Com muito pesar comunicamos o falecimento, em 29 de junho, de Joan Dunlop, ex Presidente do International Women´s Health Coaltion (IWHC) com quem a CEPIA desenvolveu varios projetos, dentre os quais a organização, em 1994, de uma grande conferência internacional Reproductive Health and Justice no Rio de Janeiro, considerada a principal conferência preparatória para a reunião da ONU ,no Cairo, sobre População e Desenvolvimento. Joan foi uma grande liderança na luta pelos direitos reprodutivos das mulheres, tendo sua trajetória marcada por sua visão estratégica, companheirismo e dedicação a esta causa.
A cerimonia em memória de Joan Dunlop foi realizada em New York em 24 de setembro. Na emocionante cerimonia Jacqueline Pitanguy falou sobre a importante liderança de Joan na luta pelos direitos sexuais e reprodutivos.
A cerimonia reuniu grande numero de pessoas no Cosmos Club ,
incluindo seus familiares e integrantes do IWHC , celebrando a vida
de Joan Dunlop . Jacqueline Pitanguy relembrou os inúmeros momentos que estiveram juntas, compartindo a luta pelos direitos sexuais e reprodutivos das mulheres, especialmente ao longo Conferencia de População e Desenvolvimento do Cairo.
Joan Dunlop Memorial Service
September 2012
Remarks by Jacqueline Pitanguy
I met Joan on the late eighties and I remember the impression she caused me with her clear blue eyes, her straightforward way to address the issues , her strategic vision and, on top of all these qualities, her sense of humor.
Joan had a sort of aristocratic look with her English accent and her pearl necklace, but she always made me feel like a partner, never a follower. And she worked with us, women from other countries and cultures, on an equal basis. Joan was political in the sense that she knew how to use power to struggle for the reproductive and sexual rights of women , she had an strategic vision of that struggle that she shared generously , working in coalitions. Actually she was a coalition builder, and the IWHC is a proof of that.
There is one quality of Joan that I would like to highlight: she listened. She payed attention to what was said, and she took note of it, not as a marginal information but as an important piece of the strategy she was working on.
I was very involved with Cairo ICPD Conference and worked with Joan and Adrienne all along the very difficult preparatory process for Cairo, at the UN arena. That was a crucial momentum to affirm , in every paragraph of the Cairo Plan, in every coma ,in every word that women ´s control over her body, her sexuality and her reproductive life was a central principle of human rights. And we did it. Joan was there , a strong political presence in the many initiatives that we developed along this Cairo´s process .From the corridors of the UN, to a Women´s Declaration on Population Policies that we did in London, to the global meeting held in Rio, organized by the IWHC and CEPIA, Reproductive Health and Justice bringing more that 250 women from 89 countries , to write together the charter of principles that would guide our advocacy work in Cairo. And Joan was also a key player at HERA , an international group of women activists set up by the IWHC that really made a difference at the Cairo Conference and later at the Beijing Conference.
Joan had a crucial role in the paradigm shift from population control to reproductive health and rights. A shift done in spite of the Vatican, and of all other conservative forces from other religions that claimed the monopoly over women´s bodies. Recently, attending the Rio Plus 20 Conference I thought of Joan. And I missed her strong presence in international arenas. In this Conference the Vatican was able to influence most countries to reject the inclusion of reproductive rights at the final document. The work is never done , rights are written with the political pen that Joan knew so well how to use.
I would like to close my remarks by, once again, praising Joan´s courage, wisdom, dignity and her wonderful sense of humor, even in face of adverse situations.
