Following the day long Open Hearing, the Pacific parliamentarians, NZPPD Executive, and key regional stakeholders participated in a half day roundtable discussion at which the following three overarching recommendations were accepted:
- That a country-specific structure be established in each country which links MPs and sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) organisations so that supportive political leaders can advance an SRHR agenda with a particular focus on adolescents and youth;
- That these structures be actively linked into international and regional networks for technical support purposes;
- That each country develop their own programme for advancing the SRHR agenda, with each structure engaging with community leaders as appropriate (e.g. tribal, church, civil society) and with particular focus on adolescents and youth.
Through both the oral and written submissions NZPPD received a number of recommended actions. These have been collated below.
Further Actions
Youth Engagement
- Engage adolescents in decision making processes that directly affect them. In particular, ensure their meaningful involvement in decisions about their own sexual and reproductive health.
- Recognise young Pacific women as key stakeholders to lead and influence change in the area of adolescent SRHR.
Access to services and commodities
- Increase efforts to ensure all Pacific Island adolescents have access to a complete range of high quality adolescent-friendly clinical SRHR services, which are non-discriminatory, free from stigma, confidential, affordable and available at times and dates suitable for adolescents.
- Ensure high quality information, commodities, supplies and services are available to adolescents in rural and small communities.
Education
- Increase efforts to ensure all Pacific Island adolescents have access to comprehensive SRHR information and education, through formal and informal settings.
- Promote safe and supportive school environments for all adolescents, particularly young women, LGBQTI, and other vulnerable groups.
Legislative reform
- Ensure legislation, policies and institutions protect the rights of women and girls, prevent and eliminate all forms of discrimination and gender based violence, and enable their full participation in political and other leadership through special measures.
- Decriminalise homosexuality and support legislation and policy to reduce stigma and discrimination faced by young people based on their sexual orientation or gender identity.
- Reform restrictive abortion legislation to reduce unsafe abortion.
Political prioritisation
- Ensure adolescents are explicitly addressed in reproductive health and population and development policy documents.
- Call for Pacific Island leaders to reaffirm the importance of both the recognition and realisation of SRHR in the Pacific Forum Leaders Communiqués.
- Establish a parliamentarians’ cross party group on population and development in each of the five Pacific countries represented at the Open Hearing.
Resourcing
Increased funding must be made available to enable:
- The delivery of culturally appropriate services to poor urban and rural communities.
- The building of essential infrastructure, which includes communications and transport, particularly to rural and outer island communities.
- Consistent availability of essential commodities, supplies and pharmaceuticals.
- Recruitment of health workers, and the training of new and existing health workers in best practice SRHR service delivery, including adolescent friendly clinical skills and health education skills.
- The dissemination of contraceptive and sexual health advice through formal and informal education services, health care agencies, and community outreach.
- Support for programmes that work to achieve gender equality
- Engagement of community and church leaders in the dissemination of information and services.
Research and data
Improve the collection, analysis and use of adolescent sexual and reproductive health data and strategic information.
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