Latest news with #UNFPA
Euronews
10 hours ago
- Politics
- Euronews
More European countries begin evacuating citizens from Israel and Iran
More countries are evacuating their citizens from the Middle East as the conflict between Israel and Iran rages on, despite international efforts to find a diplomatic solution. Days of attacks and reprisals by the adversaries have shuttered airspace across the region, severely disrupting commercial flights. A repatriation flight transporting 69 people from Israel landed in Portugal on Thursday evening, with 48 Portuguese citizens among the passengers. The Portuguese government announced the temporary closure of its embassy in Tehran this week, alongside ongoing repatriation operations in the Middle East. In Serbia, 38 people arrived safely in Belgrade on Thursday night, most of whom were Serbian nationals. They arrived on a special Air Serbia flight from Sharm el-Sheikh, organised by the Serbian government, who said the evacuation of those wishing to leave Israel and Iran would continue. On Thursday, Serbian Prime Minister Đuro Macut met with Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty in Cairo to discuss the emergency evacuation of more than 2,500 Serbian nationals stranded in Israel. Meanwhile, in Romania, more than a hundred people arrived in the capital Bucharest on Friday on military transport flights from the Middle East. The Romanian Ministry of Defence sent the planes to the region after its nationals requested assistance. The conflict between Israel and Iran erupted on 13 June following Israeli bombings on Iranian military and nuclear facilities, which resulted in the deaths of military leaders, scientists and civilians. More than 400 EU citizens from countries including Greece, Lithuania, Poland and Slovakia have been evacuated from Israel in flights supported by the European Commission. Millions of people are unable to have the number of children they want due to barriers related to economic and health factors, according to a new United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) report. The study reveals that a lack of choice, not desire, is what is stopping people from having the families they want, defying claims of people rejecting parenthood. "Reproductive agency is more than just freedom from coercion or improved access to services, it is the full range of conditions that enable people to exercise their reproductive rights and ensure true choice, including gender equality, economic stability, decent health and confidence in the future," said Natalia Kanem, executive director at UNFPA. UNFPA and YouGov conducted an online survey of more than 14,000 adults, both men and women, across 14 countries that together are home to over 37% of the global population. The majority of both men and women in the four EU member states - Italy, Hungary, Germany and Sweden - analysed in the study indicated that two children is their ideal number. Among these four EU countries analysed in the study, factors such as infertility and difficulty conceiving, as well as poor general health or chronic illnesses, impact Italy the most, with 15% and 13% respectively. Germany and Sweden also reported similar issues. Financial limitations are also one of the main issues keeping these countries from having more children, with Hungary reporting the highest rate at 34%. Germany and Sweden have also pointed out financial limitations as a primary concern regarding their desired number of children. Meanwhile, Italian respondents struggled the most with unemployment or job insecurity at 30%. Concerns regarding the current political or social landscape were noted as a barrier by 19% of respondents in Italy. Italian, Swedish, and Hungarian respondents were also concerned by the lack of a suitable partner, at 17%. Only 15% of those surveyed in Germany shared this concern.
Euronews
10 hours ago
- Politics
- Euronews
Economic and health barriers holding back parenthood, UNFPA claims
Millions of people are unable to have the number of children they want due to barriers related to economic and health factors, according to a new United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) report. The study reveals that a lack of choice, not desire, is what is stopping people from having the families they want, defying claims of people rejecting parenthood. "Reproductive agency is more than just freedom from coercion or improved access to services, it is the full range of conditions that enable people to exercise their reproductive rights and ensure true choice, including gender equality, economic stability, decent health and confidence in the future," said Natalia Kanem, executive director at UNFPA. UNFPA and YouGov conducted an online survey of more than 14,000 adults, both men and women, across 14 countries that together are home to over 37% of the global population. The majority of both men and women in the four EU member states - Italy, Hungary, Germany and Sweden - analysed in the study indicated that two children is their ideal number. Among these four EU countries analysed in the study, factors such as infertility and difficulty conceiving, as well as poor general health or chronic illnesses, impact Italy the most, with 15% and 13% respectively. Germany and Sweden also reported similar issues. Financial limitations are also one of the main issues keeping these countries from having more children, with Hungary reporting the highest rate at 34%. Germany and Sweden have also pointed out financial limitations as a primary concern regarding their desired number of children. Meanwhile, Italian respondents struggled the most with unemployment or job insecurity at 30%. Concerns regarding the current political or social landscape were noted as a barrier by 19% of respondents in Italy. Italian, Swedish, and Hungarian respondents were also concerned by the lack of a suitable partner, at 17%. Only 15% of those surveyed in Germany shared this concern. Police in the United Kingdom are searching for suspects and the military is reviewing its security procedures after pro-Palestinian activists broke into a Royal Air Force base in Oxfordshire and damaged two planes with red paint, officials said on Friday. The group Palestine Action said two members entered RAF Brize Norton, some 110 kilometres west of London, on Wednesday and used electric scooters to approach the Voyager jets, which are used for air-to-air refuelling. The duo sprayed red paint into the planes' turbine engines with repurposed fire extinguishers. They caused further damage with crowbars, according to the group, which released video footage appearing to show an individual approach a jet and spray paint into the engine. The activists left the base without being detained, Palestine Action said. The group said in a statement that "despite publicly condemning the Israeli government, Britain continues to send military cargo, fly spy planes over Gaza and refuel US/Israeli fighter jets." The Ministry of Defence confirmed the incident, saying: "We strongly condemn this vandalism of Royal Air Force assets." UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer called the vandalism "disgraceful" in a post on X. Thames Valley Police said in a statement that it had "received a report of people gaining access to RAF Brize Norton and causing criminal damage." Officers were working with staff at the base and military police to arrest the perpetrators, the force said. The government said two planes were being checked for damage and that the vandalism had not stopped any planned aircraft movements or operations. "A full security review is underway at Brize Norton," Starmer's office said. "We are reviewing security across the whole defence estate." Planes from RAF Brize Norton regularly fly to RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus, Britain's main air base for operations in the Middle East. The UK has sent more Typhoon fighter jets and Voyager tankers to Cyprus since the Israel-Iran conflict started a week ago for what Starmer called "contingency support." Iran has threatened to attack US, French and British bases in the region if those countries help Israel fend off Iranian strikes.
Scoop
a day ago
- Scoop
Long After The Guns Fall Silent, Conflict-related Sexual Violence Leaves Lasting Scars
19 June 2025 In 2024 alone, the UN verified around 4,500 cases of conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV), though the real number is likely much higher. An overwhelming 93 per cent of survivors were women and girls. Under international law, CRSV is recognised as a war crime, a crime against humanity, and an act that can constitute genocide. Its long-lasting impact undermines efforts to build lasting peace. On Thursday, the UN marked the International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict, highlighting the enduring and intergenerational effects of this brutal tactic. Tactic of war In many conflicts, sexual violence is deliberately used to terrorise, punish and humiliate civilians. ' It is used to terrorise, to punish, but also to humiliate civilians, especially women and girls, ' said Esméralda Alabre, coordinator of the UN reproductive health agency's (UNFPA) response to gender-based violence in Sudan, speaking to UN News. But the harm does not stop with the survivors. CRSV is often used to tear apart communities and undermine social cohesion. It fragments families, spreads fear and deepens societal divisions. In Haiti, gangs have forced family members to rape their own mothers and wives, according to Pascale Solages, founder of a feminist organization in the country. Women's bodies are being turned into battlegrounds. Perpetrators aim to destroy community bonds, using rape as a tool of domination and control. Survivors are left to carry the burden of trauma, stigma and isolation, she told UN News. Generational trauma Many survivors are silenced by fears of reprisal and retaliation: 'to break the cycle, we must confront horrors of the past,' said UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, in a statement marking the day. Trauma is not only immediate, but also creates deep and lasting intergenerational wounds, as the cycle of violence often impacts multiple generations. Shunned from their communities, many survivors are forced to raise children born out of rape, on their own. ' It's almost like their cries are being ignored by the world,' said Ms. Alabre. Survivors of CRSV and their children, often excluded from education, employment, and other essential aspects of life, are pushed into poverty – further deepening their vulnerability. ' For too many women and children, war is not over when it's over,' said the UN Special Representative who advocates for all those who experience sexual violence in conflict settings, Pramila Patten. Need for accountability Survivors not only have the right to safety and support, but also to justice and redress. Yet, ' too often, perpetrators walk free, cloaked in impunity while survivors often bear the impossible burden of stigma and shame,' said Mr. Guterres. The limited availability of support services, especially following recent aid cuts, stands in the way of survivors' healing: not only is it becoming harder for survivors to hold their attackers accountable, prevention efforts are being stymied by funding cuts in many capitals since the start of the year. 'What happened to me could have been prevented,' survivors have told Ms. Patten time and time again. Yet, in March alone, UNFPA's Sudan office had to close 40 women and girls safe spaces, impeding efforts to provide both immediate and long-term care to survivors. Community-based interventions, child-friendly support for child survivors' education, and legislative policy changes play a crucial role in preventing CRSV. ' If we undermine investment in women's recovery, we undermine investment in conflict recovery, and we all inherit a less safe world,' said Ms. Patten.
BBC News
a day ago
- Health
- BBC News
Cheltenham woman, 28, donates her eggs to help families
A woman who donated her eggs before having a family of her own said she wanted to give other people the chance to have Ward, 28, from Cheltenham in Gloucestershire, decided to donate her eggs to a fertility clinic in London. Ms Ward said: "I know how much it means to me to one day have kids of my own and I thought - why not? If it means that much to me I know it means that much to other people, too."Research shows that fertility challenges are increasing, with one in seven couples now struggling to conceive. Ms Ward said: "I've always wanted kids but haven't found the right person yet."It's a donation, if I don't ever meet the child that is fine. "For me, I know this child is wanted and they're going to have a great life."The support was really good, the hormones they gave me, I'd take home. "At the end of two weeks I'd go in for a procedure. I'm receiving support after too, getting blood tests to make sure everything is okay." 'We don't have endless fertility' This comes after a new report by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the UN agency for reproductive rights, warned that hundreds of millions of people are not able to have the number of children they surveyed 14,000 people in 14 countries about their fertility intentions. One in five said they have not had or expect they will not have their desired number of Forster, senior fertility counsellor at London Women's Clinic, said people think differently about family planning today than they might have in the past."Family planning is something we think about a lot, particularly as women," Ms Forster said."Every decision we make in our lives has to be rooted around that decision, we don't have endless fertility."People don't just get into a romantic relationship anymore and assume having children is the next step. "Young people are amazing now because they are thinking about these things in a bigger way." Becky Kearns was diagnosed with premature ovarian insufficiency in 2014, meaning she did not have enough eggs to get pregnant."I was 28, the same age Marianne is now, when I was essentially heading into early menopause," she said."We eventually decided to explore egg donation. It wasn't an easy decision to make, there was a lot of grief around losing my genetics and fear around not being seen as the real mum," she Kearns and her partner went through the donation process 10 years ago and now have three daughters."There was a beautiful moment when my daughter said to me I think I know where my curls come from," Ms Kearns said."She said 'I think my donor put a little bit of blue and some curls into the egg and that's why I have curls and blue eyes'."
Spectator
2 days ago
- General
- Spectator
The real reason birth rates are falling
Last week the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) released its State of World Population report. According to the Guardian: 'Millions of people are prevented from having the number of children they want by a toxic mix of economic barriers and sexism, a new UN report has warned.' Dr Natalia Kanem, executive director of UNFPA, said: 'The answer lies in responding to what people say they need: paid family leave, affordable fertility care and supportive partners.' Nonsense, of course. Does Africa (4.1 births per woman) have better family leave and fertility care and more supportive partners than Sweden (1.4)? The reason for UNFPA's counter-intuitive findings is simple. They have not 'found' (the word almost every report uses) the reasons people don't have babies. They've found the reasons people say they're not having babies. People say all kinds of things. Against a background of concern at low fertility, and asked why they're not contributing more to maintaining population numbers, most people are unlikely to reply: 'Because babies are hard work, and restrict my freedom to live the life of my choice.' Of course they won't! 'I don't want children' sounds selfish. They'll instead say that they'd like to have more children, but for one reason or another beyond their control are prevented from having a bigger family. Even taking that into account, I note from the figures for respondents' answers to the survey's core questions that only one in five said they expected to have fewer children than they'd like. 'What they'd like' is key. Face it. Modern couples are making a lifestyle choice in curbing procreation. Babies are thoroughly inconvenient. Pets (say reports) are substituting for children as they're less trouble. Dog ownership is increasing. I doubt that the science of polling could provide the honest answers we need, but I'll take an intuitive stab at 'explaining' why the 21st-century world is having fewer children. Birth rates are falling not (pace UNFPA) because people feel less free to have bigger families, but because they feel more free not to. And it's women I'm mostly talking about. The reason for falling birth rates is the emancipation of women. Those thousands of years when hearth, home and motherhood were the limits of what a young woman could aspire to are gone. The cultural blocks on careers for women are being lifted, and that's a good thing. But it has consequences. Even after making every effort to harmonise career with reproduction, even after nudging men into sharing domestic duties, after extending maternity and paternity leave (480 days in Sweden) and penalising employers for discriminating against mothers who interrupt work to care for babies, after state help with nurseries and daycare centres and the financial incentives some countries are now offering for having more children, even after all that, modern women want a life beyond the front door. This is especially so for younger women starting out on a career. Later, with more seniority in the workplace, can come more flexibility and power to dictate terms. This is surely one reason professionally successful modern women now choose motherhood towards the end of the female reproductive lifespan. My mother was in her early twenties when her firstborn (me) came along. This allowed time for another five children, regularly puncturing the possibilities of career. This is backed up by a stubborn failure to reverse fertility trends through governmental attempts to incentivise childbirth. South Korea, Hungary and France have offered families a shedload of goodies – tax breaks and bounties of every kind – to grow. The effects have been negligible. The doubling of available talent for the modern economy must be vastly beneficial both to productivity and the sum of human happiness, but it doesn't encourage procreation. Why, though, do UNFPA and a host of other official voices call falling birth rates a crisis? It's only about ten minutes since world overpopulation, not underpopulation, was the popular cause for anxiety. Economists may answer that low birth rates mean either a contracting young workforce to support expanding numbers of an ageing population, or the continuous importation of young immigrant workers to fill the gap. True enough. But more babies mean – in the end – more oldies; and so do more immigrants, after a time lag. We can't indefinitely keep shovelling more births and more immigrants into the economy to feed a (consequentially) swelling care sector. If, then, we cannot fuel economic growth through babies and migrants, why assume we should be trying to grow the size of the economy in the first place? Let the country face a deficit of workers until employers pay more to bring more of the native population into gainful employment; let the increase in longevity level off, as it is doing. With later retirement, we could stabilise the proportions of contributors and beneficiaries and distribute the spoils of increased productivity among fewer people than if we carry on sucking in immigrants or succeed in cranking out more babies. Of course, if world birth rates stayed below 2.1, humankind would eventually become extinct. But that's for generations hence to ponder. For our own, there is no shortage of people – quite the reverse. And the fewer of us there are, the greater for each will be our share; and the more easily we could halt the despoilation of the planet. The world might become a nicer place to bring children into. My thinking here is not new, and has been argued more capably by others for decades, but the current panic about depopulation, the suspect underlying premise that more people means more for each of them, and the political mantra that everything must depend upon 'growth', prompt me to pose again some very big questions.
