Country Profiles

Denmark

Context

Denmark continues to be a strong political and financial supporter of sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR).

denmark

Denmark was among the co-initiators of the SheDecides initiative in 2018; a co-host of the ICPD+25 Summit in Nairobi, marking the 25th anniversary of the ICPD Programme of Action in November 2019; the Lead of the ‘Call to Action’ on Protection from Gender-Based Violence in Emergencies since 2020; and a co-lead of the Action Coalition on SRHR and Bodily Autonomy under the Generation Equality Forum in celebration of the 25th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action in 2021. The country also remained supportive to SRHR in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Following general elections in November 2022, the Social Democratic party agreed to form a coalition with the main opposition party, the Liberal Party, and the Moderates, a new party established in June by Lars Løkke Rasmussen, a former prime minister. It remains to be seen how this coalition will impact the country’s support to SRH/FP. The Danish All Party Parliamentary Group on SRHR continues to stand strong in the Danish Parliament with more than 60  members (out of 179).

Policies & funding

The World we share

In 2021 a broad majority of Danish political parties adopted the strategy “The World We Share’ – Denmark’s strategy for development cooperation”. In this strategy, democracy and human rights are seen as the foundation of the development cooperation, upon which the focus areas of climate change and fragility are based. The strategy underscores that gender equality and girls and women’s rights are cross-cutting priorities in both humanitarian work and development interventions; that Denmark will continue to be an international leader in the fight for gender equality and protection of girls and women’s rights; and that SRHR continue to be a focus area. In June 2021, Denmark launched its national action plan for follow-up on the SDGs. This states that one of Denmark’s main priorities is gender equality and the rights and empowerment of women and girls – and that SRHR is a tool to achieve it. The report thus re-confirms and sustains Denmark’s role as an active international advocate for gender equality and SRHR. In addition, in its 2022 Foreign and Security Policy Strategy, Denmark also explicitly states that it wants to take up leadership in the fight for women’s and girls’ sexual and reproductive health and rights.

Total funding for sexual and reproductive health and family planning (SRH/FP) from Denmark surpassed 107 million Euros (DKK 798 million) in 2021. Denmark’s core contributions to UNFPA amounted to 30 million Euros (DKK 225 million). Furthermore Denmark increased its core funding to both WHO, up to 8 million Euros (60 million DKK), and 9 million Euros (DKK 70 million) for IPPF, to mention a few. In addition, Denmark continued investing in some of the same UNFPA earmarked programmes as in 2020, having contributed almost 18 million Euros (DKK 133 million) to UNFPA Supplies, and 1.6 million Euros (DKK 12 million) to UNFPA Innovation Facility. In 2021, the country also continued to SRH/FP through government-to-government, with a total of 13 million Euros (DKK 99.6 million).

In addition to these initiatives, Denmark supported some governance and HIV research programmes, bringing the country’s total contribution to SRHR up to almost 132 million Euros (DKK 981 million).

At the Generation Equality Forum in 2021, the Danish government pledged DKK 100 million to SRHR, divided equally between UNFPA Supplies to address needs for modern contraception and IPPF to ensure focus on CSE.

Internationally vocal

Denmark remains vocal in global negotiations on advancement of SRH/FP such as the UN Commission on Population and Development and the UN Commission on the Status of Women. The previous Danish government published a White Book on the UN in 2022. The report mentions SRHR as one of Denmark’s key priorities several times throughout the paper; “A central aspect of the Danish effort to promote equality is our focus on women and girl’s sexual and reproductive health and rights and their right to decide over one’s own body.”

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