Roel Deseyn, federal MP and chair of the Parliamentarians for the 2030 Agenda travelled to Tanzania in late June as part of a delegation of European politicians. He spoke to Tanzanian MPs, policy makers, NGO staff and youth activists about the many challenges relating to sexual and reproductive health and rights. 

Late August, thirty parliamentarians from all regions of the world participated in a UNFPA and EPF interactive dialogue in the Austrian capital. MP Benoît Piedboeuf participated as a member of the Belgian ‘Parliamentarians for the 2030 Agenda’. 

“It is proving increasingly difficult to discuss sexual and reproductive health and rights in UN texts. Sexual orientation, gender identity and sexuality education are also particularly hard to address. These concepts are seen as a threat to so-called ‘traditional family values’, Senator and Prof. Dr. Petra De Sutter explained. “Family is understood as a unit with a male breadwinner and the woman in the role of house wife”.