Anjali Sharma
GG News Bureau
UNITED NATIONS, 17th August. Nafis Sadik, former Executive Director of UNFPA died on Monday at the age 92 was the first woman to head one of the UN’s major voluntarily funded programmes and leaves a rich legacy of contributions to women’s health and rights, UN Spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in a statement issued in New York on behalf of the Secretary General Antonio Guterres.
Spokesman Dujarric said in a statement “She consistently called attention to the importance of addressing the needs of women, and of involving women directly in making and carrying out development policy, which she believed was particularly important for population policies and programmes,”.
Ms. Sadik, a native of Pakistan had served as the Executive Director of the UN Population Fund, Special Advisor and Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Asia and the Pacific, spokesman Dujarric said in the statement.
“Dr. Sadik will be remembered for her significant contributions to women’s health and rights and population policies and for her tireless efforts to combat HIV/AIDS,” he said.
He said that Mr. Guterres sends his “sincere condolences to her friends and family”.
UNFPA Executive Director Natalia Kanem said she is “Profoundly saddened” by the news, described Dr. Sadik as a “proud champion of choice and tireless advocate for women’s health, rights and empowerment”.
Ms. Sadik also served as Secretary-General of the International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo in 1994 and architect of its groundbreaking Programme of Action, the statement issued in New York said
Ms. Kanem pointed out that Dr. Sadik was of “a trailblazer who made indelible contributions to advancing sexual and reproductive health and rights, women’s leadership and global development”.
“Her bold vision and leadership in Cairo set the world on an ambitious path – a journey that passed through Beijing and the 1995 World Conference on Women, helped shape the Millennium Development Goals and anticipated the transformative vision of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its 17 integrated and universal Sustainable Development Goals. This journey has helped transform the lives of millions of women and girls,” Ms. Kanem said.
Dr. Sadik called attention to the importance of addressing women’s needs, and of involving women as decision-makers and drivers of development policy, MNs. Kanem said.
She helped the world understand that people are at the heart of development and that when we remove obstacles in their path and uphold their rights, they and their societies flourish – women especially, said Ms. Kanem.
“She demonstrated through her own example the transformative power of women’s leadership”.
“Since Cairo, millions of girls and young women have grown up knowing that their bodies belong to them, and that their futures are theirs to shape,” she said.
She referred to the Conference that reached consensus on a series of goals including wider access for women to secondary and higher education, the reduction of infant and child mortality and access to reproductive and sexual health services such as family planning.
“The ICPD Programme of Action stands as a lasting monument to Dr. Sadik’s determination, courage and conviction. Nearly three decades later, it remains our roadmap to achieve a world of reproductive rights and choices for all,” Ms. Kanem said.
Former UNFPA chief Dr. Sadik said that the first mark of respect for women is support for their reproductive rights, which “involve more than the right to reproduce,” in her address at the Beijing Women’s Conference 25 years ago.
“They involve support for women in activities other than reproduction, in fact liberating women from a system of values which insists that reproduction is their only function”.
Dr. Sadik joined UNFPA in 1971 and served as Assistant Executive Director from 1977 until 1987 as Executive Director.
She was working as an obstetrician-gynecologist by profession , she was Director-General of the Pakistan Central Family Planning Council, according to her UN bio data stated.
Various UN agencies such as WHO, UN Women and UNAIDS, the UN family lauded their late colleague on Twitter and expressed deep sorrow for her passing.
Ms. Kanem on behalf of the UNFPA extended her sincere condolences to Dr. Sadik’s family, to the Government and people of Pakistan, to women around the world and to all who are mourning her loss.
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