Thoraya Ahmed Obaid, UNFPA executive director, said the network will include Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh, Jewish, Christian and Muslim members and will work on critical issues, ranging from eliminating HIV/AIDS to ensuring women's equality.
"Is it moral to allow a woman to die every minute during childbirth when we know what can save her? Is it moral to extend the suffering of a woman who was raped and violated, making her endure a life of shame and stigma? Is it moral to forbid a girl from having the same chances in life as a boy simply because she was born a girl?" Obaid asked at the opening of the Global Forum of Faith-Based Organizations on Population and Development.
UNFPA has developed partnerships with more than 400 faith-based organizations in about 100 countries since the 1970s, and the forum in İstanbul is the culmination of a journey that accelerated after a regional forum in Durban, South Africa, in December 2007.
"From there, we traveled to Kuala Lumpur, where our partners from 12 Asian and Pacific countries met, and then to Cairo, where our partners from nine Arab countries came together last July," she said, adding that they ended in Buenos Aires, where their partners from 12 Latin American and Caribbean countries gathered to discuss the best ways to combat maternal mortality and violence against women, to fight the spread of HIV and deal with the stigma of those affected by AIDS and to address migration issues and the concerns of young people.
UNFPA, which is an international development agency, supports countries by using population data to design policies and programs to reduce poverty and to ensure that every pregnancy is wanted, every birth is safe, every young person is free of HIV/AIDS and every girl and woman is treated with dignity and respect.
Obaid said their work has shifted from counting people to making people count, from people as beneficiaries to people as actors responsible for their lives.
Addressing the religious leaders, she said: "You have moral authority and social and political outreach within your respective networks. You are able to employ these resources to improve human well-being and serve the purpose of the greater good."
She told Today's Zaman that if religious leaders say, "You have to treat your wives well and honor women," it will make a difference.
Mufti of İstanbul Mustafa Çağrıcı said the UNFPA understands that religious leaders can play an important role. "The activities of the UNFPA should be supported by Muslims. One of the sayings of the Prophet Muhammad tells us that people have a right to be able to sustain life in a healthy manner. We have a huge accumulation of experience," Çağrıcı said.
Sister Ngozi Ti, executive director of the Center for Women's Studies and Intervention in Nigeria, said it is sad to see that 60 years after the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, half of the population -- women -- are still suffering.
"In Nigeria, we educate men who are the religious leaders because we cannot achieve much without the cooperation of men," she said at a press conference following the opening of the forum.
Additionally, Mufti of Uganda Shaaban Mubaje said politicians cannot succeed without involving religious leaders. The forum which started yesterday will end today at the Hilton Hotel Convention Center. UNFPA officials said the global forum is a first and has the support of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
UNFPA's Turkey office notes some startling facts
* At least one mother and 120 babies die in Turkey of preventable causes.
* Only 78 out of 100 births occur at a medical facility. This number is as low as 60 in some regions.
* Only 43 percent of married couples use modern and effective methods of birth control.
* More than half of abortions are a result of unwanted pregnancies.
* Forty-seven percent of the population of Turkey is younger than 24, but national data available on young people's problems, health, attitudes and behavior are very limited.
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