a good example for how to build a very resilient budget in the end, because this is really a positive implication for your health insurances and for your health care. Having said that, I would also like to once again showcase that, you know, older women are such a diverse group. They come from different backgrounds, they live in Rural areas, they might live in towns, in urban areas and their educational background might be totally different. Which also leads in the end to a different life course approach, that education leads to a good job, in the end to a pension.

We very often see that this is not the case because the informal sector is led by women. So we must ensure that women get their inclusion in the labor market to ensure that they also have a resilient life at later stages with enough resources. I very often also see, from my perspective, and I had the pleasure to do a couple of country missions during my tenure, that the older women themselves are quite sufficient in finding ways to support each other. But very often these kind of support system ends because they don't get the money in the end, I have to say, because mainly men decide who gets the money and the credits. So very often we see this, that they are facing structural barriers.

But I also see a kind of positive implication right now. As I said, I've been working in the field for a long time and we are now at a very positive stage. We are drafting a legally binding instrument on the human rights of all the persons which will also focus on the intersection of women, but also focus on other intersections like having a high risk of poverty, inclusion in regard. Because we also see that the family systems are changing and this is one of the positive. On the other hand, on a regular basis, this is the positive environment for a lot of older women.

But if all the youth are migrating either to urban areas or to other parts, the older persons are left behind. And because most of the women are living longer, they are still staying behind without any support and without any structures. So I really would like to say once again, please invest also in the infrastructures in the rural areas to support older women to stay where they want to stay and include also their will and preferences. Because a lot of older women don't know exactly that they are entitled to human rights. They don't have any access to justice.

It is about information, it is about support. It is also to get access to justice and the claim and the result which really helps them. If you get a result which is not sufficient. We very often see this in regard of age discrimination. So why would you claim anymore?

So access to justice really needs also to have a positive result and a positive impact implication and change the system in a very, I would say, positive way in older age. I thank you so much for including me and I really hope that we are working together for all ourselves to get a dignified life in later years. Thank you so much for having me.

Thank you so much, Ms. Mahler, and thank you for telling us about the convention that's on its way, which is really, really interesting and encouraging. And, and I really appreciated how you said older women actually do know how to do what they need to do to get by and survive, but it's the structural barriers that often are in the way, whether that's at the individual community or national legal level. So thank you very much for pointing out the full picture. And I think it really helps us reinforce the importance of healthy aging and making sure that we think about older persons who are young persons today, but the older persons of tomorrow. Well, that concludes our expert group panel.

Thank you very much to Claudia and to Jennifer. And what we'll do now is take a few questions and have a time for interaction with our panelists. We're just going to have time for a couple of questions and then we'll move on to our closing speaker. So please do raise your hand and if you can direct the question to a particular speaker expert, that would be great. Otherwise, if you have a general comment as well, please keep it brief.

And I see several hands now. I'm going to go to. Yes, ma'. Am. Yes, please go ahead.

Thank you, Cynthia from International Federation on Aging. And I was so glad our independent experts spoke to the issue. What I really want to support is a reframing of, of the lifespan that does include women at all ages and stages of reproduction. And really, we really need to think of it again, especially in light of the SDGs, as sexual and reproductive and post reproductive health. And that's really something that could permeate all of us.

And I do hope UNFPA will indeed really consider a reframing of that in their strategic goals. Thank you. Thank you so much. Yes, please. Yeah.

I want to raise a question regarding the homeless people. So the number in my country is also large and homeless children particularly. So can we have some light on this particular point?

I'll take another couple of questions and then we can turn back to the panel. Yes, please go ahead. My name is Anna Maria Alonso. I'm from the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese. I'm currently in university back in Florida.

And, and we're learning about how lower TFRs correlate with total fertility rates, correlate with women getting expansions in freedom and equality and rights. But I was wondering, directed to the executive panel, how can we increase total fertility rates in countries where numbers are currently decreasing while also increasing in women's freedoms, equalities and education rights within those respective places?

Thank you.

We can take. Okay, let's stop there and turn to the panel. Thank you for your feedback about the older women. Really appreciate that. And there's a couple of questions.

Maybe I'll turn to Dr. Shuba. Would you like to start? And then anyone else, of course, from our panel who would like to add.

I'd be glad to. Yeah, I don't mind taking the question on total fertility rates.

I'm glad that you're learning about that.

Probably what you've also learned is that the answer to that is we will not be instituting policies that raise that. And I think what we learned from hearing the first panel today is that perhaps focusing on a target for fertility rates isn't the way to go in order to preserve rights and freedom. I mean, instead, if we reframe this to think about overall well being, then our metric of success can really be something different. And often we've heard policymakers over the decades think about fertility rates as a dial on a radio and they want to turn up the volume or they want to turn down the volume, and the success is measured by where the volume goes. But what I think we're seeing in this moment is a real groundswell of support for changing that metric of success to the say, do you have strong well being?

Do you create the kind of society where people want to live in? Do you create the kind of society where people want to reproduce it? And instead your metric is not about what the volume is, but it's looking at other metrics of well being. And I hope that we're headed in that direction, continuing along that path. Thank you.

Yes, Claudia,

thank you. I, Jennifer said in the end, so I think we really need to have structures to ensure that women also enjoy getting more children. If you want to, if you don't have any child care, if you don't have exactly what you said before, not a real job, because then you struggle all the time. And I think this is exactly what we also need to have infrastructure in both ways, which is, from my perspective, bound in law. And so you really know exactly where you are heading to.

And there is no uncertainty anymore. I think this is one of the big issues in regard of homelessness. I'm not an expert in children, as you might know, so I'm the expert on older people. But I also can enlighten you in this regard that there are really high numbers and the numbers are rising also in regard of all the population. Population who don't have any home anymore because it's too expensive.

There is no social support in this regard. And also the accessibility is very often not there. They very often need to migrate because of climate change crisis to other parts of the land, out of the country. And this is also another aspect where we see that a lot of countries, and from my perspective, all the people suffer because they need to migrate in the country once again and are homeless and don't have any support. In regard to older women, we very often see that they are not officially homeless.

They try to seek refuge either with another man or with another family, and very often they are dependent and also face a lot of violence. So I think this is a huge issue we also need to address. But thank you so much for raising us. Thank you so much. Claudia and Jennifer.

Yes. I would like to also invite the panelists here with us to say a few remarks, if you'd like to share. Yes, your excellency, go ahead.

With respect to the last two questions, yes, we are more focused on individual realities rather than reaching demographic goals. Uruguay has an aging population, so we accept and we include migrants. We provide them with id. We give them access to services and employment. And that is one way in which we've seen improvements in our demographics and our economy thanks to migration.

And with respect to, for instance, we focus on providing health services. We have an integrated health system. We have a private system for those that can afford it, but we also offer free and accessible care, and they are mandatory. They must be provided. So it is an integrated health care system in Uruguay.

We have universal coverage. We also address situations of vulnerability when it comes to children, children living on the street, children that do not have the care of their parents, and they are much more exposed to exploitation, whether that's sexual or by criminal gangs, and they will surely die young because of this. So we will be losing a part of our population. And remember, our population is already old, so we haven't observed Observatory for violence because the data on femicides, I mean, it's just, it's an epidemic, unfortunately. And we see cases where the violence isn't just directed toward women, but also the children, the sons and the daughters.

So it's a form of vicarious violence that we have to combat through education. Thank you. Muchas gracias. Thank you. Thank you very much.

State Secretary, would you like to add,

as I wanted to answer the question about the homeless people and to share our experience as a country, if you visit Skopje and every other city in North Macedonia, you cannot find any homeless on the streets. That's why we have invested in social services. We have social centers and especially shelter center centers where homeless people can stay there for a temporary period of time. And also there are integration programs.

We are working with them, training, pre qualification, gaining skills, and we are looking to engage them in the labor market. We are doing the same thing with all other categories of people, especially women's, who are victims of gender based violence or domestic violence, poor people, homeless people, and everyone else who wants and who needs the help of the state.

Thank you very much, Ambassador khonfur.

Okay, once again, I just wanted to provide the assurance that for Mali's part, we remain determined to continue and to ramp up the implementation of our policy and action plan to achieve demographic resilience within our country. We have policies that are sensitive to the most vulnerable populations. In Mali, we have a policy on social housing and that's geared towards enabling the low income part of the population to have easy access to housing and to improve their lives and to be able to live a decent life. Now, for our compatriots that don't have the means to afford health care, the state has implemented policies enabling access to health care free of charge. There's different diseases that affect children and pregnant women and those are provided.

Care is provided for free by the state as well as C sections. And we're doing this with the support of our partners. So within our country we have policies that are sensitive to the most vulnerable populations within the country. And we're going to continue along this line despite all of the challenges that we face.

Thank you, my Siboku Ambassador and excellency Salah, over to you.

Thanks again. So answering to the homeless people, hopefully in Tunisia we don't see a lot of them in the streets or cities. But in case we do have, we have very, I mean police, national policy for housing, for health services. And also I'm proud to share that our young people are volunteering to help all homelesses and they alert the government and the social services about them. So there is solidarity between the people and among especially youth and women, they are the first people to alert and to inform the society, society.

And also there is like civil society work, which is, we recognize the work and we salute this work with the help of the government. So we are trying also to avoid this in case it shows in our streets. Once again, thank you. Thank you so much. Of course,

I'm sorry to take the floor again, but in terms of concept of homeless people, there aren't very many of them in Mali because the social fabric is so well organized in Mali that you will always find somebody to take you in. So the very concept of homelessness, at least right now, we it doesn't really exist in our country. And when it comes to students or people who come from regions that don't have have universities, we have a policy of establishing campuses and scholarships for students whose parents do not have the means to pay for university studies. So we have different kinds of policies that allow all citizens to enjoy their rights, of course, within the limits of the state. But our strong social fabric makes it that we really don't experience homelessness in our country because you will always find somebody to take you in and help you get back on your feet.

Thank you so much, Ambassador, for adding that. I think really the point here is, as our executive director said at the beginning, really demographic resilience is about inclusive societies and addressing inequalities and marginalization. And this has really come through in the questions. Thank you all for your responses and interaction. We come to the end now and it's my pleasure to officially hand over for Our closing to Ms. Bjorg Sankir, Assistant Secretary General for Policy Coordination at the United Nations Department of Economic and Social affairs, to offer us some closing remarks over to you.

Thank you, Leila Excellencies, dear colleagues and friends, it is indeed an honor to close the signature event on demographic resilience and access to justice, securing rights and choices in a changing world. And let me start by giving my sincere thanks to my sister Diane and our great co hosts from unfpa. And I would really like to applaud UNFPA for your tireless work on sharing and shaping RA rights based responses to demographic change. And let me also recognize my colleagues from the Population Division in UNDESA who have worked to put together this event. It has also been an honor and a pleasure to learn from the high level representatives from Uruguay, from North Macedonia, from Mali and from Tunisia, sharing your best practices on how countries are adapting to changing population dynamics and demonstrating resilience in the face of demographic change by strengthening inclusive legal systems and ensuring that national policies remain grounded in human rights, including in individual reproductive choice.

And it was also a great pleasure to listen to the two experts in our expert panel giving us your keen insights on creating political, legal and social environments that can empower individuals to make our own reproductive decisions and also hearing how gender equality and access to justice pave the way through major life transitions and ensure the importance of human rights based approaches across the life course, from youth and cross to older persons. Now, as highlighted by all the speakers before me, the world is experiencing a profound Demographic transformation. We've heard how many countries face low fertility and in some cases even population decline. Others are navigating rapid growth and increasing numbers of young people, again driven by levels of high, high levels of fertility. But there was a clear message that I thought I heard from all the speakers and that is that these diverse demographic situations do require rights based approaches underpinned by robust data and evidence to leverage the opportunities and address the challenges of demographic change.

And I would like to dwell on that point a bit because it is so important that we do continue to strengthen the data and evidence that help us to anticipate, to plan for and adapt to demographic change. While of course safeguarding human rights, safeguarding choices, agency and dignity for all. And we've heard again from the speakers about the importance of having information and data of different population groups. Ensuring visibility, ensuring access to legal and financial systems really starts at the beginning with birth registration. Yet we know globally more than one in five births are not registered.

So by ensuring that all births, all marriages, divorces, adoptions, deaths are legally recognized, we can transition from a situation where women and girls remain unseen, to one where laws against child marriage are enforceable, where women and girls have clear and actionable claims to inheritance, ownership, custody and life saving health interventions. We know how demographic data and evidence are powerful tools for claiming access to justice, remaining visible and enabled policy planning. Some of the speakers raised the issue of violence and human rights violations against girls and women. And having evidence on child marriage, evidence on adolescent childbearing, on access to sexual and reproductive health care, on unpaid care, work, gender pay gaps and gender based violence can help shape the responses to demographic change that respect individual rights and choices. And as discussed in today's session, inclusion is not optional.

Strengthening access to justice for all women and girls starts with making them or making us visible in our demographic data, including for indigenous women, women with disabilities and and those in the poorest households, and the mention of homelessness, let's put that on the list as well.

As well as people marginalized for different reasons, it could be living in remote areas because women do need that access to services to justice. Across the life course, we've heard good examples of how policies and legal systems support individuals at key transitions throughout life from adolescence through family formation, entry into the labour market as well as retirement and at the later stages of life. So excellencies and friends, whether populations are growing or shrinking, and whether fertility rates are low or high, all countries have much to gain from achieving gender equality, from protecting human rights and ensuring access for all people these actions provide a strong foundation for a society's resilience in the face of demographic change. So, in closing, I would like to again express my heartfelt gratitude to all our speakers and panelists for your expertise and not least, for your passion and commitment to these important questions. And, of course, I would like to commend everyone in this room.

It's great to see so many people here to participate, to engage. And again, thank you for your commitment to these critical issues. Thank you.

Thank you so much. Assistant Secretary General perfectly said to close us off. And once again join me in a final round of applause for all of our speakers. Thank you.