Oriana López Uribe (Mexico) is deputy director of “Balance” and member of RESURJ. She was on the Mexican delegation to CPD 49.

We have common challenges, common technical bodies, a common desire or vision of what development looks like. In Montevideo, governments were up to the task: they had political will; they were responsible with the information of policies that we know work and the ones that don’t. They were ready to commit and go further, they were respectful and trusted the process and leadership. The articulation of CSOs and the feminist movement were crucial to push the political will and also to contribute technically to the consensus, we finally got the governments we deserved and not the ones we end up with.

Given the Montevideo Consensus is an ambitious agenda that goes beyond the 2030 agenda, for the Latin America and Caribbean region, our goal must be to fulfill the Montevideo Consensus and not the Agenda 2030. By achieving Montevideo Consensus, we will achieve more than the 2030 agenda. The Operational Guideline is very robust and will support the implementation and follow up.

The advocacy opportunity is still with the indicators and we need to work to make them in line with the Agenda 2030 to strengthen the relationship and motivate governments to take action in the right direction.

For me the highlights of the Montevideo Consensus are: the definition of sexual rights: sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) in the context of social justice; access to all services for all people; eradicate discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identities (SOGI); addressing the specific needs in the SRHR services; comprehensive sexuality education (CSE); and quality services for abortion where legal and revision of laws on abortion to improve the quality of life of women. The Montevideo Consensus is fully committed in addressing the structural inequalities and aims to achieve a development that is both sustainable and inclusive, in the framework of human rights.

There is still the need to push for the financial resources to actually implement it. ~