What is project 2025?  Project 2025 is a blueprint for the next conservative President-elect. This strategic plan was written by the Heritage Foundation, an influential far-right think tank, in collaboration with former President Trump's ex-employees and far-right and Christian nationalist groups. In the past, Republican presidents have often acted on policy advice from the Heritage Foundation.
 On the 22nd of March, the yearly international negotiations at the UN on Women’s rights reached an agreement. The meeting is called the Commission on the Status of women (CSW). Every year, UN member states come together and discuss a different aspect of gender equality. This year, “addressing poverty and strengthening institutions and financing with a gender perspective” was the theme. Negotiations are difficult, member states have very different positions on human rights, SRHR, comprehensive sexuality education and even the very concept of gender equality. Some years, they don’t reach a consensus.
 At the end of March we were honoured to welcome Winnie Byanyima, UNAIDS executive director to Brussels. The executive director made time to speak to both civil society organisations and the Parliamentarians for the 2030 Agenda.
 The Countdown 2030 consortium publishes a yearly analysis of the expenses for international solidarity of European governments. The findings in this review are accompanied by interactive maps and graphs that clearly illustrate the evolution of spending throughout the years. This year it shows how some European countries, paradoxically, were the biggest recipients of their own international solidarity spending. This is a result of reorienting the budget to shelter Ukrainian refugees.
 Illustration by: Tanya Shyika On 9 June 2024, the next regional, federal and European elections will be held in Belgium. This means new lines will be set out for the next four years. In the field of international Sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), we see opportunities to make sustainable progress.
What was the trip to Malawi like, and what have you taken on board?  It was instructive, disturbing and sometimes shocking. Because it was my first time travelling to a sub-Saharan African country. The places we visited were really not how I’d imagined. You can’t compare African hospitals to Belgian or European hospitals but I found the willingness and willpower to help inspiring. They perform miracles with very little resources.
What was the trip to El Salvador like, and what have you taken on board?  It was a confronting trip. Especially the fear people have of the regime to speak freely, from healthcare providers and patients to teaching staff. It shows that relational and sexual education is essential. Healthcare providers say they had those tools, and were willing to use them, but the regime took them away. That’s what the international community should be working on, that’s where human rights are being trampled. The right to education, which also means the right to relational and sexual education, has been abolished under the current regime. Gynaecologists say they’re often afraid to help their patients. However the ministry likes to brag, that nobody is left out, and everyone receives a contraceptive plan.
 Over the past year Europe has witnessed successive wins by extreme right parties in national elections. In September 2022, Fratelli d’Italia, led by Giorgia Meloni, won the Italian general elections. She’s the first Italian prime minister with roots in neofascism to take office since World War II. A far-right government was formed with Salvini’s Lega and late Berlusconi’s party Forza Italia. In that same month the Sweden Democrats became the second biggest party in Sweden, and are supporting an extreme right minority government. In Finland, the Finns Party was the second biggest party in the April 2023 parliamentary elections. The Finns Party took office, joining a coalition of right-wing conservative parties. What do these victories of extreme right parties mean for the policies in support of sexual and reproductive rights, at home and abroad?
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