Ministers, congressmen and representatives of civil society from 16 Latin American and Caribbean countries are meeting today in BrasÀlia to discuss regional progress in meeting the Millennium Development Goals in preparation for a UN Summit on the issue scheduled for September.
The Millennium Development Goals were established in 2000 by 191 countries. The idea was to achieve them by 2015.
Today’s meeting in Brasília will deal specifically with gender equality and sexual and reproductive health in Latin America and the Caribbean. Data from the UN Population Fund shows that the situation in these areas is, to say the least, uneven.
Out of 151 countries surveyed, half of them had legislation promoting gender equality; one third had specific policies dealing with the problems; but only 13 countries (out of 151) had concrete action programs.
The Brasilia meeting is an initiative of the UN Population Fund and is being hosted by Brazil’s Special Secretariat for Women Policies.
ABr