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", No. 15
May 1994
Newsletter of the International Conference on Population and
Development
Cairo, Egypt, 5-13 September 1994
PRE-CONFERENCE REVIEW OF ICPD DRAFT PROGRAMME OF ACTION BEGINS
The ICPD draft Programme of Action is being distributed widely
to Governments and non-governmental organizations, starting the
final stage of Conference preparations. Last month the third
session of the ICPD Preparatory Committee (PrepCom III), in three
weeks of negotiations, agreed on most of the wording of the draft
document, which is to be finalized and approved in Cairo. (It is
presently available in an unofficial, English-language version.)
The draft Programme represents the world's nations' shared
understanding of what needs to done to address the challenges of
population, and of development as it relates to population, over
the next 20 years. It includes new emphases and approaches to a
number of key issues.
In particular, the document stresses: the essential connection
between population factors and sustainable development; the need to
empower women and achieve gender equity and equality; and a
holistic approach to women's rights, girls' and women's education,
and reproductive health including family planning.
Its more than 30 subchapters spell out actions needed in
regard to a wide range of population and development themes,
including poverty alleviation, environmental protection, family
diversity, population growth, ageing, sexuality, sexually
transmitted diseases including HIV/AIDS, reproductive health needs
of adolescents, gender relations and male responsibility, maternal
and child health, urbanization, internal and international
migration, and education.
The Programme also defines: national, regional and
international efforts and resources required to implement the
various actions outlined; related research, awareness creation and
data collection; partnership between Governments and non-
governmental organizations and the private sector; and mechanisms
for following up Conference decisions.
In a 3 May address to the UNICEF Executive Board, Dr. Nafis
Sadik, Secretary-General of ICPD and Executive Director of the
United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), assessed the progress made
at PrepCom III, held 4-22 April at UN Headquarters: "Nearly all of
the 162 country delegations were in agreement that population must
be fully integrated into and become a central component of the
development process if the efforts of individuals, nations and the
international community are to bring about equitable, human-centred
sustainable development.
"Approximately 95 per cent of the country delegations were
also in agreement with the proposed reproductive health approach
that goes well beyond family planning," she added, "an approach
focused not on demographic targets, but on seriously addressing the
health and education needs of individuals, especially of girls and
women. ... Central to such endeavours is the imperative need to
empower women, to provide girls with a good education and women
with better health and real choices."
PrepCom negotiations strengthened a number of chapters and
subchapters of the draft Programme, Dr. Sadik reported, notably
those dealing with population growth and structure, population
development and education, partnerships with the non-governmental
sector, follow-up to the Conference, and child survival and health.
Despite her very positive assessment of PrepCom III, Dr. Sadik
said that she "and the overwhelming majority" of delegates were
"disappointed that it was not possible to make more progress in
forthrightly addressing two of the most pressing health problems
facing the world; namely the millions of unsafe abortions that
occur each year; and the unmet education, counselling and services
needs of the hundreds of millions of adolescents that are sexually
active."
She explained: "Partly because of the position of a few
delegations in these two areas, and partly because of definitional
difficulties concerning exactly what the widely used words, `safe
motherhood' and `family planning' do and do not include, the term
`safe motherhood' was without exception placed in brackets for
further negotiation in Cairo and the term `family planning' was
often also placed in brackets. The phrase `reproductive health' was
also repeatedly placed in brackets despite an excellent definition
of the phrase provided to the PrepCom by the Director-General of
WHO."
"The draft Programme of Action does not advocate or promote
abortion, let alone abortion on demand." Dr. Sadik stated. "What it
does advocate is that all Governments, intergovernmental and non-
government organizations deal openly and forthrightly with unsafe
abortion as a major public health concern for women. It also makes
it explicitly clear that women should have access to services for
the management of complications arising from unsafe abortions. The
Programme of Action suggests the need for abortion should be
reduced by providing family planning programmes, as is the case in
a growing number of countries.
"According to a recent exhaustive study by the United Nations
Population Division," she continued, "currently 173 countries (of
the 190 surveyed) representing 96 per cent of the world's
population have policies or laws that permit abortions to save the
life of the woman; 119 countries permit abortion to preserve
physical health; and 95 to preserve mental health. I hope that the
language that will be finally adopted will reaffirm the sovereignty
of each nation to set its own laws and conditions concerning
abortion."
Following is a chapter-by-chapter summary of some of the main
points covered by the ICPD draft Programme of Action, and of some
of the major issues requiring further negotiation in Cairo:
Chapter I, Preamble. Stating that ICPD "occurs at a defining
moment in the history of international cooperation", Chapter I
provides an overview and sets the context for action in terms of
environmental concerns; population growth projections; use of and
access to family planning; infant, child and maternal mortality;
and education levels.
Chapter II, Principles. This chapter lists 15 principles that
have guided Conference deliberations; concerns addressed include
human rights, sustainable development, gender equity, health care
and family planning, education, support of families and children,
migration and asylum. The language proposed for most of the
principles is taken or derived from various international
declarations; the sources are listed after each principle.
The Preparatory Committee Chairman prepared revised drafts of
Chapters I and II based on a first reading of the chapters.
However, as there was not enough time to consider either chapter in
depth, further discussion will take place at the Conference.
Chapter III, The Interrelationships between Population,
Sustained Economic Growth and Sustainable Development. Economic and
development strategies to alleviate poverty, curb wasteful
consumption and protect the environment are all closely connected
to population growth and cannot be addressed effectively in
isolation. Proposed wording on human rights, on the right to
development and on international trade in relation to these issues
remains bracketed for further negotiation.
Chapter IV, Gender Equality, Equity and Empowerment of Women.
These are recognized both as fundamental human rights in their own
right and as prerequisites of sustainable development. The major
goals in this regard are to educate women and girls to raise their
status, and to increase male responsibility in matters of family
planning and child-rearing.
Chapter V, The Family, its Roles, Composition and Structure.
Utilizing consensus wording from General Assembly resolution 47/237
the draft Programme notes that family structures and composition
are increasingly diverse, and that families in difficult
circumstances need increased socio-economic support.
Chapter VI, Population Growth and Structure. World population
is 5.7 billion and growing by over 90 million persons a year. In
many countries, high fertility and declining mortality have
resulted in youthful populations, guaranteeing that rapid growth
will continue into the next century; actions taken over the next 20
years will determine what level world population will reach before
human numbers stabilize. Proposed actions will focus on the health,
education and well-being of people, with particular emphasis on the
young, the poor, the underserved, the elderly, indigenous people
and persons with disabilities.
Chapter VII, Reproductive Rights, [Sexual and Reproductive
Health] and Family Planning. Family planning programmes must aim to
establish a wide freedom of choice in matters of procreation and
stress that coercion has no part to play. Government programmes
should assist individuals in ensuring that all pregnancies and all
children are wanted. Prevention of sexually transmitted diseases,
promotion of equitable sexual relations, and the provision of
reproductive health information and services to adolescents are all
crucial to safeguarding reproductive rights.
Chapter VIII, Health, Morbidity and Mortality. Primary health
care systems must be strengthened to better guarantee the survival
and health of infants and children, reduce maternal morbidity and
mortality, and prevent HIV/AIDS. The proposal to address unsafe
abortion as a major public health concern remains in brackets.
Chapter IX, Population Distribution, Urbanization and Internal
Migration. To slow migration from rural areas to cities that is
contributing to phenomenal urban growth, the document emphasizes
the need to reduce urban-rural inequality, to foster
environmentally sustainable development of rural areas and small
and medium-sized cities, and to better manage cities to improve the
quality of life of the urban poor.
Chapter X, International Migration. Actions are needed in this
area to reduce undocumented migration by addressing its root
causes, especially those related to poverty; to encourage more
cooperation between sending and receiving countries; to ensure the
well-being and social integration of documented migrants; to
protect both the documented and undocumented from racism and
xenophobia; and to find durable solutions to the plight of refugees
and displaced persons.
Chapter XI, Population, Development and Education. Universal
primary schooling and literacy; job training; elimination of gender
disparities; and greater awareness of population, development and
health issues, leading to necessary actions and responsible
behaviour, are among the educational goals the draft emphasizes.
Chapter XII, Technology, Research and Development. Improved
collection and analysis of data would allow better understanding of
the relationships between population and socio-economic and
environmental conditions. Biomedical research is needed to expand
people's choices of family planning methods, particularly male
methods, and to combat the spread of sexually transmitted diseases
and HIV/AIDS.
Chapter XIII, National Action. This chapter includes estimates
of the funding levels required to meet developing countries' needs
in the period 2000-2015 for basic reproductive health services
including family planning; prevention of sexually transmitted
diseases including HIV/AIDS; and population data collection,
analysis and dissemination, policy formulation and research.
As Dr. Sadik reported in her remarks to UNICEF's Executive
Board, the ICPD Secretariat's original total estimates of funds
required from developing and developed countries were increased by
more than one third (by $3.8 billion in the year 2000), "after a
number of developed countries questioned and challenged the modesty
of the original figures as well as the methodology that had been
used." The funding estimates are in brackets and subject to further
negotiation in Cairo.
There will also be further negotiation on a proposed
recommendation that at least 20 per cent of countries' public-
sector expenditures and 20 per cent of official development
assistance be devoted to social sectors, stressing poverty
eradication within the context of sustainable development.
Chapter XIV, International Cooperation. If the Conference
objectives are to be met, resources committed to population and
development programmes will need to increase substantially. The
developing countries themselves will continue to provide, on
average, approximately two thirds of the resources needed, but it
is estimated that international assistance will have to account for
up to one third, a share projected to total $5.7 billion in 2000
and $7.2 billion in 2015 (in 1993 dollars).
Chapter XV, Partnership with the Non-governmental Sector.
Political commitment to population and development goals is
essential to implementation of the actions outlined above. The
draft Programme emphasizes the need to actively involve
parliamentarians, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), grass-
roots groups, the private sector and individuals in national
policies and programmes.
Chapter XVI, Follow-up to the Conference. Appropriate
national, regional and subregional and international mechanisms are
needed for policy guidance, resource mobilization, coordination,
sharing of experience, and monitoring and reporting of progress in
implementing the Programme of Action.
__ __ __
The draft Programme of Action is available from the ICPD
Secretariat, and can also be found in electronic form on the
Population Information Network (POPIN) gopher, located within the
United Nations Development Programme gopher on the Internet
computer network.
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For printed or electronic copies of the "ICPD 94" newsletter, in
English, French or Spanish, or further information, please
contact:
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Media contact: (212) 297-5023/5030 or 5279
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E-mail: ryanw@unfpa.org or icpd@igc.apc.org
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