Ms Maeve Taylor:

Good morning and I thank the committee for the opportunity to address it. I will specifically address the question of sexual and reproductive health rights as an aspect of gender equality. The Irish Family Planning Association is the secretariat to the all-party Oireachtas interest group on sexual and reproductive health and the Irish collaborating partner of the UN Population Fund, UNFPA. It is also a member of the International Planned Parenthood Federation.

I will start with A Better World, Ireland's policy for international development, which is grounded, as members know, in human rights and the sustainable development goals. It recognises sexual and reproductive health rights as central to gender equality and universal health coverage. A Better World commits Ireland to advancing and protecting the programme of action of the International Conference on Population and Development, including action on sexual and reproductive health. According to A Better World, access to health services, including comprehensive sexual and reproductive health services, is fundamental to realising sexual and reproductive health rights and for transforming women's health outcomes. The pandemic has had a devastating impact on women's and girls' access to basic health services, including family planning. I will concentrate on three aspects, which are sexual and reproductive health and rights, female genital mutilation and child marriage and access to contraception.

In 2020, in a policy brief on the impact of the pandemic on women, the UN Secretary General outlined the unique health needs of women and girls and also the social norms and gender stereotypes that act as barriers to services. My colleagues have mentioned some of these. According to the report, the diversion of attention and critical resources away from essential sexual and reproductive health services can result in exacerbated maternal mortality and morbidity, increased rates of adolescent pregnancies, HIV and sexually transmitted diseases.

Last November, the Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs, Deputy Brophy, launched the 2020 State of World Population report, which is published each year by UNFPA, the UN sexual and reproductive health agency. The report estimated the impact of the pandemic on girls and according to the report, programmes designed to promote gender equality by ending practices such as child marriage and female genital mutilation are facing serious delays in implementation.

My colleague, Ms Abbas, has already raised the question of child marriage. According to the UNFPA, at a conservative estimate, a one-year average delay in interventions to end child marriage could lead to over 7 million more child marriages over the next decade that could otherwise have been averted. In addition, the State of World Population report projected that financial insecurities caused by the pandemic could result in 5.6 million additional child marriages taking place between 2020 and 2030. The total effect of Covid-19 could therefore potentially result in 13 million additional child marriages that would not otherwise have happened.

On the question of female genital mutilation, the UNFPA predicts an estimated two-year delay in prevention programmes would lead to 2 million cases of female genital mutilation over the next decade that would otherwise have been averted. In that respect progress towards the elimination of female genital mutilation, which is target 5.5 of the sustainable development goals, could be reduced by a third.

The UNFPA also conducted analysis in 115 low and middle income countries in January this year. The research suggests that while many countries were able to maintain or restore access to essential services, an estimated 12 million women may have been unable to access family planning services during the pandemic, with disruption of supplies and services lasting an average of 3.6 months. As a result of these disruptions, as many as 1.4 million unintended pregnancies may have occurred before women were able to resume use of these services.

The forthcoming session of the Commission on Population and Development, which will be in April 2021, will focus on the impact of Covid-19 on sexual and reproductive health in the context of population, food security, nutrition and sustainable development. These are the four key principles of Irish Aid's programme. In advance of the commission, the UN Secretary General has called for coverage of sexual and reproductive healthcare to be prioritised as integral to sustainable development. He has highlighted the need for family planning, emergency contraception, the treatment of sexually transmitted diseases, post-abortion care and, where legal, safe abortion services to the full extent of the law.

Female genital mutilation, child marriage and unintended pregnancy have a devastating impact on girls, affecting physical and mental health, their ability to stay in education, the capacity to reach full potential as women, citizens, workers and leaders. Investment in sexual and reproductive health will have transformative effects on gender equality and women's empowerment. This includes programmes that support the right of women and couples to choose the number and spacing of any children they opt to have. We can reduce unintended pregnancy and unsafe abortion through the provision of comprehensive sexuality education, contraception and safe and legal abortion care. However, UNFPA, in its 2020 pandemic response plan, identified a funding gap of approximately US$276 million that would be required to meet the sexual and reproductive health needs of those in humanitarian, fragile and development contexts.

Ireland is a consistent supporter of the UNFPA, which oversees implementation of the International Conference on Population and Development, ICPD, agenda. Ireland contributes core funding of approximately €3.5 million a year. Ireland supports reproductive health initiatives through its bilateral programme and is highly regarded by its partners for a strategic approach that sees gender equality and sexual and reproductive health and rights as indispensable to sustainable development. This support must be maintained, expanded and increased if efforts to build forward better are to meaningfully address gender equality.