Two-time President of the Republic of Chile, Madame Michelle Bachelet, on Friday delivered the 14th Rafael M. Salas Memorial Lecture.
This is a series hosted the United Nations Fund Population (UNFPA);and it delivers a unique forum for distinguished guest lecturers to discuss important aspects of population and development.
Madame Bachelet’s lecture was held on 6 April 2018 in the Trusteeship Council Chamber of the United Nations Headquarters, New York.
It attracted the participation of the Deputy Secretary General Madame Amina J. Mohammed, the UNFPA Executive Director Madame Dr. Natalia Kanem, permanent representatives, diplomats, member of civil society and school children.
The series was created to honor the memory of Rafael Salas, the first UNFPA Executive Director. The first lecture was delivered in 1989 by Dr. Saburo Okita, former Foreign Minister of Japan, on Population and Development.
Subsequent lectures have been delivered by such distinguished persons as Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, who spoke on Population and Nature; Captain Jacques Cousteau, on The Greatest Adventure of All Time; and Nicholas D. Kristof, Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times columnist, on The Greatest Challenge in the 21st Century: Gender Equality in Development.
The most recent speaker, in 2016, was Jakaya Kikwete, former President of the United Republic of Tanzania, who spoke on the Importance of Investing in Young People to Achieve Sustainable Development and the Demographic Dividend.
The 2018 lecture took place as the world begins counting down to the 25th Anniversary of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in Egypt, 5-13 September 1994; and the 50th Anniversary of when UNFPA began its operations.
President Bachelet spoke on “Socially Excluded Young Women in Order to Achieve Sustainable Development by 2030.”
A short tribute to Rafael Salas will also be screened at the event.
Madame Bachelet answered questions that included if policy changes were changed now that she is no longer president to are certain responses to her based on the fact that she was a female president.
Madame Bachelet said while it was important that sustainable development must not be undermined, it was also critical to invest in young women so that they by 2030 they can transform their societies.
She also said that there is a problem when countries do not have violence against women as a crime.
After the lecture, President Bachelet attended a reception and met with participants.
