The Montevideo Consensus on Population and Development was approved by Latin-American and Caribbean governments in 2013 as part of the 20th year review process of the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development (Cairo, 1994).

This regional policy framework advances a human rights-based approach to sustainable development including sexual and reproductive health and rights and the eradication of all forms of discrimination and inequalities, and places it at the centre of development policies. Among many important advances, a clear definition of sexual rights was adopted[1]. In addition, governments agreed to review laws that criminalize abortion and ensure safe, good-quality abortion services when legal[2], guarantee universal access to good-quality sexual health and reproductive health services[3] and to design policies and programmes to eradicate discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, among other measures.

Latin American and Caribbean governments promoted the Montevideo Consensus as the basis for their positions during the negotiations at the Commission on Population and Development 47 (CPD 47), and in the Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals (SDG)[4]/Post2015 negotiations. Even conservative governments from the region didn’t try at the global level to push back the regional consensus, but aligned themselves to the common position.
After challenging negotiations in the Open Working Group, target 5.6 under the Gender Equality goal of the SDG’s calls to “Ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights” while target 3.7 under the health goal that was re-inserted in the last round states “by 2030, ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive health care services”.

In order to raise the level of ambition of the Post2015 Development agenda, we see three major challenges ahead. The first challenge is how best to position the full package of sexual and reproductive health and rights at the centre of the health goal, while retaining the combination of targets 3.7 and 5.6[5]. Second, how to ensure that an implementation framework that prioritizes equality, quality of care and accountability will guide the SRHR services and policies under the “universal coverage” [6]. Third, a much stronger mobilization of public resources for SRHR services is needed to address the inadequacy of funding[7]. The reliance on the private sector and public-private partnerships will not solve the inequality gap in terms of accessibility and affordability of SRHR services[8].

Finally, there is a risk that “technical proofing” of the targets may reduce them to only what is quantitatively measurable with the resources available today. For us, this is not an option. Bearing in mind the global landscape, targets 5.6 and 3.7 should be the agreed minimum floor for the Post 2015 Development Agenda. Governments should be free to implement higher and more ambitious targets. In the case of Latin America and the Caribbean, the Montevideo Consensus is already the agreed minimum floor. So, this regional position should continue to drive the ambition of the targets and indicators on health and gender equality to be adopted in September 2015 globally.

In turn, the monitoring mechanism of the Post2015 Development Agenda in terms of health and gender for the region must be aligned with the follow-up mechanism of the Montevideo Consensus that will be approved at the next Regional Conference on Population and Development in October 2015 and not the other way round. The Montevideo Consensus promotes measures aimed at subverting structural inequalities and multiple discriminations based on gender, age, race-ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, territory and immigration status, and at promoting empowerment and autonomy of women and girls. Therefore, the monitoring indicators should respond to these policy objectives. In this sense, specialized UN agencies as well as feminist and civil society organizations should support the construction of more ambitious qualitative and quantitative indicators.

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[1] “Promote policies that enable persons to exercise their sexual rights, which embrace the right to a safe and full sex life, as well as the right to take free, informed, voluntary and responsible decisions on their sexuality, sexual orientation and gender identity, without coercion, discrimination or violence, and that guarantee the right to information and the means necessary for their sexual health and reproductive health” (Montevideo Consensus, 2013 para 34).

[2] To review laws that criminalize abortion and  ensure safe, good-quality abortion services when legal: “Ensure, in those cases where abortion is legal or decriminalized under the relevant national legislation, the availability of safe, good-quality abortion services for women with unwanted and unaccepted pregnancies, and urge States to consider amending their laws, regulations, strategies and public policies relating to the voluntary termination of pregnancy in order to protect the lives and health of women and adolescent girls, to improve their quality of life and to reduce the number of abortions” (Montevideo Consensus 2013, para 42).

[3] “Guarantee universal access to good-quality sexual health and reproductive health services, bearing in mind the specific needs of men and women, adolescents and young people, persons of diverse sexuality and persons with disabilities, with special attention to vulnerable persons, persons living in rural and remote areas and to the promotion of citizen participation in the follow-up to commitments” (Montevideo Consensus 2013, para 37).

[4] At OWG 13, many Latin-American governments supported a Joint Statement delivered by South Africa on behalf of 58 Member States on sexual and reproductive health and rights in the SDGs and post-2015 development agenda. Signatory countries are: Albania, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Cape Verde, Chile, Colombia, Cook Islands, Costa Rica, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kiribati, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Mexico, Monaco, Montenegro, Netherlands, Norway, Palau, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Portugal, Romania, Samoa, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Ukraine, United Kingdom, Uruguay, Vanuatu.

[5] Germain, Sen, Garcia-Moreno and Shankar (2015) Advancing sexual and reproductive health and rights in low- and middle- income countries: Implications for the post-2015 global development agenda in Global Public Health, Volume 10, Issue 2, 2015. Available here: http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/rgph20/10/2#.VOpwNHZ59Ko

[6] Idem

[7] In order to fully fund the necessary sexual and reproductive health including family planning and HIV/AIDS services, as well and population research and training, the international community would need to mobilize almost $68 billion in 2011. To ensure implementation of the goals of the ICPD, it is necessary to increase both donor and domestic funding in all four components of the costed population package. UN ECOSOC Report E /CN.9/2013/5

[8] According to WHO, globally, about 150 million people suffer financial catastrophe annually from paying for health care, while 100 million are pushed below the poverty line. (World Health Report, 2010). In 2011, developing countries used domestic resources to fund 3/4, or USD 54.7 billion, of total population expenditures, well above the 2/3 portion agreed at the ICPD. Moreover, private consumers in developing countries paid over US$34 billion out-of-pocket for family planning, reproductive health and HIV/AIDS-related expenses. (Table 2).  UN ECOSOC Report E /CN.9/2013/5

For more information on the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Population, Development and Reproductive Health, please click here.