Global policymakers and world leaders gathered at the 79^th Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in September in New York, where the Center for Reproductive Rights’ Global Advocacy team and other Center leaders were on hand to meet with them and discuss key sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) issues. 

The UNGA—the largest gathering of government leaders each year—offers unique opportunities to engage with these leaders and urge them to include SRHR as part of their international commitments. Those commitments can then serve as the basis—and be used by advocates—for policy reform on the national level. 

At the 79^th Session of the UNGA, Center team members attended the Summit of the Future—a high-level UN event bringing together world leaders to forge an international consensus on present and future goals—from September 22-23, as well as the UNGA’s High-Level Week—a weeklong series of events for world leaders, policymakers, experts and advocates—from September 23-27.

Summit of the Future: Center Works to Strengthen SRHR in the “Pact for the Future” 

Government leaders and stakeholders gathered at the Summit of the Future to address critical challenges and gaps in global governance and reaffirm commitments to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals and the UN Charter.

The Summit resulted in a negotiated Pact for the Future, an action-oriented agreement that demonstrates international cooperation by laying out agreed-upon goals on a range of human rights issues—including SRHR—and by tackling emerging threats and seizing opportunities. The Center’s Global Advocacy Team provided input to member states to strengthen references in the Pact to human rights, gender equality, SRHR and other issues.

Adopted by world leaders, the resulting Pact for the Future:

• Calls for universal access to sexual and reproductive health services and ensuring SRHR.
• Urges countries to achieve universal health coverage to ensure that all young people enjoy the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, including sexual and reproductive health.
• Contains annexes including a Global Digital Compact—a commitment to design, use and govern technology for the benefit of all—and a Declaration on Future Generations, a commitment to consider and include future generations in decision-making. 

UNGA High-Level Week: Center Leaders Engage with Policymakers from Across the World 

During UNGA’s High-Level Week, the Center’s President and CEO, Nancy Northup; Senior Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean, Catalina Martínez Coral; and members of the Global Advocacy team attended meetings and events with leading government and UN officials, as well as leaders from civil society and partner organizations.

Discussions included topics such as:

• Universal health care and human rights standards relating to SRHR and state obligations.  
• Expansion and implementation of Feminist Foreign Policy.  
• Ensuring accountability for SRHR violations.  
• Leveraging the Pact for the Future.  
• Global impacts of US abortion law.  
• The anti-rights movement across the globe and how to collaborate in pushing back against it. 

The Center’s Catalina Martínez Coral also spoke on a panel at a UN Women side event, “Toward an Equal, Just and Secure World.”

Side Event: The Center’s Nancy Northup Discusses U.S. Abortion Policy  

During the UNGA High-Level Week, Nancy Northup, Center President and CEO, spoke at a side event titled “Global Health at a Crossroads: U.S. Abortion Policy and its Impact on Sexual and Reproductive Rights Worldwide.”

Hosted by the global organization SheDecides, the event focused on:

• The global impacts of U.S. abortion policy.
• Anti-rights pushback against SRHR at the UN.
• The potential consequences of reinstating the “Global Gag Rule,” a restrictive policy that would deny funding to organizations that provide abortion information.

The event was moderated by Center board member Penny Abeywardena and included Colombia’s Ambassador for Gender Affairs and Global Feminist Policy, Arlene Tickner.