Parker Urges – Opposition Senator Malaka Parker is urging governments and opposition parties across the region to work together on population policy.
Parker Urges Cross Party
Parker made the call while serving as a panellist at the Parliamentary Forum on Advancing the Montevideo Consensus on Population and Development, held at Uruguay’s Parliament. The Montevideo Consensus is a regional framework that integrates population dynamics into sustainable development through a rights-based, equality-focused approach.
Parker spoke during a session on the role of parliamentarians in advancing International Conference on Population and Development values, focusing on bridging political divides and building cross-party alliances.
She said population and development policies should not change with electoral cycles.
“The Montevideo Consensus cannot become another document that governments endorse internationally but fail to implement at home. We must not merely agree with its principles; we must prioritise them, finance them and translate them into laws, programmes and measurable outcomes,” she told the forum.
Parker said issues including sexual and reproductive health and rights, violence against women and girls, youth development, population ageing and social inequality should not be treated solely as government or opposition matters.
She is recommending permanent parliamentary committees on population and development, with meaningful participation from government and opposition members.
Parker said the committees should scrutinise budgets, monitor implementation, receive reliable demographic data and engage civil society and affected communities.
She also wants opposition parliamentarians to be given genuine opportunities to participate in key national agendas, while stressing that opposition members must recognise constructive engagement as part of their accountability role.
“Bipartisanship does not mean abandoning scrutiny or silencing disagreement. It means finding the courage to work across the political divide where the rights, dignity and welfare of our people demand it,” the opposition senator said.
Parker also called on UNFPA and other development partners to include opposition parliamentarians in consultations, technical meetings and capacity-building initiatives.
She urged civil society organisations working on rights-based issues to engage all political parties and prevent human development issues from becoming partisan contests.
Her proposed measures include dedicated budgetary support for reproductive health and social protection, stronger data collection, laws protecting women, children and vulnerable groups, greater youth participation and clear mechanisms to monitor implementation.
Parker said lasting progress would require shared institutional arrangements, protected funding, transparent monitoring and policies that can continue through changes in government. She stressed that those measures must be guided by reliable data.
The forum was convened by the United Nations Population Fund, the Global Parliamentary Alliance for Health, Rights and Development and the European Parliamentary Forum for Sexual and Reproductive Rights.
The event preceded the Sixth Session of the Regional Conference on Population and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean, which continues until August 20.
