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) |
|
The Process Begins - Background to the International Conference on
population and development, 1994
"Population, sustained growth and sustainable development" will be the
overall themes of the International Conference on Population and
Development, 1994. The Conference is being convened under the auspices of
the United Nations, in response to two ECOSOC Resolutions.
The first of these, resolution 1989/91, adopted in July 1989, called for an
"international meeting on population that would bring together high-level
governmental authorities and population experts and be open to all States as
full participants, the specialized agencies and other relevant
organizations. The resolution stressed the need for continued attention to
population issues at a high policy level and designated the Population
Commission, meeting in open-ended session, as the preparatory committee for
the meeting.
Meeting at United Nations Headquarters from 4 to 8 March 1991, the
Preparatory Committee recommended the adoption of a draft resolution which
further defined the objectives and themes of the meeting, identified groups
of priority issues, and proposed the convening of six expert group meetings,
regional population conferences and two additional sessions of the
Preparatory Committee. The draft resolution was adopted by ECOSOC at its
second regular session in July 1991 as resolution 1991/93, "International
Conference on Population and Development".
Setting Goals
The meeting in 1994 will be the fifth international population conference
convened by the United Nations. The first two, in Rome in 1954 and in
Belgrade in 1965, were purely technical meetings. In contrast, the two
subsequent conferences, the World Population Conference held in Bucharest in
1974 and the International Conference on Population held in Mexico City in
1984, were intergovernmental meetings which set goals and made
recommendations in the area of population. The International Conference on
Population and Development, 1994, will be the third.
The objectives of the 1994 Conference are: 1) to review and appraise the
progress made in reaching the goals and objectives of the World Population
Plan of Action adopted at the 1974 Conference; 2) to identify ways to
implement the recommendations of the Plan; 3) to increase awareness of
population issues on the international agenda; 4) to consider the desired
focus of action on population issues; 5) to adopt a set of recommendations
for the next decade; and 6) to mobilize the needed resources.
Six groups of issues were also identified in the ECOSOC resolution as
requiring the greatest attention: population growth and demographic
structure; population policies and programmes; population, environment and
development; population distribution and migration; population and women;
and family planning, health and family well-being.
These issues will be the topics of six expert group meetings being convened
in 1992 and 1993 in order to provide input and an adequate scientific basis
for the formulation of recommendations at the Conference.
Regional Conferences
In addition to governments and experts, all relevant organizations and
bodies of the United Nations system, intergovernmental organizations and
non-governmental
organizations will contribute to the Conference and the preparatory process
in their areas of expertise. The Regional Commissions of the United Nations
will organize their own population conferences to review their experiences
in population and to propose future action. These meetings, which are being
jointly sponsored by the regional commissions and UNFPA, will take place in
1992 and 1993. The recommendations that emerge from them will be made
available to the Preparatory Committee at its second session and to the
Conference itself.
The SecretaryGeneral of the United Nations appointed Dr. Nafis Sadik,
Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund, as
Secretary-General of the Conference, and Mr. Shunichi Inoue, Director,
Population Division, Department of Economic and Social Development,
v e~ v_
General. Other principal officers include Mr. Jyoti Shankar Singh,
Director, Technical and Evaluation Division, UNFPA, as Executive Coordinator
of the Conference, and Mr. German Bravo-Casas, Coordinator, World Population
Conference Implementation, Population Division, Department of Economic and
Social Development, as Deputy Executive Coordinator.
UNFPA, in consultation with the Department of Economic and Social
Development, will be responsible for coordinating the overall organizational
preparations for the Conference, including procuring financial resources,
public information and communication activities, promoting regional and
national preparatory activities and maintaining close relationships with
Governments. UNFPA will also provide programme-related information to ensure
the operational orientation of the Conference.
Similarly, the Department of Economic and Social Development, in
consultation with UNFPA, will be responsible for coordinating the
substantive aspects of the preparations for the Conference, including the
review and appraisal of the World Population Plan of Action and the
formulation of the draft recommendations.
The Administrative Committee on Coordination (ACC) has established an Ad-hoc
Task Force to ensure inter-agency coordination and participation by United
Nations bodies in the 1994 Conference and its preparatory process. Focal
points in the specialized agencies and organizations have already been
designated. An informal meeting of the Ad-hoc Task Force was held on 27
January 1992- the first formal meeting will be held in July 1992, at the
time of the ECOSOC session.
There will be two more sessions of the Preparatory Committee, one in August
1993 to review the preparatory work, including the reports and
recommendations of the expert group meetings, and the other in early 1994,
to review the documentation for the Conference. The Economic and Social
Council will decide on the site and dates of the Conference during its
session in June-July 1992.