25 years ago, a global revolution started in Cairo when 179 world leaders met at the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) recognized that individuals have a basic human right to make free and responsible reproductive choices. The ICPD programme of action stressed that women's empowerment is a precondition to development. Despite progress in the Arab region, the quest to fulfil ICPD promises...

Nermin was only 21 years old when she was uprooted from her Syrian hometown of Qamishli in 2012. With her parents and siblings, she walked away from the life she had made for herself, running from a devastating war that engulfed the country, and travelled for hundreds of kilometres looking for refuge in Duhok, a city within the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. “I never thought I would have to start over. I was studying Ara...

Statement by UNFPA Executive Director Dr Natalia Kanem for the International Day of the Midwife, 5 May 2019