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. 16
June 1994
Newsletter of the International Conference on Population and
Development
Cairo, Egypt, 5-13 September 1994
NEW BOOK OFFERS CRITICAL LOOK AT POPULATION POLICIES
The ethical basis, objectives and methods of current population
policies are critically examined in a new book, "Population
Policies Reconsidered: Health, Empowerment and Rights", edited by
Gita Sen, Adrienne Germain and Lincoln C. Chen. The book was
published jointly by the International Women's Health Coalition and
the Harvard University Center for Population and Development
Studies (distributed by Harvard University Press, Boston, $14.95),
with funding from the Swedish International Development Authority.
In this collection, introduced by the editors at a reception
during PrepCom III, a number of scholars, activists and policy
makers in the fields of reproductive health, family planning and
population policy offer a variety of analyses underscoring three
major themes:
+ Population policies should reflect a fundamental commitment to
ethics and human rights.
+ Population policies can only be effective and humane as part
of broader approaches to human development.
+ Priority should be given to empowering women and providing
reproductive and sexual health services.
Following an overview by the editors, the book's first
section, "Premises Reconsidered", focuses on the underlying
assumptions of current population policies, and present arguments
for changing these policies. The author writes that in recent
debates about population and family planning programmes, underlying
ethical issues have often been ignored; clear ethical guidelines
are essential, she argues, as a basis for both policy formulation
and implementation.
The second chapter proposes "Setting a New Agenda: Sexual and
Reproductive Health and Rights". This agenda includes broader
information and services for women, programmes to encourage men to
take responsibility for their own sexual behaviour, and research
and other action to promote healthful and equitable sexuality and
gender relations.
Linkages between population and the environment are not easy
to document, and do not justify narrow population policies, the
third chapter contends. Policies that use a participatory approach
and address broader issues of human development are effective and
have moral value.
The next chapter argues that individual well-being and freedom
are far more important than any rationale for population control in
the interest of the social good. The final chapter in this section
describes the women's health movement's agenda, and how women have
succeeded in making their voices heard nationally and
internationally.
Section II, "Human Rights and Reproductive Rights", looks at
existing international documents and declarations on population,
women and human rights. The authors deplore the fact that when
human rights abuses occur in population programmes, there is no
legal basis for correcting them. They recommend that population
policies be reformulated based on respect for individual human
rights and gender equity.
Another chapter defines reproductive and sexual rights on the
basis of four principles: bodily integrity, personhood, equality
and respect for diversity.
The two last sections of the book review programme strategies
and methods that translate the proposed vision into action. Section
III, "Gender and Empowerment", focuses on the promotion of social
change necessary to empower women. One chapter seeks to define
empowerment, the process of challenging existing power relations
and gaining greater control over resources. Empowerment not only
implies changes for individual women, it concludes; it also
requires changes in society.
Population and development policies should recognize and
alleviate, rather than exacerbate, women's already heavy burdens of
household maintenance, child-bearing and child-rearing and work
outside the home, states the next chapter's author. This requires
increased investment in infrastructural arrangements like water
supply and sanitation.
Section IV, "Reproductive and Sexual Health Services"
describes how family planning programmes can be changed to provide
reproductive and sexual health services more effectively. Several
required actions are outlined, including: redefining the objectives
of family planning programmes; improving their quality and
effectiveness; expanding their coverage to reach all those in need,
including young people; improving fertility regulation
technologies; and allocating resources more productively.
Throughout the book, the authors emphasize that investing in
people's health, empowerment, and human rights is not only
worthwhile in its own right; it will probably be more effective in
stabilizing population growth than policies that explicitly try to
achieve that outcome. Policies founded on concerns for health,
empowerment and human rights would result in new programme
approaches and closer collaboration with other development sectors,
and complement current approaches to sustainable human development.
Adopting this perspective in formulating population policies would
lead not only to smaller families, but to improved welfare and
well-being for millions of people.
***
For printed or electronic copies of the "ICPD 94" newsletter, in
English, French or Spanish, or further information, please
contact:
ICPD Secretariat 220 E. 42nd Street, 22nd floor
New York, N.Y. 10017, USA
Tel: (212) 297-5244/5245
Media contact: (212) 297-5023/5030 or 5279
Fax: (212) 297-5250
E-mail: ryanw@unfpa.org or icpd@igc.apc.org
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