How do you make 185 different countries agree on sensitive matters like family planning, contraceptives and abortion? And how do you avoid making the final consensus so vague that it is rendered powerless? These were the challenges facing the Member States of the United Nations during the General Assembly special session on population and development, which took place in New York from 30 June to 2 July 1999. The special session spanned three days of visionary hopes and politics for the future of the world, but also looked at the crucial issue of resources and fund-raising. United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Chief Nafis Sadik spoke out clearly: "The need for resourcesis paramount, and I hope to get your help in pointing out to the international donor community that all that is being sought is $5.7 billion a year", she told the press. A big number? Not according to Dr. Sadik: "Peanuts, peanuts, peanuts. Think about the money that is spent on many other things. At the moment, resources for the Programme of Action have averaged about $2.2 billion." The ICPD was a starting-point for such an international understanding and agreement. In the years following 1994, the challenge has been to carry out the lessons learned in Cairo, and this process, known as ICPD+5, has now led to a 106-paragraph document which gives guidance to countries on where to focus key future actions at, in the phrase of Secretary-General Kofi Annan, "the right place: the United Nations, the world's only truly global forum".

UN Photo 154994

Population and development have always been key issues at the United Nations. The 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in Cairo recognized that if you want to limit population growth, you must provide the need of the people on a broad scale. The ICPD turned the questions on their head, taking people as a starting-point instead of numbers. The 1999 session covered a broad range of questions; adolescent reproduction and sexual health was a major concern, as was the issue of gender, occurring in many different parts of the discussion and in the consensus text, reflecting universal concern on these issues.

The final document identified demographic and social goals to be achieved over a 20-year period, showing how countries could further their population policies, since early stabilization of world population would be crucial to sustainable development. Evident was the will of all Member States to see population issues on a broader scale, reflected by Japan's State Secretary for Foreign Affairs, Nobutaka Machimura, who argued for "a comprehensive approach that promotes basic health care, education and the advancement of women, fully recognizing the interdependent relationship between development, population, food security and environment".

Preparations for the special session in New York had been under way for several months. The process included a forum meeting in The Hague, and then the work of the preparatory committees, organized by the UNFPA. As the session ended with the adoption of the consensus text, many were relieved that all the hard work had paid off. "The process of arriving at a consensus was extraordinarily difficult, but the result was gratifying", said Ambassador Anwarul Karim Chowdhury of Bangladesh, Chairman of the Ad Hoc Committee of the Whole, who observed that it enabled the nations of the world to go one step further than the Cairo Conference had five years earlier. While there were attempts by some delegations to reopen negotiations on the Cairo text, he added that the text was a hard-earned consensus to be respected by countries, and that their focus should be instead in the further implementation of the Cairo agenda.

In five years, significant advances have been made as a result of the Cairo Conference. Reproductive health is being understood in a rights-based approach, such as family planning and sexual health, including the rights of migrants, refugees and displaced persons, and adolescent reproductive health. Gender-based violence is being included within the health package. And many countries recognized the rights of women as fundamental human rights.

But, as the review process concluded, ideological, cultural and traditional differences are preventing progress in discussions towards universal ethical standards. There is still a lack of commitment to the right of adolescents to reproductive health information and services. Other issues that made significant advances, but are still far from meeting Programme of Action targets, include the needs of women and adolescent girls in emergency situations, standards of quality of care, male responsibility and services for men, HIV/AIDS, maternal health and mortality reduction.

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