UN Population Division, Department of Economic and Social Affairs,
with support from the UN Population Fund (UNFPA)
|
| UN Population Division, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, with support from the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) |
|
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The electronic preparation of this document has been done by the
Population Information Network(POPIN) of the United Nations Population
Division in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme
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AS WRITTEN
UNITED NATIONS NATIONS UNIES
ADDRESS BY THE SECRETARY-GENERAL
OF THE UNITED NATIONS
AT THE OPENING
OF THE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE
ON POPULATION AND DEVELOPMENT
Cairo, 5 September 1994
Mr. President, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, 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 not only does the future of
human society depend on your 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 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 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 Fund for Population
Activities. 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 say 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 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 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 to 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.
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 ail population
and development policies throughout the world. I am well aware
that the formulation and implementation of such policies cant 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 judgment 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 direct 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 we 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 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 -all "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.