UN Population Division, Department of Economic and Social Affairs,
with support from the UN Population Fund (UNFPA)
|
| UN Population Division, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, with support from the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) |
|
ISO: USA
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The electronic preparation of this document has been done by the
Population Information Network(POPIN) of the United Nations Population
Division in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme
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AS WRITTEN
Statement by H.E. Mr. Albert Gore
Vice-President of the United States of America
Good morning. I am honored to join you as we begin one of the most
important conferences ever held.
On behalf of President Clinton and the people of the United
States, I would like to first of all express my thanks and appreciation
to our host! President Mubarak. His leadership has been marked by a
continuing commitment to building a better future for his people, this
region and the world. This conference is dedicated to help achieve the
same ends. I can think of no better or more fitting setting than Cairo
for the work we begin today.
I would also like to thank Secretary General Boutros Boutros Ghali
and Dr. Nafis Sadik for their inspired leadership in shepherding this
conference from a concept to a reality. Allow me to also thank Prime
minister Brundtland and Prime Minister Bhutto for their leadership and
their contributions to the world's efforts to deal with this vital
issue.
Most importantly, I want to acknowledge the enormous contributions
of government officials non-governmental organization representatives,
and private citizens toward addressing one of the greatest challenges --
and greatest opportunities -- of the coming century. We owe all of you
who have been involved in this process a debt of gratitude.
We would not be here today if we were not convinced that the rapid
and unsustainable growth of human population was an issue of the utmost
urgency. It took 10,000 generations for the world's population to reach
two billion people. Yet over the past 50 years, we have gone from two
billion to more than five and a half billion. And we are on a path to
increase to nine or 10 billion over the next 50 years. Ten thousand
generations to reach two billion and then in one human lifetime -- ours
-- we leap from two billion toward 10 billion.
These numbers are not by themselves the problem . But the
startlingly new pattern they delineate is a symptom of a much larger and
deeper spiritual challenge now facing humankind. Will we acknowledge our
connections to one another or not? Will we accept responsibility for the
consequences of the choices we make or not? Can we find ways to work
together or will we insist on selfishly exploring the limits of human
pride? How can we come to see in the faces of others our own hopes and
dreams for the future? Why is it so hard to recognize that we are all
part of something larger than ourselves?
Of course these are timeless questions that have always
characterized the human condition. But they now have a new urgency
precisely because we have reached a new stage of human history -- a
stage defined not just by the meteoric growth in human numbers but also
by the unprecedented Faustian powers of the new technologies we have
acquired during these same 50 years -- technologies which not only bring
us new benefits but also magnify the consequences of age-old behaviors
to extremes that all too often exceed the wisdom we bring to our
decisions to use them.
For example, warfare is an ancient human habit -- but the
invention of nuclear weapons so radically altered the consequences of
this behavior that we were forced to find new ways of thinking about the
relationship between nuclear states in order to avoid the use of these
weapons. Similarly, the oceans have always been a source of food, but
new technologies like 40-mile long driftnets coupled with sophisticated
sonar equipment to precisely locate fish have severely depleted or
seriously distressed every ocean fishery on our planet. Thus, we have
begun to curtail the use of driftnets.
But it is becoming increasingly clear that our margin for error is
shrinking as the rapid growth of population is combined with huge and
unsustainable levels of consumption in the developed countries, powerful
new tools for exploiting the earth and each other and a willful refusal
to take responsibility for the future consequences of the choices we
make.
Economically, rapid population growth often contributes to the
challenge of addressing persistent low wages, poverty and economic
disparity.
Population trends also challenge the ability of societies,
economies and governments to make the investments they need in both
human capital and infrastructure.
At the level of the family, demographic trends have kept the
world's investment in its children -- especially girls -unacceptably
low.
For individuals, population growth and high fertility are closely
linked to the poor health and diminished opportunities of millions upon
millions of women, infants and children and population pressures often
put strains on hopes for stability at the national and international
level. Look, for example at the 20 million refugees in our world who
have no homes. The delegates to this conference have helped to create a
widely shared understanding of these new realities. But what is truly
remarkable about this conference is not only the unprecedented degree of
consensus about the nature of the problem, but the degree of consensus
about the nature of the solution.
A real change has occurred during the last several years in the
way most people in the world look at and understand this problem And the
change is part of a larger philosophical shift in the way most people
have begun to think about many large problems. There used to be an
automatic tendency -- especially in the developed world -- to think
about the process of change in terms of single causes producing single
effects. And thus. when searching for the way to solve a particular
problem, however large, it seemed natural enough to search for the
single most prominent "cause" of the problem and then address it
forcefully. many divisive arguments resulted between groups advocating
the selection of different causes as the "primary" culprit deserving of
full attention.
Thus, when it became clear that new medical technologies were
bringing dramatic declines in death rates but not in birth rates many
pioneers in the effort to address the population question settled on the
notion that the lack of contraceptives was the primary problem and
argued that making them widely available everywhere would produce the
effect we desired -- the completion of the demographic transition with
the achievement of low birth rates as well as low death rates.
But as it became clear that contraception alone seldom led to the
change nations were seeking to bring about, other single causes were
afforded primary attention.
For example in the historic Bucharest conference 20 years ago,
when thoughtful people noticed that most of the societies which had
stabilized their population growth were wealthy, industrial and
"developed", it seemed logical to conclude -- in the phrase common at
the time -"development is the best contraceptive."
Meanwhile, some insights from developing countries were given
insufficient attention. For example some African leaders were arguing
30 years ago that "the most powerful contraceptive in the world is the
confidence of parents that their children will survive."
And in places like Karen, in southwestern India, local leaders
were making economic development more accessible by giving women as well
as men access to education and high levels of literacy, while at the
same time providing good child and maternal health care as well as
widespread access to contraception. And in the process they found that
their population growth rate fell to nearly zero.
The world has also learned from developing countries that the
wrong kind of rapid economic development -- the kind that is inequitable
and destructive of traditional culture, the environment and human
dignity -- can lead to the disorientation of society and a lessened
ability to solve all problems -- including population. But here, at
Cairo, there is a new and very widely shared consensus that no single
one of these solutions is likely to be sufficient by itself to produce
the pattern of change we are seeking. However, we also now agree that
all of them together, when simultaneously present for a sufficient
length of time, will reliably bring about a systemic change to low birth
and death rates and a stabilized population. In this new consensus,
equitable and sustainable development and population stabilization go
together. The education and empowerment of women, high levels of
literacy, the availability of contraception and quality health care:
these factors are all crucial.
They cannot be put off until development takes place; they must
accompany it -- and indeed should be seen as part of the process by
which development is hastened and made more likely.
This holistic understanding is representative of the approach we
must take in addressing other problems that cry out for attention.
Recognizing connections and interrelationships is one of the keys. For
example. the future of developed countries is connected to the prospects
of developing countries. It is partly for this reason that we in the
United States wish to choose this occasion to affirm unequivocally all
human rights! including the right to development. Let us be clear in
acknowledging that persistent high levels of poverty in our world
represent a principal cause of human suffering, environmental
degradation instability -and rapid population growth.
But the solution -- like the solution to the population challenge
will not be found in any single simplistic answer. It will be found in a
comprehensive approach that combines democracy, economic reform, low
rates of inflation, low levels of corruption, sound environmental
stewardship, free and open markets at home and access to markets in the
developed countries.
We must also acknowledge-- in developed and developing countries
alike the connection between those of us alive today and the future
generations that will inherit the results of the decisions we make.
indeed, a major part of the spiritual crisis we face in the modern world
is rooted in our obstinate refusal to look beyond the immediacy of our
own needs and wants and instead invest in the kind of future our
children's children have a right to expect. And it should be obvious
that we cannot solve this lost sense of connection to our future merely
through appeals to reason and logic.
Personally, I am convinced that the holistic solution we must seek is
one that is rooted in faith and a commitment to basic human values of
the kind enshrined in all of our major religious traditions and principles
increasingly shared by men and women all around the world:
The central role of the family.
The importance of community.
The freedom of the human spirit.
The inherent dignity of every individual woman, man and child on
this planet.
political, economic and religious freedom.
universal and inalienable human rights.
Will we draw upon the richness of these shared principles and
values as we embark on our efforts today, or will we allow ourselves to
be divided by our differences. And there are, of course, differences
that will be extremely difficult to ever fully resolve.
For example, we are all well aware that views about abortion are
as diverse among nations as among individuals. I want to be clear about
the U.S. position on abortion so that there is no misunderstanding. We
believe that making available the highest quality family planning and
health care services will simultaneously respect women's own desires to
prevent unintended pregnancies, reduce population growth and the rate of
abortion.
The United States Constitution guarantees every woman within our
borders a right to choose an abortion, subject to limited and specific
exceptions. We are committed to that principle. But let us take a false
issue off the table: the United States does not seek to establish a new
international right to abortion, and we do not believe that abortion
should be encouraged as a method of family planning.
We also believe that policy making in these matters should be the
province of each government, within the context of its own laws and
national circumstances, and consistent with previously agreed human
rights standards
In this context, we abhor and condemn coercion related to abortion
or any other matters of reproduction.
We believe that where abortion is permitted, it should be
medically safe and that unsafe abortion is a matter of women's health
that must be addressed.
But as we acknowledge the few areas where full agreement among us
is more difficult, let us strengthen our resolve to respect our
differences and reach past them to create what the world might remember
as the "spirit of Cairo" -- a shared and unshakable determination to lay
the foundation for a future of hope and promise.
This is the opening session. Each of us can play a crucial role in
ensuring the success of this historic endeavor. The essential ingredient
we all must bring to it is our commitment to make it work.
The Scottish mountain climber W.H. Murray wrote early in this
century:
"Until one is committed there is hesitancy, the chance to draw
back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative...there
is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas
and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then
providence moves too."
I saw this truth in operation earlier this year at the southern
end of this continent when I represented my country at the inauguration
of Nelson Mandela.
As he raised his hand to take the oath, I suddenly remembered a
Sunday morning four years earlier when he was released from prison and
my youngest child, then seven, joined me to watch live television
coverage of the event and asked why the entire world was watching this
person regain his freedom , .When I explained as best I could my son
again asked "Why" After a series of "why", I began to feel frustrated
-- but I suddenly realized what a rare privilege it was to explain to a
child the existence of such an extraordinary positive event when I, like
other parents, had so often been confronted with the burden of
explaining to my children the existence of evil and terrible tragedies
and injustices in our world.
So as President Mandela completed his oath, I resolved that I
would spend the next several days in South Africa trying to understand
how this wonderful development had occurred.
And what I found -- in addition to the well-known courage and
vision of both Mandela and DeKlerk -- was the key ingredient that had
not received emphasis in the news coverage: ordinary men and women of
all ethnic backgrounds and all walks of life quietly had made up their
minds that they were going to reach across the barriers that divided
them and join hands to create a future much brighter than any they had
been told was possible to even imagine.
We here today have the same choice and the same opportunity: will we
give to our children's children the burden of explaining to their
children the reason why unspeakable tragedies that could have been
avoided occur in their lives?
Or will we give them the privilege and joy of explaining the
occurrence of unusually positive developments -- the foundations for
which were laid here at this place in this time? The choice is ours. Let
us resolve to make it well.