E/CN.9/2000/1 - Provisional agenda

2. Adoption of the agenda and other organizational matters:
(a) Report of the inter-sessional meeting of the Bureau;
(b) Agenda and organization of work.

3. Follow-up actions to the recommendations of the International Conference on Population and Development:
(a) Special theme: population, gender and development
(b) Special session of the General Assembly for the review and appraisal of the implementation of the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development.

4. General debate on national experience in population matters:population, gender and development.

5. Work of the Commission on Population and Development in the next quinquennium.

6. Programme implementation and future programme of work of the Secretariat in the field of population.

Annotations

1. Election of officer

Rule 15 of the rules of procedure of the functional commissions of the Economic and Social Council stipulates that at the commencement of its first meeting of a regular session, the Commission shall elect, from among the representatives of its members, a Chairman, one or more Vice‑Chairmen and such other officers as may be required.

At past sessions, the Commission has elected a Chairman, three Vice‑Chairmen and a Rapporteur.

2. Adoption of the agenda and other organizational matters

Rule 7 of the rules of procedure requires that the Commission shall, at the beginning of each session, after the election of its officers, adopt the agenda for that session on the basis of the provisional agenda.

On the recommendation of the Commission at its thirty‑second session, the Economic and Social Council, in its decision 1999/224, approved the provisional agenda and documentation for the thirty-third session of the Commission.

At its thirtieth session, the Commission decided to authorize its Bureau to hold inter-sessional meetings in preparation for its sessions on a yearly basis. The Commission has before it the report of the Bureau on its inter-sessional meeting, held in New York on 27 June 1999. Inter alia, the Commission may wish to take note of the recommendations of the Bureau concerning the provisional agenda, organization of work and working methods for the thirty-third session of the Commission.

Documentation

Provisional agenda for the thirty-third session of the Commission (E/CN.9/2000/1)

Note by the Secretariat on the organization of work of the session (E/CN.9/2000/L.1)

Report of the Bureau of the Commission on Population and Development on its inter-sessional meeting (E/CN.9/2000/CRP.1)

3. Follow-up actions to the recommendations of the International Conference on Population and Development

In its resolution 49/128 of 19 December 1994, in which it endorsed the recommendations of the International Conference on Population and Development, the General Assembly decided that the Commission on Population and Development, as a functional commission assisting the Economic and Social Council, would monitor, review and assess the implementation of the Programme of Action of the Conference at the national, regional and international levels, and would advise the Council thereon.

In the terms of reference of the Commission,¹ which were endorsed by the Economic and Social Council in its resolution 1995/55, the Commission was called upon to adopt a topic-oriented and prioritized multi-year work programme, culminating in a quinquennial review and appraisal of the Programme of Action. That work programme, inter alia, will provide a framework for assessing the progress achieved in the implementation of the Programme of Action. In the report of the Commission on its twenty-eighth session, which the Economic and Social Council took note of in its decision 1995/236, the Commission called for the preparation of annual reports on a selected topic of the Programme of Action.² In its decision 1998/1, as reaffirmed in its decision 1999/1, the Commission decided that the topic for 2000 would be “Population, gender and development”.

In its resolution 52/188 of 18 December 1997, the General Assembly decided to hold a special session from 30 June to 2 July 1999 for an overall review and appraisal of the implementation of the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development. At that special session, the General Assembly adopted a set of key actions for further implementation of the Programme of Action. The Commission will have before it the report of the Secretary-General on the special session.

Documentation

Report of the Secretary-General on the special session of the General Assembly for the review and appraisal of the implementation of the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development (E/CN.9/2000/2)

Report of the Secretary-General entitled “World population monitoring, 2000: population, gender and development” (E/CN.9/2000/3)

Report of the Secretary-General entitled “Monitoring of population programmes: population, gender and development” (E/CN.9/2000/4)

Report of the Secretary-General on the flow of financial resources for assisting in the implementation of the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development (E/CN.9/2000/5)

4. General debate on national experience in population matters: population, gender and development

At its twenty-fifth session, the Commission concluded that it would be useful to make provision in its agenda for a general debate, during which views and national experiences could be exchanged.

5. Work of the Commission on Population and Development in the next quinquennium

At the conclusion of its thirty-second session, the Commission had completed its first five-year topic-oriented and prioritized work programme following the International Conference on Population and Development. In its decision 1999/1, the Commission reaffirmed that “Population, gender and development” would be the special theme for the Commission at its thirty-third session, and decided that “Population, environment and development” would be the special theme at its thirty-fourth session. In decision 1999/1, the Commission also requested the United Nations Secretariat to submit to the Commission at its thirty-third session themes for its thirty-fifth and thirty-sixth sessions. The Bureau of the Commission, at its 1999 inter-sessional meeting, proposed topics for the thirty-fifth and thirty-sixth sessions. The Director of the Population Division will report to the Commission on the recommendations of the Bureau.

6. Programme implementation and future programme of work of the Secretariat in the field of population

At its twenty-eighth session, the Commission requested the Secretary-General, inter alia, to continue to give high priority to the monitoring of population trends and policies; undertake biennial preparation of estimates and projections of global, national, urban, rural and city populations; conduct studies on population and related development policies; prepare studies on interactions of population change; carry out analyses of mortality; contribute to and coordinate in-depth studies on fertility and nuptiality and reproductive rights and health, including family planning; undertake studies to improve the understanding of the causes and consequences of internal migration and international migration; increase public awareness of and information exchange on population and development issues; make the necessary arrangements for coordinating the review and appraisal of the Programme of Action; and provide technical cooperation support to developing countries, particularly to the least developed countries and, on a temporary basis, to countries with economies in transition, in the light of the economic and social problems that those countries face at present. The Commission reaffirmed the work programme at its twenty-ninth session (Commission resolution 1996/1).

At its thirtieth session, the Commission stressed the importance of continuing the basic work of the Population Division of the United Nations Secretariat on the crucial underpinnings of population estimates and projections; basic population trends and issues, including fertility, mortality, migration and patterns of rural and urban population change; the evolution of population policies; and understanding of the links between population and development (Commission resolution 1997/3).

The Economic and Social Council, in its resolution 1999/10 of 26 July 1999, requested the Population Division of the United Nations Secretariat to continue its work on population growth, structure and distribution, including levels, trends, determinants and policies, while giving due attention to issues related to, inter alia, youth, ageing, migration and data collection.

For its consideration of the above-mentioned activities, the Commission will have before it a report on progress achieved in the field of population since its thirty-second session.

Documentation

Report of the Secretary-General (E/CN.9/2000/6)

7. Provisional agenda for the thirty-fourth session of the Commission

In accordance with rule 9 of the rules of procedure, the Commission will have before it the draft provisional agenda for its thirty-fourth session, together with an indication of the documents to be submitted under each item and the legislative authority for their preparation, in order to enable the Commission to consider those documents from the point of view of their contribution to the work of the Commission and their urgency and relevance in the light of the current situation.

The attention of the Commission is drawn to Economic and Social Council resolutions 1979/41 and 1981/83 on the control and limitation of documentation. In addition, the Commission is reminded that the Council, in paragraph 1 (j) of resolution 1982/50 on the revitalization of the Council, urged all its subsidiary bodies to exercise the utmost restraint in making requests of the Secretary-General for new reports and studies, and urged them to implement fully the decisions of the Council and of the Assembly on the control and limitation of documentation.

The attention of the Commission is also drawn to paragraph 4 of the annex to Council resolution 1982/50, in which the Secretary-General recommended that (a) the documentation and programme of work of the subsidiary bodies of the Council and the Assembly should be streamlined in order to enable the subsidiary bodies to perform effectively the functions entrusted to them; (b) the Council and the Assembly should continue to review the provisional agendas of their subsidiary bodies, together with the list of requested documentation, in order, inter alia, to establish greater consistency in the overall requests for documentation and its orderly consideration at the intergovernmental level, taking fully into account the medium-term plan and the programme budget; and (c) in so doing, the Council and Assembly should also take into account the need to consolidate the items and documentation of their subsidiary machinery.

Furthermore, in its resolution 1981/83, the Council instructed its subsidiary bodies to take urgent measures to streamline their agendas and programmes of work and to bring about a substantial reduction in their requests for documents, bearing in mind the duration and cycles of their meetings, and to report to the Council on measures adopted, taking strictly into account the guidelines set forth in the pertinent resolutions and decisions of the Council and the Assembly.

In its decision 1983/163, the Council requested the Secretary-General (a) to bring to the attention of intergovernmental and expert bodies, before decisions were adopted, any request for documentation that exceeded the ability of the Secretariat to prepare and process on time and within its approved resources; and (b) to draw the attention of intergovernmental bodies to areas where duplication of documentation was likely to occur and/or where opportunities for integrating or consolidating documents that dealt with related or similar themes might exist, with a view to rationalizing documentation.

Draft provisional agenda for the thirty-fourth session of the Commission (E/CN.9/2000/L.2)

In accordance with rule 37 of the rules of procedure, the Commission shall submit to the Economic and Social Council a report on the work of each session.

^* As approved by the Economic and Social Council in its decision 1999/224; sub-items 2 (a) and 2 (b) were added and sub-items 3 (a) and 3 (b) were transposed on the recommendation of the Bureau at its inter-sessional meeting (see E/CN.9/2000/CRP.1, appendix I).

¹ See Official Records of the Economic and Social Council, 1995, Supplement No. 7 (E/1995/27), annex I, sect. I.A.

² Ibid., sect. III.