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These young expectant mothers not only join the troubling national statistics on teenage pregnancy, they also become the subject of negative commentary over the dinner table, the object of sniggering in school and on the streets, and, worse still, they become a tag line for parents and teachers who warn other girls: You don’t want to end up like her! 

These young expectant mothers not only join the troubling national statistics on teenage pregnancy, they also become the subject of negative commentary over the dinner table, the object of sniggering in school and on the streets, and, worse still, they become a tag line for parents and teachers who warn other girls: You don’t want to end up like her! 

In 1994, the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), in Cairo, initiated a major paradigm shift from a demographic focused perspective of population and development to a new vision that focused on human rights, particularly the rights of individuals, couples and families, at the centre of relationships between population, development and human well-being. The comprehensive 20 year Programme of Action (PoA) that was adopted by 179 countries, including Pacific Island Countries, placed the right to sexual and reproductive health as well as gender equality and women’s empowerment at the core of its recommended population development strategies. 

UNFPA is guided by the idea “Everyone Counts”, and while this is often referred to with regard to work on population, it is equally true in the mandate of the Fund to ensure universal access to reproductive health. This is central to the spirit of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), and the Programme of Action adopted by 174 countries in Cairo (1994) to realize the ICPD promise over 20 years. When the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 5B was adopted in 2008, it included access to reproductive health care for all members of society, including those living with disabilities

Many countries have taken up the cause of preventing adolescent pregnancies, often through actions aimed at changing a girl’s behaviour. Implicit in such interventions are a belief that the girl is responsible for preventing pregnancy and an assumption that if she does become pregnant, she is at faul

This report has been prepared by Dr. Henrica A.F.M. (Henriette) Jansen, Dr. Seu’ula Johansson -Fua , Betty Hafoka -Blake, and Gabriella Renee ‘Ilolahia.

The views in the report are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Australian Government or of any other organisation or person.

Gender-based violence (commonly referred to as violence against women) both reflects and reinforces inequality between men and women

and compromises the health, dignity, security and autonomy of its victims, of which 95% are women and girls. It encompasses a wide range of human rights violations, including sexual abuse

of children, rape, domestic violence, sexual assault and harassment, trafficking of women and girls and several harmful traditional practices. Any one of these abuses can leave deep psychological scars, damage the health of women and girls in general, including their reproductive and sexual health, and in some instances, result in death.

The evidence which we have seen from this report on the Family Health & Safety Study challenges this conception. Two out of three women aged between 15 and 49 years have been abused and the stories about children being abused are unspeakable, yet violence against women and children has often been the subject of continuous denial and suppression by society. We continue

to harbour attitudes that do not conform with what we aspire to be. Society has been slow in condemning violence against women and child abuse as crimes and this is exacerbated by the

fact that violence against women is very much inherent in gender-based inequalities practised by our society. Whoever is in control shapes the destiny of others and in this equation, the most

vulnerable are our women and our children. 

This report provides the first overview of population ageing in the Pacific Islands both at the sub-regional level and in individual countries. The report also reviews the implications of population ageing for social welfare of the elderly and related policy issues that Island governments will face in the coming decades. The UNFPA intends to work with the countries, other international organizations, NGOs and civil society in the future researching these issues in greater detail and assisting the countries of the region to formulate appropriate policies and programmes in a timely manner.