Southpac News

(Left to Right) Joseph Chamie, Director, Population Division, UN DESA; Dr. Nafis Sadik, Executive Director, UNFPA; Ambassador Anwarul Chowdhury, Ad Hoc Committee Chairperson; and Stirling Scruggs, Director of Information and External Relations, UNFPA, at the Press Conference on the conclusions of the work of the Ad Hoc Committee of the Whole on 1 July 1999.

After three days of sometimes passionate debate, delegates from nearly 180 countries attending the 21st Special Session of the United Nations General Assembly agreed, on 2 July, to key actions for the further implementation of the Programme of Action (PoA) of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD). This was a great achievement reaffirming the pathfinding commitment made by the governments at the ICPD held in Cairo in 1994.

An elated Dr. Nafis Sadik, Executive Director, UNFPA (the U.N. agency responsible for the leading role in promoting the implementation of the ICPD PoA), said that the key future actions adopted "go much further than what was agreed to by about 180 States in Cairo".

ICPD PoA
Five years ago, at the historic Cairo conference, delegations adopted a Programme of Action which signalled a shift in the way we would tackle population problems, from focusing on demographic targets to empha-sizing people’s reproductive health and development needs. In particular, the PoA’s visionary approach is reflected in key recommendations which recognize reproductive rights as human rights; empowering women in the economic, political and social arenas; and removing gender disparities in education, among other key actions to be implemented to achieve the 20-year goals of population and development.

ICPD + 5 Process
The General Assembly Special Session on 30 June-2 July was the culmination of a year-long review process initiated by UNFPA in 1998 referred to as "ICPD+5" or "Cairo+5".

Youth played a prominent role in the ICPD+5 process

In 1999, the operational review and appraisal of the implementation of the ICPD PoA was kicked off at The Hague, Netherlands, with the convening of the International Forum on 8-12 February. During the previous months before the Hague Forum, integral activities of the five-year review of the implementation of the ICPD PoA have included three round-table meetings and four technical workshops organized by UNFPA between April and November 1998, and a series of five-year regional reviews by the United Nations Regional Commissions. The Hague Forum assessed country-level operational and programme experience in implementing the ICPD PoA. The outcome of the Forum was a draft report summarizing the findings and proposed actions, which was submitted to the ICPD+5 Preparatory Committee (PrepCom).

The PrepCom for the Special Session of the UN General Assembly for the review and appraisal of implementation of the ICPD PoA convened on 24 March to 1 April, 1999, at UN Headquarters in New York. The PrepCom’s task was to negotiate proposals for key actions for the further implementation of the PoA in preparation for the Special Session during 30 June-2 July. There was some concern among observers and stakeholders when the PrepCom could not complete negotiations on the document for the Special Session in its first meeting and had to resume informal consultations on 5-7 May and then for four days during 24-25 June and 28-29 June, on the eve of the Special Session, for continued negotiations.

The 21^st Special Session: Positive Outcome
The 21^st Special Session opened with agreement still to be reached on some paragraphs of the document, "Key Actions for the Further Implementation of the ICPD PoA". These were addressed by an Ad Hoc Committee of the Whole, established by the Plenary of the Special Session. With the help of many "informal-informal" consultations, the Ad Hoc Committee succeeded in reaching consensus on the remaining proposals by the penultimate night of the Special Session.

After nearly four months of strenuous negotiations up to the Special Session, delegates felt a great sense of relief and satisfaction with the outcome of the ICPD+5 review process. As described by Ambassador Anwarul Chowdhury, the chair of the PrepCom and the Ad Hoc Committee of the Special Session, the outcome was a "grand success".

Dr. Nafis Sadik, UNFPA’s Executive Director, noted that the review process has revealed that many countries, particularly developing countries, have made substantial progress in implementing the Cairo agenda on the ground and that the key actions adopted by the Special Session have moved forward the ICPD PoA.

There are particular areas where key future actions have moved forward, far beyond what was agreed to in the Cairo conference:

• One is the whole area of adolescent reproductive and sexual health: the right of adolescents to be protected and to have access to services in a confidential manner, and to have the counselling they need to protect their health.

• Substantial progress was made on gender issues, especially on the rights of the girl child – in the protection of the girl child and her human rights, protecting young women and women in general from harmful, traditional practices, and ensuring the right to education, the right to basic health and to reproductive health.

• Specific benchmarks were set, among others to reduce illiteracy of women and girls, maternal mortality and young people’s vulnerability to HIV/AIDS, to guide countries in reaching the ambitious goals of the ICPD PoA.

• Approved key future actions address the consequences of illegal or unsafe abortion on the health of women, and urge that, "where abortion is not against the law, health systems should train and equip health-service providers and should take other measures to ensure that such abortion is safe and accessible".

• A strength of the key actions was the emphasis on means to address the HIV/AIDS pandemic.

• Delegates also reaffirmed their financial commitments, emphasizing the urgent need for donor countries to intensify their efforts to significantly increase their contribution towards implementation of the PoA

The consensus on key future actions reached at the 21^st Special Session of the United Nations General Assembly will hopefully re-energize the momentum and dedication needed to spur further implementation of the ICPD PoA.

Top of page