International

Two Members of Parliament, the SP’s Ewout Irrgang and Christian Democrat Kathleen Ferrier this morning opened an exhibition in the Parliament building in The Hague on the subject of the female condom. The two opened the exhibition on behalf of the Multi-Party Initiative HIV/Aids. The exhibition forms part of the Paper Doll campaign, aimed at calling attention to the importance of the female condom.

“World-wide there are 215 million women who lack any access to contraception but who are anxious to protect themselves from unwanted pregnancy and HIV/Aids,” says Ewout Irrgang. “That’s why the female condom must become much more widely available. The Netherlands must continue to help in this. I hope that, in next week’s debate on the foreign affairs budget and development cooperation, Parliament will stand up for this.”
The Paper Doll campaign is a joint initiative of a number of NGOs including reproductive rights group Rutgers World Population Foundation together with the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Thousands of messages about the importance of the female condom have been collected from women and men across the globe. These messages have been written on paper dolls, a small selection of which is being exhibited in Parliament. The government is planning further deep cuts in development cooperation expenditure for next year. Although the government claims that health care for women and the fight against HIV/Aids remain a priority, but the total budget is to be reduced. Irrgang expresses the hope that Parliament will be able to change this in next week’s consideration of the budget. “Demand for the female condom is huge,” he says. “The supply is much too small. That’s why it’s important that the Netherlands maintains its own efforts to make adequate supplies of the female condom available.”