Damascus-SANA
On the occasion of World Population Day, which falls on July 11 of each year, the Syrian Commission for Family and Population Affairs, in cooperation with the United Nations Population Fund, organized an event during which the State of World Population Report 2021 was presented and reports on the situation of the population in Syria and the national commitments related to the International Population Conference held in Nairobi year 2019.
The event, which was organized in the Reda Saeed Conference Hall at the University of Damascus, included musical performances by a number of graduates of the Higher Institute of Music and an exhibition of plastic art for a number of graduates of the Faculty of Fine Arts, which included paintings inspired by the population's issues and needs.
In her speech, the Minister of Social Affairs and Labor, Dr. Salwa Abdullah, stressed the importance of enhancing awareness of population issues and their relationship to the environment and development, and Syria's commitment to the various recommendations of the international population conferences, such as its commitment to reducing the rate of underage marriage, deaths of children under five years of age and maternal deaths, as well as continuing to update legislation related to population issues.
Minister Abdullah stressed the need to lift coercive economic measures on Syria to improve services provided to the population, reproductive health issues, gender equality and women’s empowerment, noting that the terrorist war on Syria affected development indicators in Syria, the family and the Syrian society, pointing to the current work in accordance with plans and programs to bridge the gap and work. Empowering women and protecting them from gender-based violence, protecting children and improving livelihoods in cooperation with NGOs and international organizations in accordance with the sustainable development goals.
In a similar speech, the resident representative of the Population Fund in Syria, Dr. Iyad Nasr, praised the strategic partnership between the Fund and the Syrian government towards population issues, the support provided by Syria in this field, and the translation of its commitment to adopting comprehensive population and credit policies and implementing plans and programs that contributed to achieving progress in the field of population, development, reproductive health and youth. combating gender-based violence and promoting opportunities for gender equality.
He pointed to the need to enable women to make informed choices about their reproductive health and to have access to services that support these choices in order for societies to enjoy a healthy and more productive level, indicating that the war conditions in Syria create great challenges for service providers and beneficiaries.
The State of World Population 2021 report focuses on the topic of demanding the right to independence and self-determination for women and girls. The report indicated that 56 percent of countries support access to comprehensive sex education, 75 percent of countries have laws that guarantee equal access between men and women to family planning, and 80 percent of countries support reproductive and sexual health.
For his part, the head of the Syrian Commission for Family and Population Affairs, Dr. Akram Al-Qash, explained in his presentation that the first local report on the state of the population was issued in 2008 and the second report in 2010, where he drafted population policy projects, but their implementation stumbled later as a result of the repercussions of the terrorist war on Syria, noting that the commission established By updating the population papers of a number of governorates to update the data, the population policy project became part of the post-war Syria program.
Dr. Al-Qash revealed that the commission, in cooperation with the United Nations Population Fund, is preparing a report on the situation of the Syrian population for the year 2020, focusing on return, stability and the workforce, and it is expected to be completed before the end of this year.
The event was attended by the Minister of Health, Dr. Hassan Al-Ghabash.
