NEW DELHI: "Men take a stand.'' This is the message in the United Nations' Population Development Fund Report 2005 on gender equity, reproductive health and Millennium Development Goals.

It takes note of the efforts to enlist groups of men to promote the culture of "zero tolerance'' for female foeticide, rape, trafficking in women and domestic violence. "Violence is a traumatic experience for any man or woman, but gender-based violence is preponderantly inflicted by men on women and girls. It both reflects inequities between men and women and compromises the health, dignity, security and autonomy of its victims,'' says the report.

On the occasion of the release of the Status of World Population Report 2005 on Tuesday, the UNFPA office here also made available to the media an old report, "Missing''- Mapping the Adverse Child Sex Ratio in India. This report, released in 2003, talked of the decline in the child-sex ratio from 945 girls per 1000 boys in the 1991 census to 927 girls per 1000 boys in the 2001 census, some of the worst States being Haryana, Punjab, Delhi and Gujarat. The statistics and observations in this report were based on Census Office releases and were widely published in 2003.

The State of the World Population Report 2005 notes that in Asia, at least 60 million girls are "missing'' due to pre-natal sex selection, infanticide or neglect. Each year up to 8,00,000 people are trafficked in across borders - 80 per cent of them women and girls, mostly exploited in the commercial sex trade. Sex selection is more common in cities, where amniocentesis and ultrasound are readily accessible and open to misuse. In rural areas, the preference for sons is strong. Governments have banned the practice but it is deep-rooted. Sex selection has become a lucrative business for doctors and producers of medical equipment, says the report.

The sex ratio at birth is slightly skewed in favour of boys for biological reasons. For every girl born, there are normally 103 to 107 boys. However, since boys and men normally have higher mortality rates throughout life, in most countries, women outnumber men. "A country's sex balance can be a telling indicator of its social well-being. Eliminating the practice requires changes in the way girls and women are valued by society,'' says the Population Status report.

According to UNFPA representative in India Hendrik van der Pol, sex selective abortions and female foeticide are prevalent, besides in India, in China, Eastern Mediterranean and a few East Asian countries. In China, which aims at normalising its sex ratio imbalance by 2010, the UNFPA has worked with the government, academia and the media to raise awareness.

The report says gender equity reduces poverty and saves and improves lives. Gender equality and reproductive health are indispensable. The Millennium Development Goals to halve poverty, reduce maternal mortality, child mortality and HIV/AIDS by 2015 and focus on education, gender empowerment and overall development are a means to achieve those aims.

The report puts India's population at 1,103.4 million and the projected population in 2050 at 1,592.7 million. The average population growth rate is 1.5 per cent and the average total fertility rate 2.92, a slight reduction over last decade.

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