The United Nations Population Fund (UNPF) and the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) are launching a campaign aimed at heightening global awareness that women’s rights are human rights. The event marks 1998 as the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and International Human Rights Year.
The Face to Face campaign will include U.N. special Ambassador Waris Dirie, a Somalian supermodel who endured and is an activist against female genital mutilation. Dirie said, “I see myself as an ambassador on behalf of my sisters in Africa. I have seen them suffer and die from this practice.”
The campaign will be initiated in 14 countries across Europe and will focus on women’s health programs, sex education, HIV prevention, and other reproductive and sexual health issues.
