UN Population Division, Department of Economic and Social Affairs,
with support from the UN Population Fund (UNFPA)
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| UN Population Division, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, with support from the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) |
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The electronic version of this document is being made available by the
Population Information Network (POPIN) Gopher of the United Nations
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UNITED NATIONS
Distr. GENERAL
A/CONF.171/13/Add.1 18 October 1994
ORIGINAL: ENGLISH
REPORT OF THE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE
ON POPULATION AND DEVELOPMENT*
(Cairo, 5-13 September 1994)
Addendum
CONTENTS
Annex Page
I. LIST OF DOCUMENTS ..................................... 2
II. OPENING STATEMENTS .................................... 4
III. CLOSING STATEMENTS .................................... 34
IV. PARALLEL AND ASSOCIATED ACTIVITIES .................... 41
* The present document contains annexes I to IV of the
report of the International Conference on Population and
Development. The complete report will be issued subsequently as a
sales publication of the United Nations.
94-40492 (E) 101194
*9440492*
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Annex I
LIST OF DOCUMENTS
Symbol Title or description
A/CONF.171/1 Provisional agenda
A/CONF.171/2 Provisional rules of procedure: note by the
Secretariat
A/CONF.171/3 Organizational and procedural matters: note
by the Secretariat
A/CONF.171/4 Fourth review and appraisal of the World
Population Plan of Action: report of the
Secretary-General
A/CONF.171/5 Overview of the national reports prepared by
countries for the Conference: report of the
Secretary-General of the Conference
A/CONF.171/6 Note verbale dated 2 August 1994 from the
Permanent Representative of Trinidad and
Tobago to the United Nations addressed to the
Secretary-General
A/CONF.171/7 List of non-governmental organizations
and Add.1 recommended for accreditation: note by the
Secretariat
A/CONF.171/8 Participation of intergovernmental
and Add.1 and 2 organizations in the work of the Conference:
note by the Secretary-General of the
Conference
A/CONF.171/9 Note verbale dated 9 September 1994 from the
delegation of Costa Rica to the International
Conference on Population and Development
addressed to the Secretary-General of the
Conference
A/CONF.171/10 Letter dated 7 September 1994 from the
Ambassador of Tunisia to Egypt addressed to
the Secretary-General of the International
Conference on Population and Development
A/CONF.171/11 Report of the Credentials Committee
and Corr.1
A/CONF.171/12 Letter dated 9 September 1994 from the Deputy
to the Alternate Head of the delegation of
Indonesia to the International Conference on
Population and Development addressed to the
Secretary-General of the Conference
A/CONF.171/L.1 Draft programme of action of the Conference:
note by the Secretariat
A/CONF.171/L.2 Report of the pre-Conference consultations
held at the Cairo International Conference
Centre
A/CONF.171/L.3 Report of the Main Committee
and Add.1-17
A/CONF.171/L.4 Draft report of the Conference
and Add.1
A/CONF.171/L.5 Programme of Action of the International
Conference on Population and Development:
draft resolution submitted by Algeria (on
behalf of the States Members of the United
Nations that are members of the Group of 77
and China)
A/CONF.171/L.6 Expression of thanks to the people and
Government of Egypt: draft resolution
submitted by Algeria (on behalf of the States
Members of the United Nations that are
members of the Group of 77 and China)
A/CONF.171/INF/1 Information for participants
A/CONF.171/INF/2 Provisional list of delegations to the
and Add.1-6 Conference
A/CONF.171/INF/3 List of documents circulated for information
and Add.1 and 2
A/CONF.171/PC/9 Report of the Preparatory Committee for the
International Conference on Population and
Development on its third session
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Annex II
OPENING STATEMENTS
Statement by Boutros Boutros-Ghali,
Secretary-General of the United Nations
We meet today, as the eyes of the world turn towards Cairo,
the eternal city, acting as host to an event that is historic in
the sense that, for the first time at such a level, the States and
peoples of the world are discussing issues of the utmost importance
for present and future life on Earth.
Allow me, at the outset, to present, on behalf of all who are
present, on behalf of the United Nations organizations and on my
own behalf, my sincere thanks and my profound gratitude to the
Government and people of the Arab Republic of Egypt for hosting
this important Conference. I should also like to thank the
Government and people of Egypt for the gracious and generous
hospitality afforded to the members of delegations attending this
Conference. This hospitality is yet another indication of Egypt's
constant support, over half a century, for the activities and
goals, including peace-keeping, of the United Nations. I salute
all who took part in the preparation of this Conference and I thank
them.
Allow me, Mr. President, to extend my special greetings to
President Muhammad Hosni Mubarak in appreciation of his wise and
effective policies, based on a genuine understanding of the nature
of the link between population and development. The international
community, in appreciation of President Mubarak's commitment,
decided to present His Excellency with the Population Award this
year, recognizing Egypt's leading role in this essential aspect of
development.
This Conference is a turning-point for the all-important
population issue, and the results it achieves will thus have the
most far-reaching impact on determining the course taken in
addressing it.
If the Conference has the necessary political will, it will
generate enormous impetus for a positive course that has the
support and backing of the States and peoples of the world. In the
absence of such political will, however, it can regrettably only
give rise to greater division and estrangement and even to crisis
situations.
I am not exaggerating when I say that now only does the future
of human society depend on this Conference but also the efficacy of
the economic order of the planet on which we live.
Before this distinguished gathering today is a comprehensive
and integrated programme of action that presents far-reaching
proposals and recommendations in order to address the most serious
issues at this juncture: poverty; development; environment; the
status of women; the conditions in which today's children and the
mainstay of the future are growing up; the issue of public health;
and other issues linked with the present and future welfare of
peoples.
If the Conference succeeds in adopting this programme, it will
take a great step forward by generating the necessary impetus not
only to determine the course to be taken in addressing the issues
but also to ensure that that course will continue to be pursued and
that its requirements will be met.
This is the real challenge that we must face, and we have
before us today a golden opportunity that it is the duty of us all
to exploit to the fullest.
In fact, the International Conference which opens today is the
product of a long and wide-ranging analysis which the United
Nations has been engaged in continuously since its establishment.
In its Preamble, the Charter strongly affirms the will of the
international community to "promote social progress and better
standards of life in larger freedom".
It was in this spirit that the Economic and Social Council
established, in 1946 the Population Commission, which inspired the
world Organization's first deliberations on this topic. At a very
early stage, the General Assembly itself assumed responsibility for
population questions, and was able to draw up in this field
principles of action of which the successive development decades,
inter alia, have borne the mark.
But the United Nations also instituted operational structures
to assist States in their population policy. In this connection,
everyone is aware of the role played by the United Nations
Population Fund. The breadth of the programmes it has been
conducting for 25 years in the different regions of the world and
in various subject areas illustrates the significance of its
activities.
At this point, I must pay special tribute to all those - the
staff of the Fund, the departments of the Secretariat, the regional
commissions and the agencies and programmes of the United Nations
- who have worked so long and so hard to make this Conference a
success.
The Executive Director of the Fund, Dr. Nafis Sadik, has
played an outstanding role.
Everyone is indeed well aware that the international
community's approach to population phenomena must be the subject of
a broad debate that mobilizes all Member States at the highest
level. This has been the role of the various international
conferences held on this subject over the past 20 years or so, from
the Bucharest Conference to the Mexico Conference.
The Conference opening today in Cairo marks a new and
significant phase in the international community's consideration of
population questions, and bears witness to the will to set this
consideration in the context of development.
But I should also like to say that this Conference takes on
its full meaning only if it is viewed against the background of all
the international conferences the United Nations is currently
conducting in the economic and social sphere.
I have more than once had occasion to emphasize the importance
of the economic and social activities of the United Nations. Too
often, public opinion and the media know the United Nations only
through the role it plays in the service of peace and international
security. These activities are certainly important, and deserve to
be continuously encouraged. The fact remains, though, that they
account for only about 30 per cent of the Organization's work. And
for the most part, its other tasks are in the economic and social
field.
I should also like to emphasize that the consideration of its
collective future that the international community is thus engaging
in is, essentially, a consideration of the destiny of the human
being. And this must remain present in our minds throughout the
Conference.
It was indeed the human being in his environment that we
discussed together in Rio.
It was the human being as the possessor of rights that we
reflected on in Vienna.
It is the human being in his social development that will be
at the centre of our debates in Copenhagen.
And it is the human being, through the status and condition of
women, that will bring us together next year in Beijing.
This concern is quite obviously to be found here today in
Cairo, through the mandate assigned to us by the International
Conference on Population and Development. And the objectives set
for us reflect the following vital questions:
What are the links between population, sustained economic
growth and sustainable development?
What should our attitude be concerning population growth and
structure?
How can equality of the sexes and emancipation of women be
ensured?
What is the role to be played by the family?
How can child mortality and maternal mortality be reduced?
How can we protect the dignity and well-being of the old?
What is the best way of promoting population and
family-planning policies?
How can internal and international migratory movements be
controlled?
What should be the role of the non-governmental organizations
in addressing these fundamental problems?
Clearly, these are extremely delicate questions, for, let us
be quite frank about it, even behind the most technical problems we
shall be called upon to discuss, choices by society can implicitly
be discerned. And consequently, the fears, hesitations and
criticisms that have surrounded the preparations for this
Conference are understandable.
But that is not in my view a reason - far from it - to evade
questions that are vital to the future of mankind. And no one
would understand it if the United Nations, one of whose main roles
is to serve as the major forum for international society, failed to
take up these fundamental questions.
To be faithful to its vocation and its nature, the United
Nations must offer States a free and open framework for discussion,
sensitive to the variety of opinions and convictions. Far be it
from me, then, as this Conference opens, to offer you general
models or ready-made answers.
I do believe, however, as Secretary-General of the United
Nations, that it is my duty to invite you to approach this
International Conference in a constructive and positive spirit.
In this connection, I should like to suggest to you, not a
method of work, but what I should like to call "principles of
conduct". These principles, which should set the tone of the Cairo
Conference, can, it seems to me, be embodied in three essential
words which I offer for your attention: rigour, tolerance and
conscience.
It is these three principles of conduct that I should like to
reflect on for a few moments here before you.
The rigour we must respect is both the rigour of the facts and
intellectual rigour.
The world today has five billion six hundred thirty million
inhabitants. Each year, the world's population grows by almost 90
million. And United Nations projections are that in the year 2050,
it should be between seven billion nine hundred eighteen million
and eleven and a half billion.
We all know, too, that this population growth is largely
concentrated in the world's poorest countries. Currently, four and
a half billion people, or almost 80 per cent of the overall
population, are living in the least developed regions of the world.
And if nothing is done, this situation is likely to get worse in
the years to come.
Hence, a major question confronts us: how can we adhere to
the demand for social progress envisaged in the Charter when, every
day, 377,000 new human beings are born, mostly in the developing
regions and, in many cases, in circumstances of intolerable
hardship and poverty?
In the light of these inescapable realities, indifference and
inaction are real crimes against the spirit. We must implement,
encourage and support national, regional and international
population policies, for - to put it in the plainest terms - it is
through our intervention and determination that we can ensure
harmonious progress for society and safeguard the future for
subsequent generations to whom we are accountable from now on.
It would be inadmissible to rely on some kind of law of
nature, in other words, to allow wars, disasters, famine or disease
to regulate the world's demographic growth.
States must be supported in their efforts to control
population increase. The purpose of a conference such as ours is
not only to measure the progress achieved over a decade, but also
to devise better ways of combining population and development, as
the very title of our Conference urges us to do.
However, we must also consider population and family-planning
policies from the broadest and most global perspective so as to
address not only the immediate problem, but also its underlying
causes. Indeed, population policies are inseparable from health,
nutrition and education policies.
In this connection, I should like to stress the role that such
policies must assign to women. Educating and mobilizing women are
goals essential to the success of all population and development
policies throughout the world.
I am well aware that the formulation and implementation of
such policies can, in some cases, conflict with attitudes or
traditions. That is why I wish to emphasize the second principle
that should guide us here - the principle of tolerance.
Tolerance requires a conference such as ours to be highly
respectful of cultures and beliefs, for, as we all know, a
conference on population and development raises both social and
ethical questions.
From a social standpoint, let us never forget that what we
term "the population" is not an indiscriminate mass. Each member
of the population belongs to a culture, a society, a tradition. A
population consists of multiple relationships, in which each
community deserves our respect, and of which the family is the
nucleus.
Above all, a population encompasses diverse and varying
loyalties; our discussions should take this into account.
However, a population is also a set of peoples and a set of
individuals. Therefore, let us never fail to make the link between
our Conference and the basic concept of the right of peoples. And
let us never lose sight of the need for our policy to be consistent
with human rights.
Last year, at the Vienna Conference, I had the opportunity to
stress the concept of universality and the dimension, both absolute
and contingent, of human rights. It is this same dialectic of the
universal and the particular, of identity and difference, that we
should apply here - especially when we address the most sensitive
issues of the Conference.
I therefore call upon each and every one of you to be tolerant
and respectful of the sensitivities that may be expressed during
these discussions.
Such tolerance must be shown in the strongest possible way,
for it should not lead to cautious compromises, half-measures,
vague solutions or, still worse, statements that lull us into
complacency. Likewise, we should avoid becoming trapped in absurd
and outmoded disputes over words.
Such tolerance must also be mutual, for we cannot allow a
given philosophical, moral or spiritual belief to be imposed upon
the entire international community or to block the progress of
humanity.
In other words, the success of our Conference depends upon our
efforts to overcome our apparent divisions, our temporary
differences, our ideological and cultural barriers. That is why I
designate conscience as the third principle of conduct of our
Conference.
Conscience is traditionally defined as the capacity of the
individual to know and judge himself as he really is. And this is
indeed what is at stake for us.
For the knowledge which we must have of ourselves is, first
and foremost, knowledge of our freedom of judgement and of the
right of all women and men to lead and run their lives as they see
fit, with respect for the freedom of others and the rules of
society.
Men and women throughout the world must have not only the
right but also the means to choose their individual future and that
of their families.
Such freedom of decision is a basic right which must be
protected and encouraged. Otherwise, it is the world's poorest
people - and here I am thinking specifically of the status of women
- who would suffer the direst consequences.
However, such freedom can be genuine only if it is experienced
and put into practice in a setting which encourages women and men
to be responsible.
Therefore, only through the combination of freedom and
responsibility, in a family environment of concern for the dignity
of the human person and the future of society, will the full
development of individuals be possible.
However, the knowledge which we must have of ourselves
includes awareness of our interdependence. All too often, we
become aware of it only through crisis, force or threat, in the
most negative way, as a result of waves of immigration or refugee
flows.
Our debate here on population and development should give us
a better grasp of the common fate not only of individuals, but also
of humanity - and make it easier to convince public opinion in our
countries of this.
Our Conference should also help us - at any rate, this is my
hope - to fully shoulder our responsibilities towards future
generations. What we call "the population" is really only a moment
in the long history of humanity's journey. We should never lose
sight of this; it sends us back to one of the most basic issues of
our forthcoming debate, namely, how to implement population
policies which respect the freedoms of all, while at the same time
ensuring harmonious development and shared social progress for
future generations.
Accordingly, the Cairo Conference represents one of those rare
and basic moments when the community of nations, by inquiring into
its current realities, points the way towards its common future.
The Cairo Conference also represents a decisive stage in the
assumption of our collective responsibility towards future
generations.
Lastly, the Cairo Conference constitutes the strongest
possible evidence of our determination to achieve joint control
over the world's demographic, economic and social future.
Statement by Muhammad Hosni Mubarak, President of Egypt
and President of the International Conference on Population
and Development
Welcome to the good earth Egypt, the cradle of civilization
and the land of peace, which has played throughout the ages a major
role in linking the civilizations and peoples of the entire world.
It has enriched the march of mankind with a blend of human values
brought about by the amalgamation of civilizations on this immortal
land throughout seven thousand years.
Welcome to Cairo, the metropolis of Arabs and Africans, the
city of a thousand minarets that joins the towers of churches and
the minarets of Islam in an embrace, spreading love and tolerance
and brightening with the light of faith the Egyptians' endeavours
in this blessed valley, which is mentioned in the verses of the
Koran, the words of the Bible and the texts of the Torah.
Welcome to the land that has taken part in the march towards
human progress, where man started to cultivate the land, called for
monotheism, registered his knowledge and history, made of his
relation with the River Nile a unique model of congeniality between
man and his environment and embodied the right relationship between
population and resources.
Welcome to today's Egypt, which contributes as much as
possible to the human struggle for a more secure and peaceful
future in which justice and equality prevail.
Your decision to choose Egypt as the site of this important
international Conference is highly appreciated by the Egyptian
people. They consider it an expression of gratitude from the world
community and the United Nations for Egypt's role in serving the
causes of peace, development and progress.
We hope that the convening of this Conference in Egypt will be
a turning- point that takes into consideration the unity of man's
destiny on our planet. No matter how far apart we live or how vast
the difference in progress among us, we eventually share the same
destiny and face the same challenges of ever- increasing violence
and aggression in the world at large.
The world has become a small village not only because of the
amazing progress made in means of communication but also because
the dangers threatening us cross the borders of all nations and
continents so that no society can be completely safe from their
consequences.
As we are at the threshold of the twenty-first century, we
hope that our Conference will be a meeting point for d‚tente among
civilizations, and that man will be attuned to his environment. We
also hope that this Conference will be a bridge linking north with
south and east with west. It will coordinate the efforts of all in
a human entente that maintains peace and human values and preserves
the principles of heavenly laws which differentiate between good
and evil, right and wrong.
We would like this Conference to be a historic turning-point
in the annals of coordinated human endeavour in order to confront
the challenges of a new era that brings us great expectations of a
more secure and just world as much as it carries serious dangers
that are difficult to face. Such dangers may stem from a one-sided
view of the destiny of mankind, overlooking the fact that we are
all in the same boat and that human progress should be
comprehensive. Such a view would create an unbalanced world
structure, lacking the elements of social stability.
Demographic facts at present affirm that the smallest number
of the world's population live in countries of high per capita
income, where the average annual income of 822 million people is
more than 20,000 dollars. The average annual income of three
billion other people does not exceed 350 dollars: these people
live in countries suffering insufficient resources, low production
and the absence of means of human development. Indications are
that 15 per cent of the world's population earn 75 per cent of
world income.
These figures raise many important questions which cause much
concern and call for joint action in a bid to change this image
through more cooperation among world communities and a greater
capability to confront future challenges.
We do not wish this Conference to be merely a third population
conference that would only add to the achievements of the two
previous Conferences, held in Bucharest and Mexico in 1974 and
1984, respectively, achievements which we cannot underrate.
However, we wish this Conference to be a historic
turning-point in envisaging the population problem and putting it
in its proper perspective. We are all partners at work and share
the same destiny on this planet, which faces unprecedented
challenges brought about by the huge and rapid changes that have
taken place during the latter half of this century and have
precipitated problems of population expansion.
The importance of this Conference lies in the fact that it is
held in a new world climate, in which humanity has great hopes of
a possibly different world order, in which peace, justice and
cooperation prevail despite the bloodshed and misery we still
witness and the fear of many peoples of being marginalized or
excluded from the march of human progress owing to the absence of
standards of justice.
Allow me to state my vision of the tasks of this Conference
and the goals it should seek to realize. Though it is a personal
vision, it reflects the aspirations of the many peoples that have
great hopes for this Conference. The Conference takes place at a
decisive stage, making it incumbent upon all of us to exert much
effort and thought within the context of our clear understanding of
the fact that we all share one destiny and one future.
First, the task of our Conference at this important juncture
in the history of human progress is to respond to peoples' hopes,
to reach a joint vision that consolidates the march of human
progress and firmly establishes the concepts of peace, justice and
cooperation, and values work and virtue. Perhaps the right
starting-point in formulating this joint vision is to admit that
the results and recommendations of the Conference must be the
outcome of free discussion and open dialogue, avoiding any strict
commitment to ready-made formulas that have not been considered or
discussed at the Conference.
In my opinion, the outcome and objectives of the Conference
should be defined by the creative interaction of various opinions
through a free dialogue that aims at finding a common denominator
among all the different views. Thus, the Conference
recommendations would be a reflection of humanity as a whole
realizing justice and equal opportunities for every country and
people no matter how small its census or its resources are.
This Conference brings together peoples of different
civilizations, cultures and religions whose laws should be
respected. Hence, there is no way other than through the
interaction of opinions in an atmosphere of democracy to find a
common denominator that unites us within this richly diverse
gathering.
Secondly, reaching this common denominator calls for free
dialogue ruled by a spirit of solidarity, a joint feeling of
responsibility and a mutual desire to open up to the opinions of
others and to maintain that no one alone can claim that he
possesses all the facts. Our dialogue should be a matter of give
and take, reflecting the interrelationship between cultures. We
should guard against missing the objective and losing direction
because our dialogue will then be confined to premeditated thoughts
that some wish to impose on all. The dialogue may also fall victim
to strong polarization between advanced and developing States to
the extent that we find ourselves in a labyrinth of serious
discrepancies. Eventually our efforts will be dispersed and our
unity shattered and we will become incapable of confronting the
serious dangers which jeopardize all of human existence.
Thirdly, we deeply believe that there are no discrepancies
between religion and science, between spiritual and material
factors, between the requirements of modernization and tradition
because life depends on a combination of all these factors. Man
cannot gain peace, security and happiness without a satisfactory
balance between his spiritual and material needs.
Fourthly, any recommendations made by the Conference should be
at the service of every society according to its circumstances and
basic beliefs. They should be in keeping with its heavenly laws
and religious principles and compatible with the philosophy which
governs its outlook.
In this respect, I would like to refer to Economic and Social
Council resolution 1991/93, which stipulates the necessity of
respecting the sovereignty of each State and its right to draw up
and apply the demographic policies that are in conformity with its
culture, values and traditions, compatible with its social,
economic and political conditions, and in harmony with human rights
and the responsibilities of individuals, families and societies.
Fifthly, it would be useless to consider the Cairo Conference
as a separate event, disconnected from the many international
endeavours of the past or that will take place in the future to
discuss other aspects of the problems affecting our lives - for
example, the United Nations Conference on Environment and
Development, in 1992, and the forthcoming conferences on social
development, women and human settlements.
All these international efforts should be placed within a
single framework: the problems of our planet have become so
complicated and interrelated that an integrated development vision
is required to help work out the right solutions.
It may be sufficient to refer to some important facts in order
to appreciate the difficult situations that our world is
experiencing. Five and a half billion people live on our planet.
This number increases by 90 million every year. Three quarters of
those people live in the developing countries, whose share of world
income is only 15 per cent, which makes matters more complicated.
International statistics indicate that there are 500 million
unemployed persons in those countries, suffering because of the
absence of job opportunities. What is more dangerous is that
unemployment separates people from the social life of their
societies. This is the worst and most destructive outcome of
unemployment.
Most of these countries are gravely affected by problems of
debt and the debt burden, particularly in Africa, where foreign
debt has reached $285 billion. Many are also suffering a shortage
of food because of drought and desertification.
In such developing communities, half a million women die every
year from complications related to pregnancy, a rate 200 times
higher than that for European women.
All these phenomena call for intensifying efforts to deal with
the population issue and to control overpopulation in conformity
with divine laws and religious values, with the hope of reaching
reasonable growth rates that are in keeping with resources in order
to attain a better future for coming generations.
This is the joint responsibility of the whole world - the rich
before the poor - not only because we live in one world and our
duty is integration and cooperation, and not only because some of
these problems are due to the absence of standards of justice in
dealings with the advanced world, but because - and this may be the
most serious threat to our planet - the negative impacts of the
problems of overpopulation exceed all limits, with increasing risks
of immigration, violence and epidemics, as well as the continuous
deterioration of the environment and its negative effects on us
all.
The population problem facing our world cannot be solved on
the basis of handling the demographic dimensions only, but should
also be dealt with in close relation to the problems of social,
economic and cultural development, with a view to raising the
individual's capacities and participation in production and
consumption.
All this should be done within an accurate concept of the
nature of the relationship between population and resources, taking
into consideration the requirements of future generations as well
as the necessity of providing for the needs of the present.
The honest translation of this integrated vision of the
dimensions of the population problem necessitates intensifying
efforts to upgrade educational and health services, paying more
attention to women, who play a major role in forming a family and
raising children and who also bear a bigger responsibility in
implementing programmes relevant to population.
The cornerstone and starting-point of any successful
demographic policy aimed at establishing a society capable of
waging the battle of development with efficiency is improving the
situation of women, especially in the developing countries, raising
awareness of the gravity of the problem and revealing to them all
its various dimensions.
Egypt experienced a grave population problem in the
mid-twentieth century due to a continuous drop in mortality rates
together with stabilized higher birth rates. As a result of the
sustainable development of health services, Egypt's population
doubled in a quarter of a century.
This problem has been exhausting development revenues and
threatening standards of living, necessitating more services with
limited resources. We could neither meet the growing aspirations
of the people for a better life nor cope with a demographic growth
rate that was the highest worldwide.
This problem is aggravated by the concentration of population
in a limited area of land - the Nile Valley and the Delta - which
has led to unbelievably high levels of population density.
Naturally, this issue has been given great attention by the
State and society and is at the top of the agenda of national
priorities. Official and popular institutions have made concerted
efforts in this area, with a view to reaching a plausible solution
to the problem which is acceptable to all the people and in which
each and every citizen has full confidence. The solution should be
in line with religious beliefs and values in order to arouse
enthusiasm for voluntary participation.
The Egyptian population programme succeeded in meeting its
objectives. It relied on acquainting the people with the bare
facts, believing they were capable of performing their required
role as long as they were armed with knowledge and awareness.
Knowing the truth is the first step in motivating people to
participate and allows them to make sound choices stemming
logically from their psychological convictions.
We rejected all population policies that were based on
compulsion or constraint as being contradictory to our spiritual
values, divine laws and the essential principles of our
Constitution. Besides, compulsion, practically speaking, may
impede the progress of population plans and programmes if the
people find them unacceptable, even though they may appear to be
successful at the initial stages of implementation. Such policies
are impossible to implement except in non-democratic communities
where compulsion and fear prevail, and they never help to build
good citizens capable of effective participation.
We refused to have recourse to any sort of legislation that
might constitute a restriction on the freedom of citizens in making
their decision, or that might coerce them to follow certain
procedures for family planning. We have refused all that as we are
positive that in family issues choice must be free, stemming from
free will, in order to achieve success and continuity.
We have endeavoured to make our population programme conform
to established religious values, because we deeply believe that the
values of true religion are a strong impetus towards reform as long
as intentions are good, tolerance prevails, and all of us are more
concerned with content and significance than form and appearance.
We have depended, in the first place, on raising people's
awareness of the population problem in Egypt and its complicated
relationship with our limited resources and the aspirations of
citizens for a better life.
We have directed all attention to upgrading education
throughout Egypt, considering it a major national cause that
deserves absolute priority. Upgrading education is the appropriate
starting-point in any reform aimed at the establishment of a
society capable of facing great challenges.
Now we are implementing an ambitious programme that deals with
all aspects of education, starting with the establishment of new
and modern schools that offer students a good opportunity to engage
in school activities. The programme also aims at restoring
existing school buildings and reviewing educational curricula. It
also requalifies and trains teachers so that they can better help
to develop the minds of students, and enable them to deal with
scientific facts and their modern evolution. Furthermore, it aims
at developing the students' personalities in a manner that promotes
their ability to engage in creative dialogue and enables them to
make good choices.
We have given the same particular attention to promoting
health services throughout Egypt. The significance of this step
lies in the fact that there are 4,000 villages and a considerable
number of small population agglomerations.
We have had to double our efforts to upgrade health services
to reach every citizen, giving special attention to the health of
women and children as well as to psychological health.
The outcome of these policies based on knowledge, awareness
and the provision of educational and health services to each and
every citizen was an annual drop in population growth from 2.8 per
cent in 1980, to 2.2 per cent in 1994. The number of families
taking part in family-planning programmes rose from 28 per cent to
50 per cent of the total number of families in both rural and urban
areas.
One of the prominent features of the Egyptian programme is
that it has become a national issue supported by all parties and
sects. Furthermore, it has achieved national consensus, appealing
to all citizens irrespective of their religious or sectarian
affiliations.
These are promising results, proving that we are moving in the
right direction and that we have firm and stable policies that
ensure the sustainability of reform in the long run and guarantee
that the desired results are achieved because they are based on the
free choice of all citizens.
Many friends and major international organizations have
cooperated with us, particularly the United Nations, the United
Nations Population Fund, the United Nations Development Programme,
the United Nations Children's Fund, the World Health Organization
and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization. In addition, the Governments of some States have
contributed to the success of the Egyptian programme. Cooperation
is important for every country devising a national programme that
emanates from its actual situation and circumstances and is
compatible with its values and traditions, while realizing the
country's objectives and its commitments to given priorities.
I take this opportunity to express appreciation to those
organizations. I would like to extend special thanks to United
Nations Secretary-General Boutros-Ghali and Executive Director of
the United Nations Population Fund and Conference Secretary-General
Dr. Nafis Sadik for their highly appreciated efforts to make the
Conference a success.
We start our work in this Conference hoping that the
discussion of the issues tabled will be conducted free of personal
interests and prejudices and based on objectivity and knowledge.
We also hope that it will take into consideration ethical values
and religious doctrines and provide an ample opportunity for all
the parties to participate so that all cultures and viewpoints may
interact to enrich our common experience.
We want our dialogue to avoid dogmatism and fanaticism, for
extremist opinions should remain outside the framework of the
development of societies, as they lack unanimity and acceptability
at all levels.
I do not believe that we can reach proper solutions for our
population problems - however wise and prudent we may be - unless
those solutions conform to our society, meet the basic needs of the
people and comply with their values and beliefs.
We cannot minimize the dangers besetting our world due to
overpopulation. Also, we cannot overlook those numerous tragedies
that are still witnessed in the world, although the cold war is
over; it would be unfair, however, to ignore the prospects of hope
that have already appeared, signalling a better tomorrow.
The great achievements of modern science and scientific
discoveries, which appear every day, increase man's ability to face
challenges in the fields of nutrition, substitute materials,
environmental protection and the improvement of services.
Likewise, there is a growing feeling that man cannot fulfil
himself if he satisfies his material needs at the expense of his
psychological and spiritual needs. This feeling gives us hope that
new generations, through their deep faith, will be able to avoid
falling into the abyss and the labyrinth of doubt and aberration.
The most positive developments witnessed by our planet, which
have greatly affected the destiny of mankind, are the growing
inclination towards peace and the rejection of the arms race and
all types of weapons of mass destruction throughout the world.
Today, man is eager for a more peaceful and secure world in
order to devote his efforts to the good of humanity. Hence, there
is a greater call to settle even the most difficult disputes
through negotiations, peaceful settlements and common acceptance of
just solutions that reflect a balance of the interests of all
parties according to the principles of justice and legitimacy.
These are, in my opinion, the most optimistic developments for
the future of our world despite the numerous tragedies we still
witness in many places. Today, we aspire to a new world, more
capable of confronting the challenges of the future, a world in
which interrelationships and cooperation among people replace
enmity and severe conflicts, where tolerance replaces extremism and
fanaticism in a bid to attain a rapprochement among nations and
peoples and promote creative competitiveness that enriches the life
of the people and safeguards their present and future.
These are legitimate aspirations, and not wishful thinking,
that can be fulfilled through a closing of ranks and unity of
thought, but only if we start working together in a new spirit
because we are all in the same boat.
I sincerely pray to God Almighty to protect our march and
guide us to success. May Allah's peace, mercy and blessings be
upon you.
Statement by Dr. Nafis Sadik, Secretary-General of
the International Conference on Population and Development
We are meeting in this beautiful and historic city, a modern
city with a long tradition, the home of scholarship as well as
business and industry, a great centre of Islamic study as well as
the seat of government for nearly a thousand years, for a historic
conference. We are most grateful to you, Mr. President, and to the
Government of your dynamic and rapidly developing country, for your
warm welcome and your gracious hospitality.
Your city and your country have an ancient lineage, Mr.
President, but they are also thoroughly modern. You have set an
example for both Arab and African countries with your approach to
questions of population and development. It is fitting that this
great city will be for the next 10 days the centre of the world.
Mr. Secretary-General, it is an honour for me to be in your
home country, and to be able to thank you personally for your
guidance and wise counsel. From the moment you were elected, I
have been able to count on your unswerving support, and it has
continued throughout the preparations for this Conference.
I wish to extend a particular welcome to all the heads of
State and Government: the President of Azerbaijan, the Prime
Minister of Swaziland and Vice-President Gore of the United States
of America.
Let me extend a particular welcome to Prime Minister Bhutto
and Prime Minister Brundtland. Prime Minister Brundtland was the
first head of State to announce that she was coming to Cairo.
About Mrs. Bhutto, what can I say? You will be recognized by the
world community for your courage and conviction. This is what
leadership is all about. Your presence here demonstrates more
clearly than anything else could that we are dealing with an issue
of truly global significance.
Mr. Vice-President, you are especially welcome here for your
long-standing concern and commitment to environmental issues both
in your own country and throughout the world. You are a great
champion of the sustainable use of resources and a true friend of
those involved in population and development.
I am sorry to say that illness has prevented President
Soeharto of Indonesia from attending the Conference but he has sent
a most gracious message. In wishing the Conference success, he
writes "I sincerely hope that the Conference will serve as a
landmark for a more active cooperation and partnership between
nations aimed at sharing experiences in developing the family and
population for sustainable development".
I am delighted to welcome my colleagues, the heads of the
World Bank, the World Health Organization, the United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees, the United Nations Children's Fund, the
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
and the United Nations Environment Programme. The United Nations
High Commissioner for Human Rights was unable to be here but has
sent a message in which he expresses the strongest support for the
Conference. I commend it to the attention of all delegates.
Finally, I would like to offer my congratulations to Minister
Mahran, the Minister for Family and Population, for his
long-standing pursuit of excellence in Egypt's national
family-planning programme, and my heartfelt thanks for his
leadership of the National Preparatory Committee and his excellent
management of the preparations for the Conference.
If I may be permitted, I would like to recognize the work of
the men and women of the United Nations staff, both those you see
around you and those who work behind the scenes. Their effort has
made this Conference possible.
This is a truly all-inclusive Conference. The involvement of
170 countries as well as thousands of non-governmental
organizations, both local and international, clearly reflects that.
As you may have noticed, the media have also paid some attention:
as of yesterday evening, 3,725 journalists had registered to cover
the Conference. Thanks to them, your discussions will reach nearly
every home in the world.
The people responsible for the success of the preparatory
process are those who worked together during three long years of
preparations. The result of all your work is a draft programme of
action that you will discuss and finalize in the days ahead. You
have already agreed on nine tenths of it. This Conference is
already a success. As Madame Suzanne Mubarak put it yesterday at
the NGO Forum, this Conference is perhaps unique because it has
moved from sterile ideological confrontation to making investment
in human beings the driving force in dealing with issues of
population and development.
The draft you have largely approved is based on the highest of
moral principles. It emphasizes people rather than numbers. It
concentrates on the quality of life and well-being of the family
and all its members. I will deal with it at more length later
today. For now, let me share with you my deepest personal hope for
the Conference. It is that you will agree on actions necessary to
reduce the needless suffering and death which result from the lack
of education, basic health care and family planning and from
people's lack of control over their lives.
Every day hundreds of women die from causes related to
pregnancy and childbirth. Every day hundreds of newborn babies die
because their mothers lacked basic maternal health care.
We have the means at our disposal to prevent this tragedy.
Let us agree to do so, in the name of humanity.
You have recognized the facts, you have agreed on objectives
and you have recommended specific actions in well-defined areas.
You have demonstrated your willingness to come to grips with some
of the most difficult problems of our time. To quote Doctor Ahmed
Fathi Sorour, President of Egypt's People's Assembly, it is now
time to "debate in good faith and act in harmony for the benefit of
mankind". And as you said, Mr. President, the benefits to
humankind must be universal. In the same spirit, our call for
joint action among the world's nations is to help reach the vision
of each individual member of the world community.
Thanks to your work in the past, you have a very specific,
very action- oriented draft document. With a little more work in
the next 10 days, the Programme of Action will become part of a
sustainable future. I wish you all success.
Statement by Gro Harlem Brundtland,
Prime Minister ofNorway
Let us turn from the dramatizing of this Conference which has
been going on in the media and focus on the main issues. We are
gathered here to answer a moral call to action. Solidarity with
present and future generations has its price. But if we do not pay
it in full, we will be faced with global bankruptcy.
This Conference is really about the future of democracy, how
we widen and deepen its forces and scope. Unless we empower our
people, educate them, care for their health, allow them to enter
economic life, on an equal basis and rich in opportunity, poverty
will persist, ignorance will be pandemic and people's needs will
suffocate under their numbers. The items and issues of this
Conference are therefore not merely items and issues, but building
blocks in our global democracy.
It is entirely proper to address the future of civilization
here in the cradle of civilization. We owe a great debt to
President Mubarak and to the people of Egypt for inviting us to the
banks of the Nile, where the relationship between people and
resources is so visible and where the contrast between permanence
and change is so evident.
We are also indebted to Mrs. Nafis Sadik and her devoted
staff, who have provided intensive care and inspiration to the
Conference preparations.
Ten years of experience as a physician and 20 as a politician
have taught me that improved life conditions, a greater range of
choice, access to unbiased information and true international
solidarity are the sources of human progress.
We now possess a rich library of analysis of the relationship
between population growth, poverty, the status of women, wasteful
lifestyles, and consumption patterns, of policies that work and
policies that don't and of the environmental degradation that is
accelerating at this very moment.
We are not here to repeat it all, but to make a pledge. We
make a pledge to change policies. When we adopt the Programme of
Action, we sign a promise - a promise to allocate more resources
next year than we did this year to health- care systems, to
education, family planning and the struggle against AIDS. We
promise to make men and women equal before the law, but also to
rectify disparities, and to promote women's needs more actively
than men's until we can safely say that equality has been reached.
We need to use our combined resources more efficiently through
a reformed and better-coordinated United Nations system. This is
essential to counteract the crisis threatening international
cooperation today.
In many countries, where population growth is higher than
economic growth, the problems are exacerbated each year. The costs
of future social needs will soar. The punishment of inaction will
be severe, a nightmare for ministers of finance and a legacy which
future generations do not deserve.
But the benefits of policy change are so great that we cannot
afford not to make them. We must measure the benefits of
successful population policies in savings - on public expenditure
on infrastructure, social services, housing, sewage treatment,
health services and education.
Egyptian calculations show that every pound invested in family
planning saves 30 pounds in future expenditures on food subsidies,
education, water, sewage, housing and health.
Experience has taught us what works and what does not.
With 95 per cent of the population increase taking place in
developing countries, the communities that bear the burden of
rising numbers are those least equipped to do so. They are the
ecologically fragile areas where current numbers already reflect an
appalling disequilibrium between people and earth.
The preponderance of young people in many of our societies
means that there will be an absolute increase in the population
figures for many years ahead, whatever strategy we adopt here in
Cairo. But the Cairo Conference may significantly determine, by
its outcome, whether global population can be stabilized early
enough and at a level that humankind and the global environment can
survive.
It is encouraging that there is already so much common ground
between us. The final Programme of Action must embody irreversible
commitments towards strengthening the role and status of women. We
must all be prepared to be held accountable. That is how democracy
works.
It must promise access to education and basic reproductive
health services, including family planning, as a universal human
right for all.
Women will not become more empowered merely because we want
them to be, but through change of legislation, increased
information and by redirecting resources. It would be fatal to
overlook the urgency of this issue.
For too long, women have had difficult access to democracy.
It cannot be repeated often enough that there are few investments
that bring greater rewards than investment in women. But still
they are being patronized and discriminated against in terms of
access to education, productive assets, credit, income and
services, decision-making, working conditions and pay. For too
many women in too many countries, real development has only been an
illusion.
Women's education is the single most important path to higher
productivity, lower infant mortality and lower fertility. The
economic returns on investment in women's education are generally
comparable to those for men, but the social returns in terms of
health and fertility by far exceed what we gain from men's
education. So let us pledge to watch over the numbers of
school-enrolment for girls. Let us also watch the numbers of girls
who complete their education and ask why, if the numbers differ,
because the girl who receives her diploma will have fewer babies
than her sister who does not.
I am pleased by the emerging consensus that everyone should
have access to the whole range of family-planning services at an
affordable price.
Sometimes religion is a major obstacle. This happens when
family planning is made a moral issue. But morality cannot only be
a question of controlling sexuality and protecting unborn life.
Morality is also a question of giving individuals the opportunity
of choice, of suppressing coercion of all kinds and abolishing the
criminalization of individual tragedy. Morality becomes hypocrisy
if it means accepting mothers' suffering or dying in connection
with unwanted pregnancies and illegal abortions, and unwanted
children living in misery.
None of us can disregard that abortions occur, and that where
they are illegal, or heavily restricted, the life and health of the
woman is often at risk. Decriminalizing abortions should therefore
be a minimal response to this reality, and a necessary means of
protecting the life and health of women.
Traditional religious and cultural obstacles can be overcome
by economic and social development, with the focus on enhancement
of human resources. For example, Buddhist Thailand, Moslem
Indonesia and Catholic Italy demonstrate that relatively sharp
reductions in fertility can be achieved in an amazingly short time.
It is encouraging that the Conference will contribute to
expanding the focus of family-planning programmes to include
concern for sexually transmitted diseases, and caring for pregnant,
delivering and aborting women. But it is tragic that it had to
take a disaster like the HIV/AIDS pandemic to open our eyes to the
importance of combating sexually transmitted diseases. It is also
tragic that so many women have had to die from pregnancies before
we realized that the traditional mother-and-child health
programmes, effective in saving the life of so many children, have
done too little to save the lives of women.
In a forward-looking programme of action, it therefore seems
sensible to combine health concerns that deal with human sexuality
under the heading "reproductive health care". I have tried, in
vain, to understand how that term can possibly be read as promoting
abortion or qualifying abortion as a means of family planning.
Rarely, if ever, have so many misrepresentations been used to imply
meaning that was never there in the first place.
I am pleased to say that the total number of abortions in
Norway stayed the same after abortion was legalized, while illegal
abortions sank to zero. Our experience is similar to that of other
countries, namely, that the law has an impact on the
decision-making process and on the safety of abortion - but not on
the numbers. Our abortion rate is one of the lowest in the world.
Unsafe abortion is a major public health problem in most
corners of the globe. We know full well, all of us, that wealthy
people often manage to pay their way to safe abortion regardless of
the law.
A conference of this status and importance should not accept
attempts to distort facts or neglect the agony of millions of women
who are risking their lives and health. I simply refuse to believe
that the stalemate reached over this crucial question will be
allowed to block a serious and forward-looking outcome of the Cairo
Conference - hopefully, based on full consensus and adopted in good
faith.
Reproductive health services not only deal with problems that
have been neglected, they also cater to clients who have previously
been overlooked. Young people and single persons have received too
little help, and continue to do so, as family-planning clinics
seldom meet their needs. Fear of promoting promiscuity is often
said to be the reason for restricting family-planning services to
married couples. But we know that lack of education and services
does not deter adolescents and unmarried persons from sexual
activity. On the contrary, there is increasing evidence from many
countries, including my own, that sex education promotes
responsible sexual behaviour, and even abstinence. Lack of
reproductive health services makes sexual activity more risky for
both sexes, but particularly for women.
As young people stand at the threshold of adulthood, their
emerging sexuality is too often met with suspicion or plainly
ignored. At this vulnerable time in life adolescents need both
guidance and independence, they need education as well as
opportunity to explore life for themselves. This requires tact and
a delicately balanced approach from parents and from society. It
is my sincere hope that this Conference will contribute to
increased understanding and greater commitment to the reproductive
health needs of young people, including the provision of
confidential health services for them.
Visions are needed to bring about change. But we must also
let our vision and commitment materialize through allocation of
resources. The price tag for the Programme of Action that we are
here to adopt has been estimated at somewhere between 17 and 20
billion dollars per year.
The really hard work begins when the Conference is over. It
is a major challenge to translate the new approach and objectives
into implementable programmes. Norway will continue to participate
in a dialogue with our bilateral and multilateral partners. We are
pleased to see that important donors such as the United States and
Japan are now increasing their support to population issues. Other
countries should follow suit. Hopefully, Norway will soon be
joined by other donor countries fulfilling the target of allocating
at least 4 per cent of official development assistance (ODA) to
population programmes.
It is also important that Governments devote 20 per cent of
their expenditures to the social sector and that 20 per cent of ODA
is allocated towards eradication of poverty.
In order to meet the cost requirements of this Programme of
Action, however, another long-standing target needs to be
fulfilled, the 0.7 per cent of gross domestic product for ODA. The
so-called "donor fatigue", again attributed to the general
budgetary problems of the industrialized world, will certainly not
facilitate this challenge. Budgetary priorities and allocations
are being fought for by national Governments every year. And the
1 per cent-and-above allocation to ODA, which Norway has been able
to defend over the past 15 years or so, does not materialize
without serious political work. Our work should be greatly
facilitated by two factors: (1) that other donor countries begin
approaching the target of 0.7 per cent, and (2), important both to
Norway and, maybe, to the whole donor community, that this
Conference like other world conferences proves by its outcome that
we are truly committed to a new and more real solidarity with the
world's poor and underprivileged - they who are without a voice,
and without a choice.
Population growth is one of the most serious obstacles to
world prosperity and sustainable development. We may soon be
facing new famine, mass migration, destabilization and even armed
struggle as peoples compete for ever more scarce land and water
resources.
In the more developed countries the fortunate children of new
generations may delay their confrontation with the imminent
environmental crisis, but today's newborns will be facing the
ultimate collapse of vital resource bases.
In order to achieve a sustainable balance between the number
of people and the amount of natural resources that can be consumed,
both the peoples of the industrialized countries and the rich in
the South have a special obligation to reduce their ecological
impact.
Changes are needed, both in the North and in the South, but
these changes will not happen unless they stand the test of
democracy. Only when people have the right to take part in the
shaping of society by participating in democratic political
processes will changes be politically sustainable. Only then can
we fulfil the hopes and aspirations of generations yet unborn.
I take this privileged opportunity to summon and challenge
this Conference to answer its responsibility towards coming
generations. We did not succeed in Rio with regard to population.
Cairo must be successful for Earth's sake.
Statement by Al Gore,
Vice-President of the United States of America
I am honoured 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 towards
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 9 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
towards 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 behaviours 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 behaviour 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 drift-nets
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
drift-nets.
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 wilful 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 also the degree of consensus about the nature of the solution.
A real change has occurred during the past several years in a
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 Kerala, in south-western 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 of 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 United States 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 endeavour. 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 "whys", 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 and 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 face 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.
Statement by Benazir Bhutto,
Prime Minister ofPakistan
I come before you as a woman, as a mother, and as a wife. I
come before you as the democratically elected Prime Minister of a
great Muslim nation - the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. I come
before you as the leader of the ninth largest population on Earth.
We stand at the crossroads of history. The choices that we
make today will affect the future of mankind.
Out of the debris of the Second World War arose the impulse to
reconstruct the world. Large communities of people exercised their
right of self- determination by establishing nation States of their
own. The challenge of economic development led, in several
instances, to group formation where States subordinated their
individual destiny to collective initiatives. It seemed for a
while that these collective efforts would determine the political
architecture of the future.
The events of the past few years have, however, made us aware
of the growing complexity and contradictions of the human
situation. The end of the cold war should have freed immense
resources for development. Unfortunately, it led to the
re-emergence of subregional tensions and conflicts. In extreme
cases, there was a breakup of nation States. Sadly, instead of
coming nearer, the objective of a concerted global action to
address common problems of mankind seems lost in the twilight.
The problem of population stabilization faced by us today
cannot be divorced from our yesterdays. Ironically enough,
population has risen fastest in those areas that were weakened most
by the unfortunate experience of colonial domination.
The third world communities have scarce resources spread
thinly over a vast stretch of pressing human needs. We are unable
to tackle questions of population growth on a scale commensurate
with the demographic challenge.
Since demographic pressures, together with migration from
disadvantaged areas to affluent States, are urgent problems,
transcending national frontiers, it is imperative that in the field
of population control, global strategies and national plans work in
unison.
Perhaps that is a dream. But we all have a right to dream.
I dream of a Pakistan, of an Asia, of a world where every
pregnancy is planned and every child conceived is nurtured, loved,
educated and supported.
I dream of a Pakistan, of an Asia, of a world not undermined
by ethnic divisions brought about by population growth, starvation,
crime and anarchy.
I dream of a Pakistan, of an Asia, of a world where we can
commit our social resources to the development of human life and
not to its destruction.
That dream is far from the reality we endure.
We are a planet in crisis, a planet out of control, a planet
moving towards catastrophe. The question before us at this
Conference is whether we have the will, the energy, the strength to
do something about it.
I say we do. We must.
What we need is a global partnership for improving the human
condition. We must concentrate on that which unites us. We should
not examine issues that divide us.
Our document should seek to promote the objective of planned
parenthood, of population control.
This Conference must not be viewed by the teeming masses of
the world as a universal social charter seeking to impose adultery,
abortion, sex education and other such matters on individuals,
societies and religions which have their own social ethos.
By convening this Conference, the international community is
reaffirming its resolve that problems of a global nature will be
solved through global efforts.
Governments can do a great deal to improve the quality of life
in our society. But there is much that Governments cannot do.
Governments do not educate our children. Parents educate
children. More often, mothers educate children.
Governments do not teach values to our children. Parents
teach values to our children. More often, mothers teach values to
children.
Governments do not socialize youngsters into responsible
citizens. Parents are the primary socializing agents in society.
In most societies, that job belongs to the mother.
How do we tackle population growth in a country like Pakistan?
We tackle it by tackling infant mortality, by providing villages
with electrification, by raising an army of women, 33,000 strong,
to educate our mothers, sisters, daughters in child welfare and
population control, by setting up a bank run by women for women, to
help women achieve economic independence, and, with economic
independence, have the wherewithal to make independent choices.
I am what I am today because of a beloved father who left me
independent means, to make independent decisions, free of male
prejudice in my society, or even in my family.
As chief executive of one of the nine largest populated
countries in the world, I and the Government are faced with the
awesome task of providing homes, schools, hospitals, sewerage,
drainage, food, gas, electricity, employment and infrastructure.
In Pakistan, in a period of 30 years - from 1951 to 1981 - our
population rose by 50 million. At present it is 126 million. By
the year 2020, our population may be 243 million.
In 1960, one acre of land sustained one person. Today one
acre of land sustains two and a half persons.
Pakistan cannot progress if it cannot check its rapid
population growth. Check it we must, for it is not the destiny of
the people of Pakistan to live in squalor and poverty, condemned to
a future of hunger and horror.
That is why, along with the 33,000 women health workers and
the women's bank, the Government has appointed 12,000 community
motivaters across the country: to educate and motivate our people
to a higher standard of living through planned families, spaced
families, families that can be nurtured.
In our first budget, we demonstrated our commitment to human
resource development. We increased social sector spending by 33
per cent. And by the year 2000, we intend to take Pakistan's
educational expenditure from 2.19 per cent, where we found it, to
3 per cent of our gross national product.
This is no easy task for a country with a difficult
International Monetary Fund structural adjustment programme, with
a ban on economic and military assistance from the only super-Power
in the world, with 2.4 million Afghan refugees forgotten by the
world, with more Kashmiri refugees coming in needing protection.
But we are determined to do it, for we have a commitment to our
people. A commitment based on principles. Such a commitment
demands that we take decisions which are right, which are not
always popular.
Leaders are elected to lead nations. Leaders are not elected
to let a vocal narrow-minded minority dictate an agenda of
backwardness.
We are committed to an agenda for change. An agenda to take
our mothers and our infants into the twenty-first century with the
hope of a better future. A future free from diseases that rack and
ruin. A future free from polio, from goitre, from blindness caused
by deficiency in vitamin A.
These are the battles that we must fight, not only as a nation
but as a global community. These are the battles on which history
- and our people - will judge us. These are the battles to which
the mosque and the church must contribute, along with Governments
and non-governmental organizations and families.
Empowerment of women is one part of this battle. Today, women
pilots fly planes in Pakistan, women serve as judges in the
superior judiciary, women work in police stations, women work in
our civil service, our foreign service and our media. Our working
women uphold the Islamic principle that all individuals are equal
in the eyes of God. By empowering our women, we work for our goal
of population stabilization and, with it, promotion of human
dignity.
But the march of mankind to higher heights is a universal and
collective concern.
Regrettably, the Conference's document contains serious flaws
in striking at the heart of a great many cultural values, in the
North and in the South, in the mosque and in the church.
In Pakistan, our response will doubtless be shaped by our
belief in the eternal teachings of Islam. Islam is a dynamic
religion committed to human progress. It makes no unfair demands
of its followers. The Holy Koran says:
"Allah wishes you ease, and wishes not hardship for you."
Again, the Holy Book says:
"He has chosen you, and has not laid on you any hardship in
religion."
The followers of Islam have no conceptual difficulty in
addressing questions of regulating population in the light of
available resources. The only constraint is that the process must
be consistent with abiding moral principles.
Islam places a great deal of stress on the sanctity of life.
The Holy Book tells us:
"Kill not your children on a plea of want.
We provide sustenance for them and for you."
Islam, therefore, except in exceptional circumstances, rejects
abortion as a method of population control.
There is little compromise on Islam's emphasis on the family
unit. The traditional family is the basic unit on which any
society rests. It is the anchor on which the individual relies as
he embarks upon the journey of life.
Islam aims at harmonious lives built upon a bedrock of
conjugal fidelity and parental responsibility. Many suspect that
the disintegration of the traditional family has contributed to
moral decay. Let me state, categorically, that the traditional
family is the union sanctified by marriage.
Muslims, with their overriding commitment to knowledge, would
have no difficulty with dissemination of information about
reproductive health, so long as its modalities remain compatible
with their religious and spiritual heritage.
Lack of an adequate infrastructure of services and not
ideology constitutes our basic problems.
The major objective of the population policy of the newly
elected democratic Government is a commitment to improve the
quality of life of the people through provision of family planning
and health services.
We refuse to be daunted by the immensity of the task. But the
goals set by this Conference will become realistic only with the
wholehearted cooperation of the nations of the world.
Bosnia, Somalia, Rwanda and Kashmir are but a few reminders of
how far we have departed from our principles and ideals.
In many parts of the world we witness the nation State under
siege. The rise of so-called fundamentalism in some of our
societies, and the emergence of neo-fascism in some Western
communities, are symptoms of a deeper malaise.
I believe the nation States may have failed to meet their
people's expectations within their own limited national resources
or ideological framework. If so, the malady is probably none other
than a retreat from the ideals of the founding fathers of the
United Nations.
We can, perhaps, still restore mankind to vibrant health by
returning to those ideals, the ideals of global cooperation.
Given that background, I hope that the delegates participating
in this Conference will act in wisdom, and with vision, to promote
population stabilization.
Pakistan's delegation will work constructively for the
finalization of a document enjoying the widest consensus.
Our destiny does not lie in our stars. It lies within us.
Our destiny beckons us. Let us have the strength to grasp it.
Thank you, President Mubarak, for hosting this Conference on
such an important global concern. And thank you Mr.
Secretary-General and Dr. Nafis Sadik for making it possible.
Statement by Prince Mbilini,
Prime Minister of Swaziland
On behalf of my fellow African colleagues, it is an honour and
privilege to congratulate you, Mr. President, on your election as
President of this august assembly. We are confident that through
your wise and able leadership, the deliberations of this Conference
will not only be fruitful and constructive but will also result in
momentous decisions which will guide our actions in the years to
come so as to improve the quality of life for our countries and
regions.
I am particularly honoured, Mr. President, that the Kingdom of
Swaziland has been allowed to speak at this official opening
ceremony. We are very grateful for the opportunity to participate
at such an important occasion.
At this crucial time, when important decisions affecting
prospects for sustained growth and development are being taken, we
would like to extend a sincere word of welcome to the Republic of
South Africa. Their rejoining our world community gives us hope
for the future prosperity and tranquillity of mankind and provides
us with a satisfactory lesson regarding peaceful resolution of the
many problems which confront Africa.
The subject of this Conference has raised a lot of controversy
and disquiet in many parts of the world. Various allegations,
quite frequently based on misinformation or a desire to misinform,
have been made with regard to the central issues on which we are
expected to deliberate and take concrete decisions. However, we
believe that such controversies have succeeded in clarifying the
major population issues underpinning the suggested programme of
action. The key issues enshrined in the proposed programme of
action cover a number of areas which affect Africa directly. These
include the role of women in the development process, sexual and
reproductive health, which includes family planning, reduction of
infant and maternal mortality, promotion of the involvement of men
and women in responsible parenthood, and recognition of the rights
of sovereign States to develop strategies and modalities for
dealing with these issues in accordance with their legal codes,
culture, moral and religious values and adopted democratic
principles. We believe that flexibility is extremely crucial and
should help facilitate the speedy adoption of the proposed
programme of action. The said programme of action, in our view,
provides general principles which will enable each one of us to
make progress in the endeavour to meet our nations' aspirations for
improved and sustained growth and development.
The African continent faces extremely serious problems of
development. It is our sincere belief that population growth plays
a critical role in the continued underdevelopment of our continent.
We, therefore, cannot be indifferent when these issues are being
discussed. Africa has the highest population and fertility growth
rates, the highest levels of poverty, the highest levels of infant
and maternal mortality, and this is further complicated by the
highest level of HIV/AIDS infections.
A large number of African countries are currently undergoing
the painful exercise of structural adjustment with a view to
correcting economic imbalances which have crept up over the years.
The rapidly expanding populations of our continent, Swaziland
included, are not facilitating this process; instead, they
complicate it further. This is especially felt by the vulnerable
groups, such as women and children. The effects of population
growth rates on land and environmental degradation, national and
household food insecurity and the inability of our national budgets
to meet immediate social needs, such as the provision of education
and health facilities, are very familiar to us. It is for this
reason that we strongly suggest that by addressing population
issues the prospects for sustained economic growth and development
will be enhanced.
The Dakar Declaration, which was further embraced by the OAU
Heads of State and Government in Tunis about three months ago, is
emphatic about the responsibilities of member Governments with
regard to the role of population in development. The Dakar
Declaration is explicit with respect to actions which need to be
taken. For example, in Dakar, African countries affirmed their
solidarity in dealing with population problems and undertook to
formulate population policies respecting the sovereign rights of
each country along with the freedom, dignity and intrinsic values
of their peoples and taking into account the relevant moral and
cultural factors, and to bear responsibility for reaffirming the
rights and obligations of individuals and couples. We believe that
what we are expected to adopt here in Cairo is extremely consistent
with the Dakar and Tunis Declarations on this subject. It is also
not inconsistent with other conventions which our countries are
signatories to, such as the Convention on the Rights of the Child,
Agenda 21 and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination against Women. This Conference must not be viewed
in isolation; its effects will have far-reaching impact on future
meetings of the United Nations. For example, the adoption of the
essential elements of this programme of action will provide
valuable input for the World Summit for Social Development, to be
held in Copenhagen, and the Fourth World Conference on Women, to be
held in Beijing.
The factors hindering rapid economic growth and development in
our countries are familiar to most of us. They are mainly fomented
by resource constraints, inappropriate policies and escalating debt
burden. Each African country is committed to mobilize at the
country level as much resources and means as possible to overcome
these problems. However, the need is enormous and our abilities
are limited. It is for this reason that we appeal to donor
communities to increase the levels of assistance to African
countries. Donor assistance must begin to be commensurate with the
magnitude of the economic problems faced by the African continent.
Otherwise, we will forever falter in our endeavours to meet
commitments such as the one we are making today. In addition, we
request that external assistance be flexible enough to address some
of the key issues which are underscored by this Conference's
programme of action.
The Government of the Kingdom of Swaziland has made some
efforts to address the socio-economic needs of various population
groups in our country. We have, for instance, undertaken a study
that specifically addresses issues related to the status of
vulnerable groups such as women and youth. We have also made great
strides in providing both boys and girls with access to primary
education. However, the rapid rate of population growth has
compromised the quality of education. In health provision,
Swaziland is in the process of implementing the mid-decade goals
set by the World Summit for Children, the Action Plan of the
International Conference on Nutrition and the Innocenti
Declaration.
Despite our efforts, Mr. President, we continue to be hindered
by the unacceptably high rate of population growth. It is
essential for us to address this problem. For us, this Conference
is extremely timely as it will provide us with guidelines for
addressing the population problem.
In conclusion, Mr. President, on behalf of the Government and
people of Swaziland, I wish to thank you, your Government and the
people of the Arab Republic of Egypt for the hospitality you have
accorded us since our arrival in this beautiful country and for the
excellent facilities made available for this Conference. We are
confident that our Conference will be a success and that the
results of these deliberations will be translated into concrete
action.
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Annex III
CLOSING STATEMENTS
Statement by Dr. Nafis Sadik, Secretary-General of
the International Conference on Population and Development
This has been an outstandingly successful Conference.
President Mubarak told us that it should be a bridge between North
and South, East and West; and you have made it so. It was attended
by 183 countries and addressed by 249 speakers. Altogether, 10,757
people took part.
Ten days ago, Vice-President Gore called this one of the most
important conferences ever held. Prime Minister Brundtland advised
the Conference: "We are gathered here to answer a moral call to
action". The result is a document that, in the words of Mrs.
Suzanne Mubarak, "captures the true spirit of morality".
Prime Minister Mbilini pointed out that the controversies had
succeeded in clarifying the main issues. So it has proved. Prime
Minister Benazir Bhutto told us that true leaders do not permit a
narrow-minded minority to dictate an agenda of backwardness; at
this Conference you have shown true leadership.
The Secretary-General of the United Nations said you should
seek consensus in a spirit of rigour, tolerance and conscience.
That describes very well the process of the last 10 days.
You have discussed the issues to the point of exhaustion; but
you have kept your purpose in sight. You have defended your
principles; but you have permitted the free play of many points of
view. You have remembered above all that your aim was action.
You have learned how important and deeply felt are the
differences among our cultures, backgrounds and beliefs. You have
learned to respect those differences, and yet to find among them
the values we hold in common.
You have crafted a Programme of Action for the next 20 years,
which starts from the reality of the world we live in, and shows us
the path to a better reality. The Programme contains highly
specific goals and recommendations in the mutually reinforcing
areas of infant and maternal mortality; education; and reproductive
health and family planning; but its effect will be far wider-
ranging than that. This Programme of Action has the potential to
change the world.
Nothing in the Programme of Action limits the freedom of
nations to act individually within the bounds of their laws and
cultures. Everything in the Programme encourages nations to act
together for their common interest. Nothing in the Programme of
Action limits the freedom of Governments to act on behalf of their
people; everything in the Programme encourages cooperation between
Governments and non-governmental organizations, among groups of
different backgrounds representing different interests, and between
individual women and men.
You have demonstrated once more the value of the United
Nations process of consensus-building. It is long and exhaustive;
it draws the closest attention to the smallest distinctions; but in
the end, this apparently divisive process, this activity of
chopping up sentences and stitching them together again, draws us
closer together. Our chopping and stitching has produced a coat of
many colours; but it is a garment that will fit us all.
Your achievements in this Conference have been historic. As
one writer put it: "Where else has the fundamental condition of
all women, whatever their status or the state of their personal
freedom, been so intensely debated, or seen to be so relevant to
the next century?" The Programme of Action you are about to adopt
places women and men, and their families, at the top of the
international development agenda. It is a population action
programme that puts people first.
Energetic and committed implementation of the Programme of
Action over the next 20 years will bring women at last into the
mainstream of development; it will protect their health, promote
their education and encourage and reward their economic
contribution; it will ensure that every pregnancy is intended, and
every child is a wanted child; it will protect women from the
results of unsafe abortion; it will protect the health of
adolescents, and encourage responsible behaviour; it will combat
HIV/AIDS; it will promote education for all and close the gender
gap in education; and it will protect and promote the integrity of
the family.
Prime Minister Brundtland advised: "Let us turn from the
dramatizing and focus on the main issues". You have succeeded in
doing that; although I see from the headlines that "8.25" has now
become a synonym for controversy.
You have spent a long time discussing how the Programme of
Action should deal with abortion. I think your conclusion is
highly satisfactory. It fulfils the original intention of
concentrating on unsafe abortion as a serious and preventable
health problem. Abortion is not a means of family planning. There
will be fewer abortions in future, because there will be less need
for abortion.
Implementing the Programme of Action will encourage safer,
more secure births, by providing information and services to enable
women and men to plan for pregnancy. The Programme of Action
recognizes that healthy families are created by choice, not chance.
You have recognized that poverty is the most formidable enemy
of choice. Poverty is not only an economic phenomenon, there is
also a spiritual dimension; and here too the Programme of Action
will make its contribution. Drawing women into the mainstream of
development will be one of the most important effects of the
Programme of Action. Better health and education, and freedom to
plan their family's future, will widen women's economic choices;
but it will also liberate their minds and spirits. As the leader
of the Zimbabwe delegation put it, it will empower women, not with
the power to fight, but with the power to decide. That power of
decision alone will ensure many changes in the post-Cairo world.
Prime Minister Bhutto has shown by her courage and her
leadership what the power of decision means to a woman, and to her
children. She reminded us that mothers teach children the values
that will guide their lives. That will always be true, but
implementing the Programme of Action will also draw fathers more
closely into the process. It will help both parents to promote and
protect the interests of their children, and it will encourage them
to appreciate the full value of girl children. It will help our
daughters to grow to maturity in safety and health; it will remind
our sons that they too must behave with respect and responsibility,
and prepare them to take their place in the world. The Programme
of Action will be a powerful tool to build and maintain the
strength of the family, the community and the nation.
Without resources, however, the Programme of Action will
remain a paper promise. We need a commitment from all countries,
industrialized countries as well as developing countries, that they
will take full responsibility in this regard. Implementing the
Programme of Action will help to build the basis for sustainable
development, for economic growth with equity and justice.
It is important to remember that the Programme of Action does
not stand on its own. It amplifies and adds to the undertakings on
sustainable development set out in Agenda 21 of the Rio Conference.
In its turn it will contribute to the conclusions of the Social
Summit and the Women's Conference next year, and Habitat II in
1996. It should be considered as part of a global framework for
sustained and sustainable development along with agreements in the
areas of trade, debt and economic development.
Many people are responsible for this success. First, let me
thank President Mubarak, his Government and the people of the Arab
Republic of Egypt. The Minister of Family and Population, Dr.
Maher Mahran, has directed the National Preparatory Committee with
great skill. He and his staff have given new meaning to the words
hospitality, warmth and friendship. Let me also thank the Foreign
Minister and his staff for their efficiency and cooperation.
Each delegation has displayed the greatest fortitude and
commitment. The non-governmental organizations have been tireless
in reminding us what is at stake and encouraging delegations to be
more ambitious in their expectations. They have made a great
contribution.
I would like to thank the media, too, for their attention.
They have brought the Conference into more homes, and raised more
people's awareness about the issues than for any conference in
United Nations history.
The secretariat, led by Joe Chamie, the Deputy
Secretary-General, has done quite extraordinary work on your
behalf. Joyti Singh, the Executive Coordinator, is a subtle
diplomat and a tireless organizer. Without him this Conference
would hardly have been possible. I would like to say a special
word about the work of David Payton, ICPD Special Adviser, on loan
to us from the Government of New Zealand. Your commitment, David,
is as strong as your language.
The conference servicing staff of the United Nations are the
unsung heroes of all United Nations conferences. They include such
a wide variety of skills that I cannot name them all. Led by the
Conference Secretary, Margaret Kelley, they are the people who have
handled all the multitude of things that we take for granted unless
they go wrong.
At this Conference, the translators and interpreters have had
a special problem regarding some very difficult technical terms,
and they have succeeded triumphantly. We all thank you very much.
We are indebted to the work of the chairmen of the working
groups, and all those who took part. It is impossible to say
enough about the two Vice-Chairmen of the Main Committee. Lionel
Hurst is both smooth in his methods and solid in his support of the
process. Ambassador Nicolaas Biegman has the patience of a saint
and the determination of a bulldog, and he has needed both.
Through it all, he has maintained his charm and his sense of
humour. Chairman of the Main Committee, Fred Sai: you have
brought us through rough waters. You have steered us round some
awesome rocks. You have been strong when we needed it, but you
have been supple too. We are very grateful to you.
Finally, let me thank the people from the host country and the
United Nations alike, who have protected our security during the
past two weeks. We were confident of the hospitality of the people
of Cairo, and we are delighted that rumours proved to be unfounded;
but we were very glad to have you there, just in case.
Practical implementation now depends on you. When you return
to your respective countries, you will look again at the national
document you prepared for this Conference - the Conference
secretariat has now received 168 national reports - and you will
consider action on the agreements reached here. You will no doubt
wish to ensure that the consensus reached by the Conference
receives as much publicity as the controversies which preceded it.
You will want to ensure that all those given the task of
implementation at all levels are fully aware of the importance of
the consensus, and its contents.
You should not be modest about your achievements. Compared
with any earlier document on population and development, this
Programme of Action is detailed in its analysis; specific in its
objectives; precise in its recommendations and transparent in its
methodology. In our field, it represents a quantum leap to a
higher state of energy. Thanks to the media, it has already drawn
the interest of people worldwide; I hope that this process will
continue so that everyone can contribute to its objectives.
Speaking on behalf of the United Nations system as a whole and
for the United Nations Population Fund in particular, I can assure
you that we stand ready to provide all the advice and assistance we
can, whenever and however you ask for it. I give you my personal
pledge that I will spare no effort in the coming years to ensure
that the agreements you have made here become a reality. I remain
committed to building the future by building the power to choose.
The Programme of Action deserves your highest commitment and
your wholehearted support. You have produced a document you can be
proud of. I wish you the greatest success in its implementation.
Statement by Amre Moussa,
Minister of Foreign Affairs of Egypt
On behalf of the Government and people of Egypt, which were
honoured to host this Conference representing the entirety of
mankind, allow me to express my greetings to all of you and my
heartfelt appreciation for your most constructive contributions.
The deliberations of this Conference were most profound as they
touched on the continuing progress of humanity as this century
comes to a close and as we are about to begin a new millennium.
This Conference was convened in an atmosphere occasionally
marked by tension and sharp controversy and in most cases by widely
diverging views, as well as a plurality of perspectives with regard
to the document at hand and how to introduce, address and resolve
the issues it raises.
It is our conviction that the intensive discussions on
population and development, notwithstanding the controversies, were
really about intellectual and cultural issues stemming from
divergent cultures and a multiplicity of lifestyles whose genesis
and evolution have taken varying forms.
I am certain that we all agree that since the end of the cold
war, the international community has been seized by profound
soul-searching on all issues related to man's existence: how to
build a better future and attain a higher degree of progress, and
how to formulate a broader basis for structuring our lives in the
years and decades to come.
As you know, the decade of the 1990s has witnessed, from the
very start, successive international conferences that are closely
linked to those important issues relating to the march of humanity
and its social and economic development - from the Children's
Summit in 1990 to the Earth Summit in 1992, from the World
Conference on Human Rights in 1993 to the International Conference
on Population and Development in 1994. This will be followed by
the World Summit for Social Development and the Fourth World
Conference on Women in 1995, to be again followed by the United
Nations Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II) in 1996. The
international community is taking one step after another to
formulate a new and comprehensive methodology aimed at achieving
human development, particularly in its social aspect, within a
cohesive framework of international action in which all peoples and
societies take part in shaping their destiny.
It is worth noting that this Conference provided an opportune
occasion to launch a dialogue between cultures and strengthen the
encounter of civilizations. This is the first time since the end
of the cold war, indeed, since the end of the Second World War,
that issues closely intertwined with matters deeply rooted in our
values, religious principles, beliefs and worldly practices were
tackled concurrently.
This is not an indictment suggesting that the discussions that
took place were between cultures bound to the past and others
embracing the future. It is more appropriate to say that the
dialogue took place between societies that have opted for a way of
life in which religion and sacred relations are the dominant force
in shaping their collective soul, behaviour, ethics and values, and
others that may have opted for a way of life guided by a different
ethos and inspired by a value system that evolved from different
social conditions which may not necessarily be acceptable to other
societies.
Yes, the varied pattern of global cultural evolution may have
been successful in the degree of international consensus on
democracy as a better political system and free enterprise as a
preferable or more effective economic approach. But in matters of
cultural values, it is not as easy to have agreement on a
particular cultural orientation that can guide us in addressing
such a complex and ramifying question as the question of
population, which closely relates to man and his value system, to
the individual versus the group, and to religion and its impact.
The population issue also pertains to the past, the present and the
aspirations for the future, to security and stability, and to the
interaction between societies. These considerations were behind
the lengthy discussions leading to the present document, a product
of our negotiations constituting the consensus on the Programme of
Action which reflects so many positive points.
When the subject is the fundamentals of faiths and creeds, the
foundation of civilization or the core values embraced by each
society, there is no room for one faith enforcing its legacy on
another, one civilization over another, or one culture over
another. We have no choice but to engage in a fair and equitable
dialogue based on mutual acceptance and respect, on coexistence and
harmony, with due respect to our differences and distinctiveness.
Such a dialogue may last throughout the next century.
It is against these facts that the outcome and achievements of
these lengthy discussions and deliberations that took place in
Cairo should be viewed. The measure of our success resides in our
ability to address the population question from the proper
perspective by emphasizing the strong and solid interlinkages that
exist between population and development in all its economic and
social aspects while paying due attention to the related human and
cultural dimensions.
In dealing with the document, Egypt has been most careful to
observe the following principles:
Drawing on the tenets prescribed by divine revelations, with
full respect for the values and ethical principles deriving from
and enjoined by them;
Emphasizing total respect for our social ethics and full
adherence to national legislation and laws;
Categorically emphasizing that the family, in its
time-honoured social and religious definition, is the basic unit of
society;
Complying fully with the provisions of our national
Constitution regarding the equitable rights of women;
Complying with the provisions of Islamic Sharia and national
law in dealing with the issue of abortion, which the document rules
out as a means of family planning.
If we have succeeded in reaching consensus on the Conference's
Programme of Action, it is just as important for this consensus to
be consolidated during the coming General Assembly by an agreement
on the system review, follow-up and implementation through
appropriate structures and mechanisms. Among the most important
challenges facing us is how to effectively invest in the
unprecedented international attention directed at population
issues, with a view to ensuring continuity in implementing the
conclusions and upholding the credibility of the recommendations of
the Conference.
The approach to the document and the recommendations in the
Programme of Action will remain contingent on the degree of
commitment to mobilizing the financial resources needed for the
implementation of the programmes and plans adopted by the
Conference. Hopefully, the end of the cold war and the start of
the new era of international cooperation offer new hope that the
donor countries will fulfil their pledged commitment to achieve the
target of providing 0.7 per cent of their gross national product to
developing countries and to help their continuous efforts to
achieve sustainable development.
In concluding and expressing our thanks and appreciation to
all those who have contributed to the success of the Conference,
the Chair, the secretariat, those who ensured its security and
organization, those who saw to the comfort of the participants and
those who worked day and night to bring its work to the best
possible conclusion, I deem it important to state that Egypt, which
participated actively in the discussions and the dialogue to reach
a common understanding, will deal with the document within the
framework of the affirmation contained in the first two chapters,
the Preamble and the Principles. The implementation of the
Programme of Action is contingent on the full respect for national
sovereignty, religious beliefs and social values, within the
framework of our commitment to the provisions of our Constitution,
the inspiration of our heritage and traditions and the guidance of
our tolerant divine laws.
Our approach to this document, our reading of its
recommendations and our understanding of its content will always
remain governed by religion, by values, by ethics, by decent
instinct and conduct and by righteousness.
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Annex IV
PARALLEL AND ASSOCIATED ACTIVITIES
1. A wide variety of parallel and associated activities took
place at Cairo on the occasion of the International Conference on
Population and Development, in consultation with the Government of
Egypt and the Secretary-General of the Conference. a/
2. NGO Forum '94, which met from 4 to 12 September 1994, was a
parallel activity organized by the ICPD NGO Planning Committee
comprising more than 260 non-governmental organizations with an
interest in population, empowering women, environmental protection,
human rights, development and health. More than 4,200 individuals
and representatives of over 1,500 non-governmental organizations
from 133 countries exchanged experiences and opinions on a wide
range of Conference-related topics at Cairo's Indoor Sports Stadium
Complex, adjacent to the Conference site, as part of a diverse
programme that featured approximately 90 sessions each day. Its
programme and proceedings included plenary sessions, keynote
lectures, workshops, group meetings and caucuses, panel
discussions, training sessions, daily briefings, numerous NGO
exhibits and a multi-media centre.
3. More than 100 young women and men from all regions of the
world and from a diversity of cultural, religious and political
backgrounds took part in an International NGO Youth Consultation on
Population and Development, held in Cairo from 31 August to 4
September at the International Scout Centre. Discussions and
recommendations centred on youth and reproductive health,
sustainable development, environmental protection and human rights,
teenage pregnancy and safe sexual behaviour. The Consultation,
which at its conclusion issued the Cairo Youth Declaration, was
organized by nine youth and youth- related NGOs.
4. On 3 and 4 September 1994, some 300 parliamentarians from 107
countries participated in the International Conference of
Parliamentarians on Population and Development, organized by the
Asian Forum of Parliamentarians on Population and Development, the
Global Committee of Parliamentarians on Population and Development,
the Inter-American Parliamentary Group on Population and
Development, the International Medical Parliamentarians
Organization, and Parliamentarians for Global Action. The meeting
was hosted by the Government of Egypt. At its conclusion, the
participants adopted the Cairo Declaration on Population and
Development. On 7 September 1994, the Inter-Parliamentary Union
(IPU) organized the 1994 Parliamentarians' Day at the People's
Assembly in Cairo, attended by more than 200 members of IPU from
all over the world. IPU issued a statement to the International
Conference on Population and Development.
5. The Population Information Network (POPIN) of the Population
Division of the United Nations Secretariat set up a communication
and reference centre at the Conference site to disseminate ICPD
materials and facilitate worldwide involvement in
Conference-related activities. Staff members collected statements
given in the plenary meetings and electronically placed the texts
in the POPIN gopher, a data facility accessible through the
Internet computer network and electronic mail. A large number of
delegates, journalists and NGOs used the centre's services to make
copies of statements and other population information; thousands of
others around the world electronically accessed the information in
the gopher. Technical support for the centre was provided by the
Information and Decision Support Centre of the Egyptian Cabinet.
6. Four independent daily newspapers on ICPD were produced in
Cairo for distribution at the Conference. Each offered up-to-date
reports on activities in the plenary and Main Committee meetings,
as well as analyses of the issues under negotiation, interviews
with participants and background articles from around the world on
a variety of population and development topics. Also, a bulletin
of negotiations was produced daily, providing summaries of ICPD
statements and negotiations.
7. An Encounter for Journalists, co-sponsored by the Department
of Public Information of the United Nations Secretariat and UNFPA,
was held in Cairo on 3 and 4 September, immediately before the
Conference, for 58 invited senior journalists from developing
countries. They and several hundred other journalists who were in
Cairo to attend the Conference were briefed at the Encounter on all
of the major topics to be addressed by the Conference. In all,
more than 4,000 print and electronic media representatives were
accredited and attended the Conference.
Notes
a/ It should be noted that the Conference, per se, took no
formal note of
these activities.