A GLOBAL CAMPAIGN is calling on world leaders to support women and girls’ basic sexual and reproductive rights.

The campaign ‘I Decide’ was launched by the Irish Family and Planning Association (IFPA) and will see events taking place in 172 countries across the world.

IFPA is a sexual health charity in Ireland that provides training, services and counselling.

CEO of the IFPA Niall Behan said:

Everyone has the right to sexual and reproductive health and well-being.

“Only when these rights are realised can sustainable development and gender equality be realised”.

The campaign will focus on four key rights of women and girls:

• the rights to decide who they live with
• the right to decide what happens to their bodies
• the right to determine their own futures and
• if, when and how many children they have

It aims to collect one million signatures to present to UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon in 2015.

Behan added that, “Women and girls are central to development. Yet it is they who are most affected by inequality and poverty.

The rights to bodily integrity and to live free from violence is denied to thousands of women on a daily basis, while more than 220 million women in the world lack access to effective and affordable contraception.

“Global leaders must ensure that sexual and reproductive health and rights are central to the next set of development goals.”

Read: Partners or exes responsible for one quarter of sex attacks on women>

Read: Daniel Craig and Benicio Del Toro are in this White House video on ending sexual assault>

Read: Being named is “a big punishment” for man who sexually assaulted teen>