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Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Development Cooperation Alexander De Croo today signed two programmes in Benin, related to the promotion of sexual and reproductive health and rights. Belgium will be cooperating with UNICEF to help combat child marriages. With the support of our country, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) will be setting up an information project aimed at young people and women, covering sexual education and sexual violence. Minister De Croo also announced that Belgium will release a total of 60 million euros over the next four years in support of UNICEF's work and another 36 million euros for UNFPA.

Alexander De Croo and seven European colleagues on 8 March, International Women’s Day.

More than 45 government representatives of all continents and 400 parliamentarians and civil society participants gathered in Brussels today to express their support for women’s rights. They raised in total 181 million euros for the Global Fundraising Initiative ‘She Decides’. The Brussels International Conference was co-organized by Alexander De Croo,  Lilianne Ploumen, Isabella Lövin and Ulla Tørnæs, Ministers for Development Cooperation of respectively Belgium, the Netherlands, Sweden and Denmark.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Development Cooperation Alexander De Croo will this Thursday welcome about twenty ministerial delegations at the Brussels International Conference ‘She Decides’. In total, more than forty countries will participate in the conference. Also European Commissioner for Development Neven Mimica, the Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Babatunde Osotimehin, the Executive Director of UN Women Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, the Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights Kate Gilmore and the Assistant Director General of the World Health Organisation Flavia Bustreo will be present. 

Belgium is organizing on 2nd of March in Brussels the International Conference She Decides. Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Development Cooperation Alexander De Croo will chair the international conference. Netherlands, Sweden and Denmark are co-organizer. On behalf of Belgium, minister De Croo also pledges 10 million euro to the Global Fundraising Initiative She Decides in support of the rights of girls and women, and in particular their sexual and reproductive health and rights.

This Spring, Belgian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Development Cooperation Alexander De Croo will host an international conference in Brussels with like-minded countries and organizations that join forces to support aid organizations and UN agencies working around family planning and women's rights. Earlier this week, the White House banned funding for organizations that support girls and women in developing countries on family planning, contraception and safe abortions. The initiative to establish an international fund is meanwhile named Global Fundraising Initiative She Decides. This afternoon, a crowdfunding was launched to allow private donations.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Development Cooperation Alexander De Croo supports the initiative of Dutch Minister for Development Cooperation Lilianne Ploumen to establish an international fund for safe abortion. Minister De Croo had a telephone contact this afternoon with his Dutch colleague to convey the Belgian support. The proposal is a reaction to the decision by US President Trump to stop funding organizations that help women in developing countries with family planning and, in that context, also offer the opportunity for safe abortion.