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: MNG
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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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Speech by Dr. G. Dashzeveg
Vice Minister of Health
Leader of the Mongolian Government Delegation to
the International Conference On Population and Development
Cairo, September 8, 1994
Mr. Chairman, Distinguished Delegates, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I am greatly honoured to represent Mongolian Government at this
prominent event and have the chance to express, on behalf of the
Government of Mongolia and the Mongolian delegation, my deep gratitude
to the United Nations and particularly UNFPA, the Preparatory Committee
and the Government of Egypt for organizing this high level and important
international conference and providing us with a wonderful opportunity
to attend the conference.
The Government of Mongolia attaches special importance to the
International Conference on Population and Development. In preparation
to the Conference we convened the first national conference on
Population and Development and the second national conference on Safe
Motherhood and Family Planning, at which such issues as the
interdependence between population and environment, sustained economic
and social development were discussed and the findings were used in
formulating national development policy and related legal acts.
Awareness creation activities to inform the public were also carried
out.
Mr. Chairman,
Mongolia, a country with a total population of 2.2 million, is one
of the most scarcely populated countries in the World with a population
density of 1.4 persons per square kilometer. During the past 20 years we
have witnessed many changes in our country's political, economic and
social sectors, including the demographics. As a result of the
democratic changes and reforms since 1990, Mongolia has moved from a
one- party political system to a multi-party parliamentary system. The
transition from a centrally planned economy to a market-oriented one is
in full swing in all sectors of our society. The economic crisis
encountered during the transition has adversely affected the health,
education and cultural sectors. Decline in living standards and
impoverishment of a substantial part of the population has been
observed. However, I should state that the liberalization of politics
and economy has opened up new and greater opportunities for the people
to improve their lives in the long-run. Our country is moving forward
along the road of democracy and economic reforms, and there is no
scope for turning back; we are confident that these changes will lay
foundation for our future prosperity.
The population indicators of Mongolia have changed similarly to
those in most of the developing countries, however there are certain
traits characteristic only of Mongolia The social and culture progress
in past 20 yeas has resulted in intensive urbanization, high female
literacy and employment of women which in turn assisted in the decline
of the birth rates. The decline of the birth rate has further been
compounded by the economic and social changes in the last three years.
The rate of population growth in my country in the middle of 1970s was
3,2 but by 1990 it was only 2,0 percent. The total fertility rate
dropped from 7 to 3,8, the crude death rate per 1000 people dropped from
10 to 8 and infant mortality per 1000 live births from 70 to 57
respectively in the same time period. The average life expectancy
increased by 2,6 years and now it stands at 62 years. However, maternal
mortality rate has remained high and it fluctuated from 12 to 22 per
10000 live birth over the past two decades.
The population flow from rural areas to the cities is still
prevailing and at present 56 per cent of the country's population live
in cities, and settlements, whereas only one fifth are nomadic herders
The Mongolian Government recognizes that creative and able bodied
person is the source of the country's economic progress and therefore
gives high priority to the population and development issues.
Our Government pays special attention to human rights and freedom,
sustained economic and population growth and interdependence between
these issues. Therefore, we strive to reflect the main ideas of the
United Nations and other international organizations in our national
policy on population and development when dealing with above-mentioned
as well as other problems concerning youth, child, women, elderly
people, disabled and the families as a whole.
Mongolian Parliament passed a number of important legal acts,
which has formed the legal framework for ensuring the human rights and
the social security of our people on the basis of the new Mongolian
Constitution adopted in 1992. State administrative bodies and mechanisms
responsible for elaboration and coordination of population policy have
been set up. National Programmes on state population policy, health,
education, food, child development, poverty alleviation, struggle
against HIV/AIDS have been approved by the Government; initial steps to
implement these programmes are being made.
The main thrust of our population policy is directed towards
ensuring close coordination between population reproduction and social
production, and on that basis to create the most favourable socio-
economic, ecological and psychological environment for the human
development and towards keeping an appropriate level of population
growth rate. Our Government gives high priority to reflecting
demographic factors in planning and execution of our development
strategies and policies.
The Government is committed to improving maternal and child
health, expanding social protection measures, providing all the children
with basic education, promoting women's status, supporting families,
ensuring living standards of elderly and disabled and providing them
with opportunities to active involvement in social life. in this regard,
our Government fully supports the objectives and strategies of the draft
Programme of Action of the Conference.
With a view to respect human rights, namely the reproductive right
and rights of the families to decide themselves this matter, our
population policy had undergone certain changes by the end of the 1980s
While the current population policy supports the increase of births, we
pay considerable attention to birth spacing, child bearing age, health
of mother and child and decrease of the maternal and infant mortality
rate. We have legalized abortion and worked out the National Programme
on Maternal and Child Health and Family Planning, implementation of
which has started in 1992 in cooperation with UN Population Fund. As a
result of legalization of abortion, illegal abortions and consequent
ill-effects have decreased substantially. However, the abortion rate has
increased and the trend is continuing. Therefore, we now put more
efforts towards preventing unwanted pregnancies and assisting women and
men in using effective methods of birth control with a view to decrease
the number of abortions in future. We hope that the Conference will
achieve widely acceptable consensus on the issue of abortions.
We believe that information and training activities aimed at
teaching the population healthy living, including reproductive health,
sexual behavior, food habits, and prevention of sexually transmitted
diseases and specially AIDS, improvement of the methodology of
disseminating this kind of information, and their access should be an
integral part of population policy.
Our Government follows a policy to prevent desertation of the
remote areas of the country and concentration in the cities in order to
maintain a harmonious combination of nomadic and city-dwellers'
lifestyles. In order to reach this aim, we pay greater attention to the
development of social services in rural areas.
Mr. Chairman,
In order to tackle a number of pressing issues on population and
development it is vital to mobilize the collective efforts of the
world community. I believe that the United Nations and the international
community will take into account specific conditions in the developing
countries and countries that are undergoing critical changes in
promoting their cooperation with them and will respect their interests
while promoting the advancement of common objectives of the world
community.
Using this golden opportunity I would like to express the deep
appreciation of our Government to the United Nations for its valuable
contribution and assistance which plays an important part in our efforts
to solve a number of urgent issues such as the definition and
formulation of our population policy, protection of maternal and child
health care, improvement of family life, training of national cadres in
demography and population sectors, improvement of scientific research in
this field.
Today, due to the restricted economic capacity and a number of
other constraints and difficulties we are experiencing certain
limitations in implementation of our population policy, however, we will
mobilize all our resources to achieve the set objectives to improve the
living conditions of our people and overcome the obstacles we are facing
now.
We believe that the Programme of Action to be adopted by this
Conference will constitute an important document for defining the
strategies and policies of Mongolia for the coming years in the field of
population and sustained economic development.
Thank you very much for your attention.