On 11th December, JOICFP, in cooperation with Japan's Network for Women and Health (WHJ), and the Kitakyushu Forum on Asian Women (KFAW), held the third in a series of traveling seminars designed to raise awareness of and support for the ICPD Program of Action (PoA).

About 80 people, including around 30 young people, and the local member of parliament attended to hear speeches and discussions under the theme of "Environment, Development, Sexuality and Health of Youth."

Situation of women and young people in the world

After an opening speech by the chairperson Yoshiko Misumi, President, KFAW, Kiyoko Ikegami, Director, UNFPA Tokyo Office, spoke on international commitments to women's issues, such as the ICPD PoA and the UN Millennium Development Goals.

She highlighted problems that remained, such as the feminization of HIV/AIDS, and gave examples of national actions revealed in the UNFPA Global Survey. These, she said, showed that gender inequality and violence toward women, as well as lack of RH services, are areas that still need urgent attention.

Misumi delivers the opening speech

Dr. Yoko Tsurugi, Research Assistant, University of Occupational and Environmental Health, Japan, then spoke on the sexuality and health of young people, informing the audience of sexual and reproductive health/rights (SRH/R).

She went on to compare the Japanese SRH/R situation with that in some European countries, explaining that in these countries SRH/R was part of RH education, and that Japan needed to build a society that was not negative toward sexuality.

Dr. Tsurugi

She was followed by Michiko Takahashi, Assistant Director, Region 1 Division, OISCA, who shared her experiences of development through agriculture, in which, she said, the social standing of women in a society became very clear.

Takahashi spoke about lack of education, early marriage, and frequent pregnancies as obstacles to women's equality.

The final speaker was Yukiko Oda, Chief Researcher, KFAW. She emphasized the importance of health in sustainable development, and said that environmental health concerns tended to concentrate on specific damage to body parts instead of realizing the effect on the entire system.

Questions and panel discussion

In a panel discussion, the speakers took questions from the floor, coordinated by Prof. Hiroko Hara, WHJ. There were many questions from all ages and both genders, and it came to be seen that there was a somewhat negative image toward sexuality, especially for young people.

Hara (left) chairs the question and answer session

Ikegami then explained that it was not enough to provide young people with SRH knowledge, but the reasons why they failed to put that knowledge into practice needed to be made clear, and then a new form of education developed.

A member of the public raises a question with the panel