Rabat Declaration


Rabat 2007 Declaration

  • IPPF Arab World Member Associations,
  • Parliamentarians
  • Regional experts
  • Youth advocates
  • Service providers

From 13 Arab countries gathered in Rabat, Morocco from 19-21 May 2007 to redouble efforts to advance sexual and reproductive health and rights in the Region. 

More than 100 participants reaffirmed their commitment to fulfilling the human rights of all, recognizing the universality of human rights and that everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms contained in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights without distinction of any kind, such as race, color, sex, language, religion, age, or any other status. They reviewed strategies to use human rights approaches for improving sexual and reproductive health throughout the Arab World, taking into account the specific context of each country and of the Region as a whole.
Discussions on a range of complex reproductive right and health issues took place, in an atmosphere that respected different views while underlining a commitment felt by all participants that the Programme of Action adopted by the International Conference on Population and Development in 1994 continues to be an essential tool for improving the health of women, men and young people, and advancing the extent to which their rights are respected and protected in the region.

Participants voiced concern at regional data showing that:

  • Young people number close to 100 million, but they lack access to youth-friendly reproductive and sexual health services, including counselling
  • Maternal mortality and morbidity remain unacceptably high. Every year in the Arab region, some 32,000 women die in childbirth or from complications arising from pregnancy. In many cases women have too many pregnancies, too closely spaced or they are too young or too old to bring pregnancies to term without complications; inadequate maternal health care means that too many women are dying to give birth. 
  • Violence against women and girls is pervasive, but not well documented in the Arab States
  • Harmful practices, such as female genital mutilation/cutting, often result in debilitating reproductive health conditions. In some Arab States, between 70 per cent and 97 per cent of women have had the procedure, most of them before the age of 12.
  • Most of the Arab States have relatively low HIV infection rates, but half a million people in the Arab States are HIV positive, including 160,000 young people.  Most states have instituted national HIV prevention programmes, but monitoring and implementation are problematic and services for high risk groups remain largely inadequate.

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