Sarajevo, 14 April 2021 – The United Nation Population Fund (UNFPA) in Bosnia and Herzegovina has launched two reports today, contributing to the UNFPA’s mission of delivering a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe and every young person's potential is fulfilled.
• The State of the World Population Report for 2021: My Body is My Own focuses on bodily autonomy: the power and agency to make choices about your body, without fear of violence or having someone else decide for you. The report highlights that lack of bodily autonomy is having implications beyond harms to individual women and girls, and shows the impact on depressing economic productivity, undercutting skills, and increasing costs to health care and judicial systems.
• The Inquiry on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Reproductive Rights in Bosnia and Herzegovina, is the first inquiry of its kind in BiH, undertaken in line the internationally recognized methodology developed by UNFPA. The Inquiry shows that the COVID-19 pandemic has reduced availability and quality of sexual and reproductive health services, negatively impacting access to and the availability of family planning services, sexual and reproductive health education, treatment of breast and cervical cancer as well as abortion services. This inquiry was conducted by the BiH Institution of Ombudsmen for Human Rights, with technical assistance provided by proMENTE Social Research agency and support by the United Nations Population Fund in BiH.
UNFPA Regional Director for Eastern Europe and Central Asia Alanna Armitage in her opening remarks welcomed the launch of SWOP 2021 and BiH Inquiry on SRHR.
Ingrid Macdonald, UN Resident Coordinator in Bosnia and Herzegovina highlighted the importance of universal access to sexual and reproductive health care for the Sustainable Development Goals endorsed by Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2015 alongside 172 countries worldwide. Ms Macdonald recognized the endorsement of the SDG framework by the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina last week, which enables monitoring of actionable targets on sexual and reproductive health care.
The Inquiry on SRHR in BiH provided valuable information on sexual and reproductive health and rights in BiH. Sexual and reproductive health rights are guaranteed by-laws, strategies, and regulations and should be respected stressed John Kennedy Mosoti, UNFPA Representative in BiH.
Some 100 participants from BiH government and non-government institutions as well as international organizations gathered to learn the results and recommendations from SRHR inquiry which were presented by Dr. Jasminka Džumhur from the Institution of Human Rights Ombudsman/Ombudsmen of BiH and Ivona Čelebičić from proMente Social Research agency.
