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) |
|
"ICPD 94"
January 1994
Number 11
Newsletter of the International Conference on Population and
Development, Cairo, Egypt, 5-13 September 1994
CONFERENCE PREPARATIONS MOVE INTO
CRUCIAL PHASE AS PREPCOM III NEARS
ICPD-related activities over the past year culminated in a
resolution on ICPD passed by the UN General Assembly on 21
December. The ICPD Preparatory Committee (PrepCom III) will hold
its third and final session in New York in April.
LOOKING BACK OVER 1993
1993 witnessed a marked increase of ICPD activity at all levels.
Three of the five regional conferences -- Europe and North America,
the Arab world, and Latin America and the Caribbean -- took place;
and the final expert group meeting, on population distribution and
migration, was held in Santa Cruz, Bolivia.
Participation in PrepCom II in May clearly indicated that the
importance of the Conference was gaining recognition; 154 country
delegations participated along with hundreds of NGO
representatives. Debate centred on a Conceptual Framework for the
Cairo final document, submitted by the Conference
Secretary-General, Dr. Nafis Sadik.
Subregional ICPD preparatory meetings for the Maghreb, the
South Pacific and South Asia followed the regional conferences; and
more recently, in the region of Latin America and the Caribbean,
there were separate meetings for Central America, the Caribbean,
the Andean Group and the Southern Cone Group. Members of the
Non-Aligned Movement prepared their collective position at a
Ministerial-level meeting in Bali, Indonesia, in November.
In addition, five ad hoc round-table meetings have been held
over the past six months to address priority ICPD issues.
CLEAR SUPPORT FROM GENERAL ASSEMBLY
Building on the strong commitment to ICPD evident during PrepCom
II, the UN Economic and Social Council in July adopted a resolution
recommending that the General Assembly extend PrepCom III by one
week, and make the ICPD Preparatory Committee a subsidiary body of
the United Nations General Assembly.
The forty-eighth General Assembly then gave a further boost to
Conference preparations. At the request of PrepCom II, Dr. Sadik
presented to the Assembly an annotated outline of the draft final
document, drawing heavily on PrepCom II debate on the Conceptual
Framework.
The Assembly's Second Committee showed considerable interest
in ICPD matters; three half-day sessions were required to
accommodate all the speakers -- more than 40, a number of whom
spoke on behalf of groups of countries. These statements and
supplementary material provided by delegations have provided
abundant guidance to the Conference Secretariat in preparing the
draft final document.
STRONG RESOLUTION ADOPTED
Alongside debate on the annotated outline, the Second Committee
also negotiated a new resolution on ICPD issues. At the centre of
resolution 48/186 (adopted on 21 December 1993) is the elevation of
the ICPD Preparatory Committee to the status of General Assembly
subsidiary body.
The resolution also recognizes the important contribution of
non-governmental organizations and the need for informal
consultations prior to PrepCom III to ensure delegations are well
prepared for negotiation of the final document. Prior to its formal
adoption by the Second Committee, the resolution had gained the
sponsorship of the entire Group of 77, China and 21 developed
countries -- over 150 of the 184 UN members.
DRAFT FINAL DOCUMENT AVAILABLE SOON
Since PrepCom II, and particularly since the presentation of the
annotated outline, the Conference Secretariat has been fully
engaged preparing the draft final document for consideration and
negotiation at PrepCom III. Present indications are that it will be
finalized by mid-January and submitted to the UN Secretariat for
final editing and translation.
The document should be available in all UN languages by late
February or early March. Prior to this, the ICPD Secretariat plans
to make the draft available to ICPD participants in the form
submitted for translation. This procedure, which proved so
successful for the annotated outline, is expected to assist in
early preparations for PrepCom III.
Up to three informal consultation sessions at UN headquarters
in New York are planned for February and March to assist
delegations in preparing for PrepCom III. Each is expected to focus
on an aspect of the draft final document; details are not yet
finalized.
PREPCOM III (4-22 APRIL)
Expectations are that this final session will concentrate on
negotiation of the draft final document. PrepCom III will also
consider additional applications for NGO accreditation (over 300 to
date), finalize the Conference rules of procedure, and receive
synthesis reports on national reports and regional and subregional
conferences.