The United Nations Population Awards celebrate outstanding contributions to the awareness of population issues and solutions.  The awards are symbols of our efforts to place people at the centre of development.

This year’s Awards – the first Population Awards since the General Assembly adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development – continue this noble tradition.

The guiding principle of the 2030 Agenda – to leave no one behind – is the recognition that every individual is entitled to all human rights, without discrimination of any kind. It recognizes that individual well-being and dignity are critical for resilience and socio-economic progress.

I want to commend the Committee in its choice of this year’s Laureates.  We are grateful to the Laureates for their outstanding contributions to people and to values, which help us build a better world.

The focus of the work of our laureates – sexual and reproductive health and rights – is critical for achieving gender equality, women’s empowerment, maternal health, as well as social and economic transformation.

Seventy years ago, the founding of the United Nations was a bold testament to our belief in and commitment to a better life for all.  But the unfinished task of realising the equal rights of women, girls and young people is evidence of the continued gap between aspirations and reality.

The UN Population Awards can play an important part in bridging that gap and building a safer, more prosperous future.

Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

This year, we honour the remarkable achievements of two inspiring Laureates who are committed to improving lives and achieving sustainable development.

First, let me congratulate our Laureate in the Individual Category, Ms. Carmen Barroso from Brazil.

Ms. Barroso is a social scientist with long commitment to population causes.  She began her career at the Chagas Foundation in Brazil, where she pioneered innovative evaluation methods and created Brazil’s first and foremost women's studies centre.  She joined the MacArthur Foundation, where she became the first non-US Director in charge of the Reproductive Health and Population Programme.  She then became Director of the International Planned Parenthood Federation, Western Hemisphere Division, in New York. 

Ms. Barroso has served on many international commissions, including the Millennium Project Task Force for MDG-3, and the Brazilian Commission on Reproductive Health.
She currently serves on the board of the International AIDS Alliance, is co-chair of PAHO’s Panel on Gender and Health, and is a member of the Independent Accountability Panel of the Global Strategy for Women, Adolescents and Children, appointed by the United Nations Secretary-General. Ms. Barroso is a widely respected leader on population questions and their solutions, and she has actively supported the UNFPA agenda for many years.

Let me also congratulate our Laureate in the Institutional Category, the Childbirth with Dignity Foundation of Poland.

Access to safe prenatal and delivery services is essential to child survival; a sign of respect for every life.

Since its establishment in 1996, the Foundation has been a strong supporter of the rights of women and newborns.  Through its campaigns and advocacy, the Foundation has given women going through childbirth the authority and platform to demand their rights.

Partly as a result of its campaigns, women can now be accompanied by their partners during childbirth, and are no longer separated from their babies after delivery.

The Foundation was awarded the Japanese Sasakawa Health Prize for its special contribution to improving the quality of perinatal care, and raising women’s awareness of their rights.

I congratulate our 2016 Laureates who abundantly  deserve this recognition and honour. [Applause.]

Please join me in offering warm congratulations to Ms. Barroso for her exceptional leadership, and the Childbirth with Dignity Foundation, for its exemplary commitment to improving the quality of perinatal care in Poland.

Thank you.