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UNITED NATIONS
Distr.
GENERAL
A/CONF.171/13
18 October 1994
ORIGINAL:
ENGLISH/FRENCH/SPANISH
REPORT OF THE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON
POPULATION AND DEVELOPMENT*
(Cairo, 5-13 September 1994)
________________________
* The present document is a preliminary version of the
report of the International Conference on Population and
Development. Annexes I to IV will appear in an addendum to the
present document.
94-40486 (E) 091194
CONTENTS
Page
I. RESOLUTIONS ADOPTED BY THE CONFERENCE 4
1. Programme of Action of the International
Conference on Population and Development 4
2. Expression of thanks to the people and Government
of Egypt 119
3. Credentials of representatives to the International
Conference on Population and Development 119
II. ATTENDANCE AND ORGANIZATION OF WORK 120
A. Date and place of the Conference 120
B. Pre-Conference consultations 120
C. Attendance 120
D. Opening of the Conference and election of
the President 124
E. Messages from heads of State 124
F. Adoption of the rules of procedure 124
G. Adoption of the agenda 124
H. Election of officers other than the President 125
I. Organization of work, including the
establishment of the Main Committee of the
Conference 126
J. Accreditation of intergovernmental organizations 126
K. Accreditation of non-governmental organizations 126
L. Appointment of the members of the Credentials
Committee 126
M. Other matters 127
III. GENERAL DEBATE 128
IV. REPORT OF THE MAIN COMMITTEE 131
V. ADOPTION OF THE PROGRAMME OF ACTION 135
VI. REPORT OF THE CREDENTIALS COMMITTEE 152
VII. ADOPTION OF THE REPORT OF THE CONFERENCE 154
VIII. CLOSURE OF THE CONFERENCE 155
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Annexes*
I. LIST OF DOCUMENTS
II. OPENING STATEMENTS
III. CLOSING STATEMENTS
IV. PARALLEL AND ASSOCIATED ACTIVITIES
________________________
* To be issued as an addendum to the present document.
=================================================================
Chapter I
RESOLUTIONS ADOPTED BY THE CONFERENCE
Resolution 1
Programme of Action of the
International Conference on Population and Development*
The International Conference on Population and Development,
Having met in Cairo from 5 to 13 September 1994,
1. Adopts the Programme of Action of the International
Conference on Population and Development, which is annexed to the
present resolution;
2. Recommends to the General Assembly at its forty-ninth
session that it endorse the Programme of Action as adopted by the
Conference;
3. Also recommends that the General Assembly consider at its
forty-ninth session the synthesis of national reports on population
and development prepared by the secretariat of the Conference.
________________________
* Adopted at the 14th plenary meeting, on 13 September
1994; for the discussion, see chap. V.
=================================================================
Annex
PROGRAMME OF ACTION OF THE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON
POPULATION AND DEVELOPMENT*
CONTENTS
Chapter
Paragraphs Page
I. PREAMBLE .................................. 1.1 - 1.15 9
II. PRINCIPLES .................................. 14
III. INTERRELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN POPULATION, SUSTAINED
ECONOMIC GROWTH AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT 3.1 - 3.32 18
A. Integrating population and development
strategies ............................. 3.1 - 3.9 18
B. Population, sustained economic growth and
poverty ................................3.10 - 3.22 19
C. Population and environment ........... 3.23 - 3.32 22
IV. GENDER EQUALITY, EQUITY AND EMPOWERMENT OF
WOMEN ................................... 4.1 - 4.29 25
A. Empowerment and status of women ..... 4.1 - 4.14 25
B. The girl child ...................... 4.15 - 4.23 28
C. Male responsibilities and participation 4.24 - 4.29 30
V. THE FAMILY, ITS ROLES, RIGHTS, COMPOSITION
AND STRUCTURE ............................ 5.1 - 5.13 32
A. Diversity of family structure and
composition ......................... 5.1 - 5.6 32
B. Socio-economic support to the family 5.7 - 5.13 33
VI. POPULATION GROWTH AND STRUCTURE ......... 6.1 - 6.33 35
A. Fertility, mortality and population
growth rates ........................ 6.1 - 6.5 35
B. Children and youth .................. 6.6 - 6.15 36
C. Elderly people ...................... 6.16 - 6.20 38
D. Indigenous people ................... 6.21 - 6.27 39
E. Persons with disabilities ........... 6.28 - 6.33 41
VII. REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS AND REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH 7.1 - 7.48 43
A. Reproductive rights and reproductive
health .............................. 7.2 - 7.11 43
B. Family planning ..................... 7.12 - 7.26 46
C. Sexually transmitted diseases and
prevention of human immunodeficiency
virus (HIV) ......................... 7.27 - 7.33 50
D. Human sexuality and gender relations 7.34 - 7.40 51
E. Adolescents ......................... 7.41 - 7.48 52
VIII. HEALTH, MORBIDITY AND MORTALITY ......... 8.1 - 8.35 55
A. Primary health care and the health-care
sector .............................. 8.1 - 8.11 55
B. Child survival and health ........... 8.12 - 8.18 57
C. Women's health and safe motherhood .. 8.19 - 8.27 60
D. Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)
infection and acquired immunodeficiency
syndrome (AIDS) ..................... 8.28 - 8.35 62
IX. POPULATION DISTRIBUTION, URBANIZATION
AND INTERNAL MIGRATION ............... 9.1 - 9.25 65
A. Population distribution and sustainable
development ........................ 9.1 - 9.11 65
B. Population growth in large urban
agglomerations ...................... 9.12 - 9.18 67
C. Internally displaced persons ....... 9.19 - 9.25 68
X. INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION ................ 10.1 - 10.29 70
A. International migration and development 10.1 - 10.8 70
B. Documented migrants .................. 10.9 - 10.14 72
C. Undocumented migrants ............... 10.15 - 10.20 74
D. Refugees, asylum-seekers and displaced
persons ............................. 10.21 - 10.29 75
XI. POPULATION, DEVELOPMENT AND EDUCATION ... 11.1 - 11.26 79
A. Education, population and sustainable
development ......................... 11.1 - 11.10 79
B. Population information, education and
communication ....................... 11.11 - 11.26 81
XII. TECHNOLOGY, RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT .... 12.1 - 12.26 86
A. Basic data collection, analysis and
dissemination ....................... 12.1 - 12.9 86
B. Reproductive health research ........ 12.10 - 12.18 88
C. Social and economic research ........ 12.19 - 12.26 90
XIII. NATIONAL ACTION ......................... 13.1 - 13.24 93
A. National policies and plans of action 13.1 - 13.6 93
B. Programme management and human resource
development .......................... 13.7 - 13.10 94
C. Resource mobilization and allocation . 13.11 - 13.24 96
XIV. INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION ................. 14.1 - 14.18 101
A. Responsibilities of partners in
development ......................... 14.1 - 14.7 101
B. Towards a new commitment to funding
population and development .......... 14.8 - 14.18 103
XV. PARTNERSHIP WITH THE NON-GOVERNMENTAL SECTOR 15.1 - 15.20 106
A. Local, national and international
non-governmental organizations ....... 15.1 - 15.12 106
B. The private sector ................... 15.13 - 15.20 108
XVI. FOLLOW-UP TO THE CONFERENCE .............. 16.1 - 16.29 111
A. Activities at the national level .......16.1 - 16.13 111
B. Subregional and regional activities .. 16.14 - 16.17 113
C. Activities at the international level 16.18 - 16.29 114
________________________
* The official language of the Programme of Action is
English, with the exception of paragraph 8.25, which was negotiated
in all six official languages of the United Nations.
=================================================================
Chapter I
PREAMBLE
1.1. The 1994 International Conference on Population and
Development occurs at a defining moment in the history of
international cooperation. With the growing recognition of global
population, development and environmental interdependence, the
opportunity to adopt suitable macro- and socio-economic policies to
promote sustained economic growth in the context of sustainable
development in all countries and to mobilize human and financial
resources for global problem- solving has never been greater.
Never before has the world community had so many resources, so much
knowledge and such powerful technologies at its disposal which, if
suitably redirected, could foster sustained economic growth and
sustainable development. None the less, the effective use of
resources, knowledge and technologies is conditioned by political
and economic obstacles at the national and international levels.
Therefore, although ample resources have been available for some
time, their use for socially equitable and environmentally sound
development has been seriously limited.
1.2. The world has undergone far-reaching changes in the past two
decades. Significant progress in many fields important for human
welfare has been made through national and international efforts.
However, the developing countries are still facing serious economic
difficulties and an unfavourable international economic
environment, and the number of people living in absolute poverty
has increased in many countries. Around the world many of the
basic resources on which future generations will depend for their
survival and well-being are being depleted and environmental
degradation is intensifying, driven by unsustainable patterns of
production and consumption, unprecedented growth in population,
widespread and persistent poverty, and social and economic
inequality. Ecological problems, such as global climate change,
largely driven by unsustainable patterns of production and
consumption, are adding to the threats to the well-being of future
generations. There is an emerging global consensus on the need for
increased international cooperation in regard to population in the
context of sustainable development, for which Agenda 21 1/ provides
a framework. Much has been achieved in this respect, but more
needs to be done.
1.3. The world population is currently estimated at 5.6 billion.
While the rate of growth is on the decline, absolute increments
have been increasing, currently exceeding 86 million persons per
annum. Annual population increments are likely to remain above 86
million until the year 2015. 2/
1.4. During the remaining six years of this critical decade, the
world's nations by their actions or inactions will choose from
among a range of alternative demographic futures. The low, medium
and high variants of the United Nations population projections for
the coming 20 years range from a low of 7.1 billion people to the
medium variant of 7.5 billion and a high of 7.8 billion. The
difference of 720 million people in the short span of 20 years
exceeds the current population of the African continent. Further
into the future, the projections diverge even more significantly.
By the year 2050, the United Nations projections range from 7.9
billion to the medium variant of 9.8 billion and a high of 11.9
billion. Implementation of the goals and objectives contained in
the present 20-year Programme of Action, which address many of the
fundamental population, health, education and development
challenges facing the entire human community, would result in world
population growth during this period and beyond at levels below the
United Nations medium projection.
1.5. The International Conference on Population and Development is
not an isolated event. Its Programme of Action builds on the
considerable international consensus that has developed since the
World Population Conference at Bucharest in 1974 3/ and the
International Conference on Population at Mexico City in 1984, 4/
to consider the broad issues of and interrelationships between
population, sustained economic growth and sustainable development,
and advances in the education, economic status and empowerment of
women. The 1994 Conference was explicitly given a broader mandate
on development issues than previous population conferences,
reflecting the growing awareness that population, poverty, patterns
of production and consumption and the environment are so closely
interconnected that none of them can be considered in isolation.
1.6. The International Conference on Population and Development
follows and builds on other important recent international
activities, and its recommendations should be supportive of,
consistent with and based on the agreements reached at the
following:
(a) The World Conference to Review and Appraise the
Achievements of the United Nations Decade for Women: Equality,
Development and Peace, held in Nairobi in 1985; 5/
(b) The World Summit for Children, held in New York in 1990;
6/
(c) The United Nations Conference on Environment and
Development, held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992; 7/
(d) The International Conference on Nutrition, held in Rome
in 1992; 8/
(e) The World Conference on Human Rights, held in Vienna in
1993; 9/
(f) The International Year of the World's Indigenous People,
1993, 10/ which would lead to the International Decade of the
World's Indigenous People; 11/
(g) The Global Conference on the Sustainable Development of
Small Island Developing States, held in Barbados in 1994; 12/
(h) The International Year of the Family, 1994. 13/
1.7. The Conference outcomes are closely related to and will make
significant contributions to other major conferences in 1995 and
1996, such as the World Summit for Social Development, 14/ the
Fourth World Conference on Women: Action for Equality, Development
and Peace, 15/ the Second United Nations Conference on Human
Settlements (Habitat II), the elaboration of the Agenda for
Development, as well as the celebration of the fiftieth anniversary
of the United Nations. These events are expected to highlight
further the call of the 1994 Conference for greater investment in
people, and for a new action agenda for the empowerment of women to
ensure their full participation at all levels in the social,
economic and political lives of their communities.
1.8. Over the past 20 years, many parts of the world have
undergone remarkable demographic, social, economic, environmental
and political change. Many countries have made substantial
progress in expanding access to reproductive health care and
lowering birth rates, as well as in lowering death rates and
raising education and income levels, including the educational and
economic status of women. While the advances of the past two
decades in areas such as increased use of contraception, decreased
maternal mortality, implemented sustainable development plans and
projects and enhanced educational programmes provide a basis for
optimism about successful implementation of the present Programme
of Action, much remains to be accomplished. The world as a whole
has changed in ways that create important new opportunities for
addressing population and development issues. Among the most
significant are the major shifts in attitude among the world's
people and their leaders in regard to reproductive health, family
planning and population growth, resulting, inter alia, in the new
comprehensive concept of reproductive health, including family
planning and sexual health, as defined in the present Programme of
Action. A particularly encouraging trend has been the
strengthening of political commitment to population-related
policies and family-planning programmes by many Governments. In
this regard, sustained economic growth in the context of
sustainable development will enhance the ability of countries to
meet the pressures of expected population growth; will facilitate
the demographic transition in countries where there is an imbalance
between demographic rates and social, economic and environmental
goals; and will permit the balance and integration of the
population dimension into other development- related policies.
1.9. The population and development objectives and actions of the
present Programme of Action will collectively address the critical
challenges and interrelationships between population and sustained
economic growth in the context of sustainable development. In
order to do so, adequate mobilization of resources at the national
and international levels will be required as well as new and
additional resources to the developing countries from all available
funding mechanisms, including multilateral, bilateral and private
sources. Financial resources are also required to strengthen the
capacity of national, regional, subregional and international
institutions to implement this Programme of Action.
1.10. The two decades ahead are likely to produce a further shift
of rural populations to urban areas as well as continued high
levels of migration between countries. These migrations are an
important part of the economic transformations occurring around the
world, and they present serious new challenges. Therefore, these
issues must be addressed with more emphasis within population and
development policies. By the year 2015, nearly 56 per cent of the
global population is expected to live in urban areas, compared to
under 45 per cent in 1994. The most rapid rates of urbanization
will occur in the developing countries. The urban population of
the developing regions was just 26 per cent in 1975, but is
projected to rise to 50 per cent by 2015. This change will place
enormous strain on existing social services and infrastructure,
much of which will not be able to expand at the same rate as that
of urbanization.
1.11. Intensified efforts are needed in the coming 5, 10 and 20
years, in a range of population and development activities, bearing
in mind the crucial contribution that early stabilization of the
world population would make towards the achievement of sustainable
development. The present Programme of Action addresses all those
issues, and more, in a comprehensive and integrated framework
designed to improve the quality of life of the current world
population and its future generations. The recommendations for
action are made in a spirit of consensus and international
cooperation, recognizing that the formulation and implementation of
population-related policies is the responsibility of each country
and should take into account the economic, social and environmental
diversity of conditions in each country, with full respect for the
various religious and ethical values, cultural backgrounds and
philosophical convictions of its people, as well as the shared but
differentiated responsibilities of all the world's people for a
common future.
1.12. The present Programme of Action recommends to the
international community a set of important population and
development objectives, as well as qualitative and quantitative
goals that are mutually supportive and of critical importance to
these objectives. Among these objectives and goals are: sustained
economic growth in the context of sustainable development;
education, especially for girls; gender equity and equality;
infant, child and maternal mortality reduction; and the provision
of universal access to reproductive health services, including
family planning and sexual health.
1.13. Many of the quantitative and qualitative goals of the
present Programme of Action clearly require additional resources,
some of which could become available from a reordering of
priorities at the individual, national and international levels.
However, none of the actions required - nor all of them combined -
is expensive in the context of either current global development or
military expenditures. A few would require little or no additional
financial resources, in that they involve changes in lifestyles,
social norms or government policies that can be largely brought
about and sustained through greater citizen action and political
leadership. But to meet the resource needs of those actions that
do require increased expenditures over the next two decades,
additional commitments will be required on the part of both
developing and developed countries. This will be particularly
difficult in the case of some developing countries and some
countries with economies in transition that are experiencing
extreme resource constraints.
1.14. The present Programme of Action recognizes that over the
next 20 years Governments are not expected to meet the goals and
objectives of the International Conference on Population and
Development single-handedly. All members of and groups in society
have the right, and indeed the responsibility, to play an active
part in efforts to reach those goals. The increased level of
interest manifested by non-governmental organizations, first in the
context of the United Nations Conference on Environment and
Development and the World Conference on Human Rights, and now in
these deliberations, reflects an important and in many places rapid
change in the relationship between Governments and a variety of
non-governmental institutions. In nearly all countries new
partnerships are emerging between government, business,
non-governmental organizations and community groups, which will
have a direct and positive bearing on the implementation of the
present Programme of Action.
1.15. While the International Conference on Population and
Development does not create any new international human rights, it
affirms the application of universally recognized human rights
standards to all aspects of population programmes. It also
represents the last opportunity in the twentieth century for the
international community to collectively address the critical
challenges and interrelationships between population and
development. The Programme of Action will require the
establishment of common ground, with full respect for the various
religious and ethical values and cultural backgrounds. The impact
of this Conference will be measured by the strength of the specific
commitments made here and the consequent actions to fulfil them, as
part of a new global partnership among all the world's countries
and peoples, based on a sense of shared but differentiated
responsibility for each other and for our planetary home.
================================================================
Chapter II
PRINCIPLES
The implementation of the recommendations contained in the
Programme of Action is the sovereign right of each country,
consistent with national laws and development priorities, with full
respect for the various religious and ethical values and cultural
backgrounds of its people, and in conformity with universally
recognized international human rights.
International cooperation and universal solidarity, guided by
the principles of the Charter of the United Nations, and in a
spirit of partnership, are crucial in order to improve the quality
of life of the peoples of the world.
In addressing the mandate of the International Conference on
Population and Development and its overall theme, the
interrelationships between population, sustained economic growth
and sustainable development, and in their deliberations, the
participants were and will continue to be guided by the following
set of principles:
Principle 1
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and
rights. Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set
forth in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, without
distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language,
religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin,
property, birth or other status. Everyone has the right to life,
liberty and security of person.
Principle 2
Human beings are at the centre of concerns for sustainable
development. They are entitled to a healthy and productive life in
harmony with nature. People are the most important and valuable
resource of any nation. Countries should ensure that all
individuals are given the opportunity to make the most of their
potential. They have the right to an adequate standard of living
for themselves and their families, including adequate food,
clothing, housing, water and sanitation.
Principle 3
The right to development is a universal and inalienable right
and an integral part of fundamental human rights, and the human
person is the central subject of development. While development
facilitates the enjoyment of all human rights, the lack of
development may not be invoked to justify the abridgement of
internationally recognized human rights. The right to development
must be fulfilled so as to equitably meet the population,
development and environment needs of present and future
generations.
Principle 4
Advancing gender equality and equity and the empowerment of
women, and the elimination of all kinds of violence against women,
and ensuring women's ability to control their own fertility, are
cornerstones of population and development- related programmes.
The human rights of women and the girl child are an inalienable,
integral and indivisible part of universal human rights. The full
and equal participation of women in civil, cultural, economic,
political and social life, at the national, regional and
international levels, and the eradication of all forms of
discrimination on grounds of sex, are priority objectives of the
international community.
Principle 5
Population-related goals and policies are integral parts of
cultural, economic and social development, the principal aim of
which is to improve the quality of life of all people.
Principle 6
Sustainable development as a means to ensure human well-being,
equitably shared by all people today and in the future, requires
that the interrelationships between population, resources, the
environment and development should be fully recognized, properly
managed and brought into harmonious, dynamic balance. To achieve
sustainable development and a higher quality of life for all
people, States should reduce and eliminate unsustainable patterns
of production and consumption and promote appropriate policies,
including population-related policies, in order to meet the needs
of current generations without compromising the ability of future
generations to meet their own needs.
Principle 7
All States and all people shall cooperate in the essential
task of eradicating poverty as an indispensable requirement for
sustainable development, in order to decrease the disparities in
standards of living and better meet the needs of the majority of
the people of the world. The special situation and needs of
developing countries, particularly the least developed, shall be
given special priority. Countries with economies in transition, as
well as all other countries, need to be fully integrated into the
world economy.
Principle 8
Everyone has the right to the enjoyment of the highest
attainable standard of physical and mental health. States should
take all appropriate measures to ensure, on a basis of equality of
men and women, universal access to health-care services, including
those related to reproductive health care, which includes family
planning and sexual health. Reproductive health-care programmes
should provide the widest range of services without any form of
coercion. All couples and individuals have the basic right to
decide freely and responsibly the number and spacing of their
children and to have the information, education and means to do so.
Principle 9
The family is the basic unit of society and as such should be
strengthened. It is entitled to receive comprehensive protection
and support. In different cultural, political and social systems,
various forms of the family exist. Marriage must be entered into
with the free consent of the intending spouses, and husband and
wife should be equal partners.
Principle 10
Everyone has the right to education, which shall be directed
to the full development of human resources, and human dignity and
potential, with particular attention to women and the girl child.
Education should be designed to strengthen respect for human rights
and fundamental freedoms, including those relating to population
and development. The best interests of the child shall be the
guiding principle of those responsible for his or her education and
guidance; that responsibility lies in the first place with the
parents.
Principle 11
All States and families should give the highest possible
priority to children. The child has the right to standards of
living adequate for its well-being and the right to the highest
attainable standards of health, and the right to education. The
child has the right to be cared for, guided and supported by
parents, families and society and to be protected by appropriate
legislative, administrative, social and educational measures from
all forms of physical or mental violence, injury or abuse, neglect
or negligent treatment, maltreatment or exploitation, including
sale, trafficking, sexual abuse, and trafficking in its organs.
Principle 12
Countries receiving documented migrants should provide proper
treatment and adequate social welfare services for them and their
families, and should ensure their physical safety and security,
bearing in mind the special circumstances and needs of countries,
in particular developing countries, attempting to meet these
objectives or requirements with regard to undocumented migrants, in
conformity with the provisions of relevant conventions and
international instruments and documents. Countries should
guarantee to all migrants all basic human rights as included in the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Principle 13
Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries
asylum from persecution. States have responsibilities with respect
to refugees as set forth in the Geneva Convention on the Status of
Refugees and its 1967 Protocol.
Principle 14
In considering the population and development needs of
indigenous people, States should recognize and support their
identity, culture and interests, and enable them to participate
fully in the economic, political and social life of the country,
particularly where their health, education and well-being are
affected.
Principle 15
Sustained economic growth, in the context of sustainable
development, and social progress require that growth be broadly
based, offering equal opportunities to all people. All countries
should recognize their common but differentiated responsibilities.
The developed countries acknowledge the responsibility that they
bear in the international pursuit of sustainable development, and
should continue to improve their efforts to promote sustained
economic growth and to narrow imbalances in a manner that can
benefit all countries, particularly the developing countries.
Chapter III
INTERRELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN POPULATION, SUSTAINED ECONOMIC
GROWTH AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
A. Integrating population and development strategies
Basis for action
3.1. The everyday activities of all human beings, communities and
countries are interrelated with population change, patterns and
levels of use of natural resources, the state of the environment,
and the pace and quality of economic and social development. There
is general agreement that persistent widespread poverty as well as
serious social and gender inequities have significant influences
on, and are in turn influenced by, demographic parameters such as
population growth, structure and distribution. There is also
general agreement that unsustainable consumption and production
patterns are contributing to the unsustainable use of natural
resources and environmental degradation as well as to the
reinforcement of social inequities and of poverty with the above-
mentioned consequences for demographic parameters. The Rio
Declaration on Environment and Development and Agenda 21, adopted
by the international community at the United Nations Conference on
Environment and Development, call for patterns of development that
reflect the new understanding of these and other intersectoral
linkages. Recognizing the longer term realities and implications
of current actions, the development challenge is to meet the needs
of present generations and improve their quality of life without
compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own
needs.
3.2. Despite recent declines in birth rates in many countries,
further large increases in population size are inevitable. Owing
to the youthful age structure, for numerous countries the coming
decades will bring substantial population increases in absolute
numbers. Population movements within and between countries,
including the very rapid growth of cities and the unbalanced
regional distribution of population, will continue and increase in
the future.
3.3. Sustainable development implies, inter alia, long-term
sustainability in production and consumption relating to all
economic activities, including industry, energy, agriculture,
forestry, fisheries, transport, tourism and infrastructure, in
order to optimize ecologically sound resource use and minimize
waste. Macroeconomic and sectoral policies have, however, rarely
given due attention to population considerations. Explicitly
integrating population into economic and development strategies
will both speed up the pace of sustainable development and poverty
alleviation and contribute to the achievement of population
objectives and an improved quality of life of the population.
Objectives
3.4. The objectives are to fully integrate population concerns
into:
(a) Development strategies, planning, decision-making and
resource allocation at all levels and in all regions, with the goal
of meeting the needs, and improving the quality of life, of present
and future generations;
(b) All aspects of development planning in order to promote
social justice and to eradicate poverty through sustained economic
growth in the context of sustainable development.
Actions
3.5. At the international, regional, national and local levels,
population issues should be integrated into the formulation,
implementation, monitoring and evaluation of all policies and
programmes relating to sustainable development. Development
strategies must realistically reflect the short-, medium- and
long-term implications of, and consequences for, population
dynamics as well as patterns of production and consumption.
3.6. Governments, international agencies, non-governmental
organizations and other concerned parties should undertake timely
and periodic reviews of their development strategies, with the aim
of assessing progress towards integrating population into
development and environment programmes that take into account
patterns of production and consumption and seek to bring about
population trends consistent with the achievement of sustainable
development and the improvement of the quality of life.
3.7. Governments should establish the requisite internal
institutional mechanisms and enabling environment, at all levels of
society, to ensure that population factors are appropriately
addressed within the decision-making and administrative processes
of all relevant government agencies responsible for economic,
environmental and social policies and programmes.
3.8. Political commitment to integrated population and development
strategies should be strengthened by public education and
information programmes and by increased resource allocation through
cooperation among Governments, non-governmental organizations and
the private sector, and by improvement of the knowledge base
through research and national and local capacity-building.
3.9. To achieve sustainable development and a higher quality of
life for all people, Governments should reduce and eliminate
unsustainable patterns of production and consumption and promote
appropriate demographic policies. Developed countries should take
the lead in achieving sustainable consumption patterns and
effective waste management.
B. Population, sustained economic growth and poverty
Basis for action
3.10. Population policies should take into account, as
appropriate, development strategies agreed upon in multilateral
forums, in particular the International Development Strategy for
the Fourth United Nations Development Decade, 16/ the Programme of
Action for the Least Developed Countries for the 1990s, 17/ the
outcomes of the eighth session of the United Nations Conference on
Trade and Development, and of the Uruguay Round of multilateral
trade negotiations, Agenda 21 and the United Nations New Agenda for
the Development of Africa in the 1990s. 18/
3.11. Gains recorded in recent years in such indicators as life
expectancy and national product, while significant and encouraging,
do not, unfortunately, fully reflect the realities of life of
hundreds of millions of men, women, adolescents and children.
Despite decades of development efforts, both the gap between rich
and poor nations and the inequalities within nations have widened.
Serious economic, social, gender and other inequities persist and
hamper efforts to improve the quality of life for hundreds of
millions of people. The number of people living in poverty stands
at approximately 1 billion and continues to mount.
3.12. All countries, more especially developing countries where
almost all of the future growth of the world population will occur,
and countries with economies in transition, face increasing
difficulties in improving the quality of life of their people in a
sustainable manner. Many developing countries and countries with
economies in transition face major development obstacles, among
which are those related to the persistence of trade imbalances, the
slow-down in the world economy, the persistence of the
debt-servicing problem, and the need for technologies and external
assistance. The achievement of sustainable development and poverty
eradication should be supported by macroeconomic policies designed
to provide an appropriate international economic environment, as
well as by good governance, effective national policies and
efficient national institutions.
3.13. Widespread poverty remains the major challenge to
development efforts. Poverty is often accompanied by unemployment,
malnutrition, illiteracy, low status of women, exposure to
environmental risks and limited access to social and health
services, including reproductive health services which, in turn,
include family planning. All these factors contribute to high
levels of fertility, morbidity and mortality, as well as to low
economic productivity. Poverty is also closely related to
inappropriate spatial distribution of population, to unsustainable
use and inequitable distribution of such natural resources as land
and water, and to serious environmental degradation.
3.14. Efforts to slow down population growth, to reduce poverty,
to achieve economic progress, to improve environmental protection,
and to reduce unsustainable consumption and production patterns are
mutually reinforcing. Slower population growth has in many
countries bought more time to adjust to future population
increases. This has increased those countries' ability to attack
poverty, protect and repair the environment, and build the base for
future sustainable development. Even the difference of a single
decade in the transition to stabilization levels of fertility can
have a considerable positive impact on quality of life.
3.15. Sustained economic growth within the context of sustainable
development is essential to eradicate poverty. Eradication of
poverty will contribute to slowing population growth and to
achieving early population stabilization. Investments in fields
important to the eradication of poverty, such as basic education,
sanitation, drinking water, housing, adequate food supply and
infrastructure for rapidly growing populations, continue to strain
already weak economies and limit development options. The
unusually high number of young people, a consequence of high
fertility rates, requires that productive jobs be created for a
continually growing labour force under conditions of already
widespread unemployment. The numbers of elderly requiring public
support will also increase rapidly in the future. Sustained
economic growth in the context of sustainable development will be
necessary to accommodate those pressures.
Objective
3.16. The objective is to raise the quality of life for all people
through appropriate population and development policies and
programmes aimed at achieving poverty eradication, sustained
economic growth in the context of sustainable development and
sustainable patterns of consumption and production, human resource
development and the guarantee of all human rights, including the
right to development as a universal and inalienable right and an
integral part of fundamental human rights. Particular attention is
to be given to the socio- economic improvement of poor women in
developed and developing countries. As women are generally the
poorest of the poor and at the same time key actors in the
development process, eliminating social, cultural, political and
economic discrimination against women is a prerequisite of
eradicating poverty, promoting sustained economic growth in the
context of sustainable development, ensuring quality family
planning and reproductive health services, and achieving balance
between population and available resources and sustainable patterns
of consumption and production.
Actions
3.17. Investment in human resource development, in accordance with
national policy, must be given priority in population and
development strategies and budgets, at all levels, with programmes
specifically directed at increased access to information,
education, skill development, employment opportunities, both formal
and informal, and high-quality general and reproductive health
services, including family planning and sexual health care, through
the promotion of sustained economic growth within the context of
sustainable development in developing countries and countries with
economies in transition.
3.18. Existing inequities and barriers to women in the workforce
should be eliminated and women's participation in all policy-making
and implementation, as well as their access to productive
resources, and ownership of land, and their right to inherit
property should be promoted and strengthened. Governments,
non-governmental organizations and the private sector should invest
in, promote, monitor and evaluate the education and skill
development of women and girls and the legal and economic rights of
women, and in all aspects of reproductive health, including family
planning and sexual health, in order to enable them to effectively
contribute to and benefit from economic growth and sustainable
development.
3.19. High priority should be given by Governments,
non-governmental organizations and the private sector to meeting
the needs, and increasing the opportunities for information,
education, jobs, skill development and relevant reproductive health
services, of all underserved members of society. 19/
3.20. Measures should be taken to strengthen food, nutrition and
agricultural policies and programmes, and fair trade relations,
with special attention to the creation and strengthening of food
security at all levels.
3.21. Job creation in the industrial, agricultural and service
sectors should be facilitated by Governments and the private sector
through the establishment of more favourable climates for expanded
trade and investment on an environmentally sound basis, greater
investment in human resource development and the development of
democratic institutions and good governance. Special efforts
should be made to create productive jobs through policies promoting
efficient and, where required, labour-intensive industries, and
transfer of modern technologies.
3.22. The international community should continue to promote a
supportive economic environment, particularly for developing
countries and countries with economies in transition in their
attempt to eradicate poverty and achieve sustained economic growth
in the context of sustainable development. In the context of the
relevant international agreements and commitments, efforts should
be made to support those countries, in particular the developing
countries, by promoting an open, equitable, secure,
non-discriminatory and predictable international trading system; by
promoting foreign direct investment; by reducing the debt burden;
by providing new and additional financial resources from all
available funding sources and mechanisms, including multilateral,
bilateral and private sources, including on concessional and grant
terms according to sound and equitable criteria and indicators; by
providing access to technologies; and by ensuring that structural
adjustment programmes are so designed and implemented as to be
responsive to social and environmental concerns.
C. Population and environment
Basis for action
3.23. At the United Nations Conference on Environment and
Development, the international community agreed on objectives and
actions aimed at integrating environment and development which were
included in Agenda 21, other Conference outcomes and other
international environmental agreements. Agenda 21 has been
conceived as a response to the major environment and development
challenges, including the economic and social dimensions of
sustainable development, such as poverty, consumption, demographic
dynamics, human health and human settlement, and to a broad range
of environmental and natural resource concerns. Agenda 21 leaves
to the International Conference on Population and Development
further consideration of the interrelationships between population
and the environment.
3.24. Meeting the basic human needs of growing populations is
dependent on a healthy environment. These human dimensions need to
be given attention in developing comprehensive policies for
sustainable development in the context of population growth.
3.25. Demographic factors, combined with poverty and lack of
access to resources in some areas, and excessive consumption and
wasteful production patterns in others, cause or exacerbate
problems of environmental degradation and resource depletion and
thus inhibit sustainable development.
3.26. Pressure on the environment may result from rapid population
growth, distribution and migration, especially in ecologically
vulnerable ecosystems. Urbanization and policies that do not
recognize the need for rural development also create environmental
problems.
3.27. Implementation of effective population policies in the
context of sustainable development, including reproductive health
and family-planning programmes, require new forms of participation
by various actors at all levels in the policy-making process.
Objectives
3.28. Consistent with Agenda 21, the objectives are:
(a) To ensure that population, environmental and poverty
eradication factors are integrated in sustainable development
policies, plans and programmes;
(b) To reduce both unsustainable consumption and production
patterns as well as negative impacts of demographic factors on the
environment in order to meet the needs of current generations
without compromising the ability of future generations to meet
their own needs.
Actions
3.29. Governments at the appropriate level, with the support of
the international community and regional and subregional
organizations, should formulate and implement population policies
and programmes to support the objectives and actions agreed upon in
Agenda 21, other Conference outcomes and other international
environmental agreements, taking into account the common but
differentiated responsibilities reflected in those agreements.
Consistent with the framework and priorities set forth in Agenda
21, the following actions, inter alia, are recommended to help
achieve population and environment integration:
(a) Integrate demographic factors into environment impact
assessments and other planning and decision-making processes aimed
at achieving sustainable development;
(b) Take measures aimed at the eradication of poverty, with
special attention to income-generation and employment strategies
directed at the rural poor and those living within or on the edge
of fragile ecosystems;
(c) Utilize demographic data to promote sustainable resource
management, especially of ecologically fragile systems;
(d) Modify unsustainable consumption and production patterns
through economic, legislative and administrative measures, as
appropriate, aimed at fostering sustainable resource use and
preventing environmental degradation;
(e) Implement policies to address the ecological implications
of inevitable future increases in population numbers and changes in
concentration and distribution, particularly in ecologically
vulnerable areas and urban agglomerations.
3.30. Measures should be taken to enhance the full participation
of all relevant groups, especially women, at all levels of
population and environmental decision-making to achieve sustainable
management of natural resources.
3.31. Research should be undertaken on the linkages among
population, consumption and production, the environment and natural
resources, and human health as a guide to effective sustainable
development policies.
3.32. Governments, non-governmental organizations and the private
sector should promote public awareness and understanding for the
implementation of the above- mentioned actions.
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Chapter IV
GENDER EQUALITY, EQUITY AND EMPOWERMENT OF WOMEN
A. Empowerment and status of women
Basis for action
4.1. The empowerment and autonomy of women and the improvement of
their political, social, economic and health status is a highly
important end in itself. In addition, it is essential for the
achievement of sustainable development. The full participation and
partnership of both women and men is required in productive and
reproductive life, including shared responsibilities for the care
and nurturing of children and maintenance of the household. In all
parts of the world, women are facing threats to their lives, health
and well- being as a result of being overburdened with work and of
their lack of power and influence. In most regions of the world,
women receive less formal education than men, and at the same time,
women's own knowledge, abilities and coping mechanisms often go
unrecognized. The power relations that impede women's attainment
of healthy and fulfilling lives operate at many levels of society,
from the most personal to the highly public. Achieving change
requires policy and programme actions that will improve women's
access to secure livelihoods and economic resources, alleviate
their extreme responsibilities with regard to housework, remove
legal impediments to their participation in public life, and raise
social awareness through effective programmes of education and mass
communication. In addition, improving the status of women also
enhances their decision-making capacity at all levels in all
spheres of life, especially in the area of sexuality and
reproduction. This, in turn, is essential for the long- term
success of population programmes. Experience shows that population
and development programmes are most effective when steps have
simultaneously been taken to improve the status of women.
4.2. Education is one of the most important means of empowering
women with the knowledge, skills and self-confidence necessary to
participate fully in the development process. More than 40 years
ago, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights asserted that
"everyone has the right to education". In 1990, Governments
meeting at the World Conference on Education for All in Jomtien,
Thailand, committed themselves to the goal of universal access to
basic education. But despite notable efforts by countries around
the globe that have appreciably expanded access to basic education,
there are approximately 960 million illiterate adults in the world,
of whom two thirds are women. More than one third of the world's
adults, most of them women, have no access to printed knowledge, to
new skills or to technologies that would improve the quality of
their lives and help them shape and adapt to social and economic
change. There are 130 million children who are not enrolled in
primary school and 70 per cent of them are girls.
Objectives
4.3. The objectives are:
(a) To achieve equality and equity based on harmonious
partnership between men and women and enable women to realize their
full potential;
(b) To ensure the enhancement of women's contributions to
sustainable development through their full involvement in policy-
and decision-making processes at all stages and participation in
all aspects of production, employment, income-generating
activities, education, health, science and technology, sports,
culture and population-related activities and other areas, as
active decision makers, participants and beneficiaries;
(c) To ensure that all women, as well as men, are provided
with the education necessary for them to meet their basic human
needs and to exercise their human rights.
Actions
4.4. Countries should act to empower women and should take steps
to eliminate inequalities between men and women as soon as possible
by:
(a) Establishing mechanisms for women's equal participation
and equitable representation at all levels of the political process
and public life in each community and society and enabling women to
articulate their concerns and needs;
(b) Promoting the fulfilment of women's potential through
education, skill development and employment, giving paramount
importance to the elimination of poverty, illiteracy and ill health
among women;
(c) Eliminating all practices that discriminate against
women; assisting women to establish and realize their rights,
including those that relate to reproductive and sexual health;
(d) Adopting appropriate measures to improve women's ability
to earn income beyond traditional occupations, achieve economic
self-reliance, and ensure women's equal access to the labour market
and social security systems;
(e) Eliminating violence against women;
(f) Eliminating discriminatory practices by employers against
women, such as those based on proof of contraceptive use or
pregnancy status;
(g) Making it possible, through laws, regulations and other
appropriate measures, for women to combine the roles of
child-bearing, breast-feeding and child-rearing with participation
in the workforce.
4.5. All countries should make greater efforts to promulgate,
implement and enforce national laws and international conventions
to which they are party, such as the Convention on the Elimination
of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, that protect women
from all types of economic discrimination and from sexual
harassment, and to implement fully the Declaration on the
Elimination of Violence against Women and the Vienna Declaration
and Programme of Action adopted at the World Conference on Human
Rights in 1993. Countries are urged to sign, ratify and implement
all existing agreements that promote women's rights.
4.6. Governments at all levels should ensure that women can buy,
hold and sell property and land equally with men, obtain credit and
negotiate contracts in their own name and on their own behalf and
exercise their legal rights to inheritance.
4.7. Governments and employers are urged to eliminate gender
discrimination in hiring, wages, benefits, training and job
security with a view to eliminating gender-based disparities in
income.
4.8. Governments, international organizations and non-governmental
organizations should ensure that their personnel policies and
practices comply with the principle of equitable representation of
both sexes, especially at the managerial and policy-making levels,
in all programmes, including population and development programmes.
Specific procedures and indicators should be devised for
gender-based analysis of development programmes and for assessing
the impact of those programmes on women's social, economic and
health status and access to resources.
4.9. Countries should take full measures to eliminate all forms of
exploitation, abuse, harassment and violence against women,
adolescents and children. This implies both preventive actions and
rehabilitation of victims. Countries should prohibit degrading
practices, such as trafficking in women, adolescents and children
and exploitation through prostitution, and pay special attention to
protecting the rights and safety of those who suffer from these
crimes and those in potentially exploitable situations, such as
migrant women, women in domestic service and schoolgirls. In this
regard, international safeguards and mechanisms for cooperation
should be put in place to ensure that these measures are
implemented.
4.10. Countries are urged to identify and condemn the systematic
practice of rape and other forms of inhuman and degrading treatment
of women as a deliberate instrument of war and ethnic cleansing and
take steps to assure that full assistance is provided to the
victims of such abuse for their physical and mental rehabilitation.
4.11. The design of family health and other development
interventions should take better account of the demands on women's
time from the responsibilities of child-rearing, household work and
income-generating activities. Male responsibilities should be
emphasized with respect to child-rearing and housework. Greater
investments should be made in appropriate measures to lessen the
daily burden of domestic responsibilities, the greatest share of
which falls on women. Greater attention should be paid to the ways
in which environmental degradation and changes in land use
adversely affect the allocation of women's time. Women's domestic
working environments should not adversely affect their health.
4.12. Every effort should be made to encourage the expansion and
strengthening of grass-roots, community-based and activist groups
for women. Such groups should be the focus of national campaigns
to foster women's awareness of the full range of their legal
rights, including their rights within the family, and to help women
organize to achieve those rights.
4.13. Countries are strongly urged to enact laws and to implement
programmes and policies which will enable employees of both sexes
to organize their family and work responsibilities through flexible
work-hours, parental leave, day-care facilities, maternity leave,
policies that enable working mothers to breast-feed their children,
health insurance and other such measures. Similar rights should be
ensured to those working in the informal sector.
4.14. Programmes to meet the needs of growing numbers of elderly
people should fully take into account that women represent the
larger proportion of the elderly and that elderly women generally
have a lower socio-economic status than elderly men.
B. The girl child
Basis for action
4.15. Since in all societies discrimination on the basis of sex
often starts at the earliest stages of life, greater equality for
the girl child is a necessary first step in ensuring that women
realize their full potential and become equal partners in
development. In a number of countries, the practice of prenatal
sex selection, higher rates of mortality among very young girls,
and lower rates of school enrolment for girls as compared with
boys, suggest that "son preference" is curtailing the access of
girl children to food, education and health care. This is often
compounded by the increasing use of technologies to determine
foetal sex, resulting in abortion of female foetuses. Investments
made in the girl child's health, nutrition and education, from
infancy through adolescence, are critical.
Objectives
4.16. The objectives are:
(a) To eliminate all forms of discrimination against the girl
child and the root causes of son preference, which results in
harmful and unethical practices regarding female infanticide and
prenatal sex selection;
(b) To increase public awareness of the value of the girl
child, and concurrently, to strengthen the girl child's self-image,
self-esteem and status;
(c) To improve the welfare of the girl child, especially in
regard to health, nutrition and education.
Actions
4.17. Overall, the value of girl children to both their family and
society must be expanded beyond their definition as potential
child-bearers and caretakers and reinforced through the adoption
and implementation of educational and social policies that
encourage their full participation in the development of the
societies in which they live. Leaders at all levels of the society
must speak out and act forcefully against patterns of gender
discrimination within the family, based on preference for sons.
One of the aims should be to eliminate excess mortality of girls,
wherever such a pattern exists. Special education and public
information efforts are needed to promote equal treatment of girls
and boys with respect to nutrition, health care, education and
social, economic and political activity, as well as equitable
inheritance rights.
4.18. Beyond the achievement of the goal of universal primary
education in all countries before the year 2015, all countries are
urged to ensure the widest and earliest possible access by girls
and women to secondary and higher levels of education, as well as
to vocational education and technical training, bearing in mind the
need to improve the quality and relevance of that education.
4.19. Schools, the media and other social institutions should seek
to eliminate stereotypes in all types of communication and
educational materials that reinforce existing inequities between
males and females and undermine girls' self-esteem. Countries must
recognize that, in addition to expanding education for girls,
teachers' attitudes and practices, school curricula and facilities
must also change to reflect a commitment to eliminate all gender
bias, while recognizing the specific needs of the girl child.
4.20. Countries should develop an integrated approach to the
special nutritional, general and reproductive health, education and
social needs of girls and young women, as such additional
investments in adolescent girls can often compensate for earlier
inadequacies in their nutrition and health care.
4.21. Governments should strictly enforce laws to ensure that
marriage is entered into only with the free and full consent of the
intending spouses. In addition, Governments should strictly
enforce laws concerning the minimum legal age of consent and the
minimum age at marriage and should raise the minimum age at
marriage where necessary. Governments and non-governmental
organizations should generate social support for the enforcement of
laws on the minimum legal age at marriage, in particular by
providing educational and employment opportunities.
4.22. Governments are urged to prohibit female genital mutilation
wherever it exists and to give vigorous support to efforts among
non-governmental and community organizations and religious
institutions to eliminate such practices.
4.23. Governments are urged to take the necessary measures to
prevent infanticide, prenatal sex selection, trafficking in girl
children and use of girls in prostitution and pornography.
C. Male responsibilities and participation
Basis for action
4.24. Changes in both men's and women's knowledge, attitudes and
behaviour are necessary conditions for achieving the harmonious
partnership of men and women. Men play a key role in bringing
about gender equality since, in most societies, men exercise
preponderant power in nearly every sphere of life, ranging from
personal decisions regarding the size of families to the policy and
programme decisions taken at all levels of Government. It is
essential to improve communication between men and women on issues
of sexuality and reproductive health, and the understanding of
their joint responsibilities, so that men and women are equal
partners in public and private life.
Objective
4.25. The objective is to promote gender equality in all spheres
of life, including family and community life, and to encourage and
enable men to take responsibility for their sexual and reproductive
behaviour and their social and family roles.
Actions
4.26. The equal participation of women and men in all areas of
family and household responsibilities, including family planning,
child-rearing and housework, should be promoted and encouraged by
Governments. This should be pursued by means of information,
education, communication, employment legislation and by fostering
an economically enabling environment, such as family leave for men
and women so that they may have more choice regarding the balance
of their domestic and public responsibilities.
4.27. Special efforts should be made to emphasize men's shared
responsibility and promote their active involvement in responsible
parenthood, sexual and reproductive behaviour, including family
planning; prenatal, maternal and child health; prevention of
sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV; prevention of
unwanted and high-risk pregnancies; shared control and contribution
to family income, children's education, health and nutrition; and
recognition and promotion of the equal value of children of both
sexes. Male responsibilities in family life must be included in
the education of children from the earliest ages. Special emphasis
should be placed on the prevention of violence against women and
children.
4.28. Governments should take steps to ensure that children
receive appropriate financial support from their parents by, among
other measures, enforcing child- support laws. Governments should
consider changes in law and policy to ensure men's responsibility
to and financial support for their children and families. Such
laws and policies should also encourage maintenance or
reconstitution of the family unit. The safety of women in abusive
relationships should be protected.
4.29. National and community leaders should promote the full
involvement of men in family life and the full integration of women
in community life. Parents and schools should ensure that
attitudes that are respectful of women and girls as equals are
instilled in boys from the earliest possible age, along with an
understanding of their shared responsibilities in all aspects of a
safe, secure and harmonious family life. Relevant programmes to
reach boys before they become sexually active are urgently needed.
=================================================================
Chapter V
THE FAMILY, ITS ROLES, RIGHTS, COMPOSITION AND STRUCTURE
A. Diversity of family structure and composition
Basis for action
5.1. While various forms of the family exist in different social,
cultural, legal and political systems, the family is the basic unit
of society and as such is entitled to receive comprehensive
protection and support. The process of rapid demographic and
socio-economic change throughout the world has influenced patterns
of family formation and family life, generating considerable change
in family composition and structure. Traditional notions of
gender-based division of parental and domestic functions and
participation in the paid labour force do not reflect current
realities and aspirations, as more and more women in all parts of
the world take up paid employment outside the home. At the same
time, widespread migration, forced shifts of population caused by
violent conflicts and wars, urbanization, poverty, natural
disasters and other causes of displacement have placed greater
strains on the family, since assistance from extended family
support networks is often no longer available. Parents are often
more dependent on assistance from third parties than they used to
be in order to reconcile work and family responsibilities. This is
particularly the case when policies and programmes that affect the
family ignore the existing diversity of family forms, or are
insufficiently sensitive to the needs and rights of women and
children.
Objectives
5.2. The objectives are:
(a) To develop policies and laws that better support the
family, contribute to its stability and take into account its
plurality of forms, particularly the growing number of
single-parent households;
(b) To establish social security measures that address the
social, cultural and economic factors behind the increasing costs
of child-rearing;
(c) To promote equality of opportunity for family members,
especially the rights of women and children in the family.
Actions
5.3. Governments, in cooperation with employers, should provide
and promote means to facilitate compatibility between labour force
participation and parental responsibilities, especially for
single-parent households with young children. Such means could
include health insurance and social security, day- care centres and
facilities for breast-feeding mothers within the work premises,
kindergartens, part-time jobs, paid parental leave, paid maternity
leave, flexible work schedules, and reproductive and child health
services.
5.4. When formulating socio-economic development policies, special
consideration should be given to increasing the earning power of
all adult members of economically deprived families, including the
elderly and women who work in the home, and to enabling children to
be educated rather than compelled to work. Particular attention
should be paid to needy single parents, especially those who are
responsible wholly or in part for the support of children and other
dependants, through ensuring payment of at least minimum wages and
allowances, credit, education, funding for women's self-help groups
and stronger legal enforcement of male parental financial
responsibilities.
5.5. Governments should take effective action to eliminate all
forms of coercion and discrimination in policies and practices.
Measures should be adopted and enforced to eliminate child
marriages and female genital mutilation. Assistance should be
provided to persons with disabilities in the exercise of their
family and reproductive rights and responsibilities.
5.6. Governments should maintain and further develop mechanisms to
document changes and undertake studies on family composition and
structure, especially on the prevalence of one-person households,
and single-parent and multigenerational families.
B. Socio-economic support to the family
Basis for action
5.7. Families are sensitive to strains induced by social and
economic changes. It is essential to grant particular assistance
to families in difficult life situations. Conditions have worsened
for many families in recent years, owing to lack of gainful
employment and measures taken by Governments seeking to balance
their budget by reducing social expenditures. There are increasing
numbers of vulnerable families, including single-parent families
headed by women, poor families with elderly members or those with
disabilities, refugee and displaced families, and families with
members affected by AIDS or other terminal diseases, substance
dependence, child abuse and domestic violence. Increased labour
migrations and refugee movements are an additional source of family
tension and disintegration and are contributing to increased
responsibilities for women. In many urban environments, millions
of children and youths are left to their own devices as family ties
break down, and hence are increasingly exposed to risks such as
dropping out of school, labour exploitation, sexual exploitation,
unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases.
Objective
5.8. The objective is to ensure that all social and economic
development policies are fully responsive to the diverse and
changing needs and to the rights of families and their individual
members, and provide necessary support and protection, particularly
to the most vulnerable families and the most vulnerable family
members.
Actions
5.9. Governments should formulate family-sensitive policies in the
field of housing, work, health, social security and education in
order to create an environment supportive of the family, taking
into account its various forms and functions, and should support
educational programmes concerning parental roles, parental skills
and child development. Governments should, in conjunction with
other relevant parties, develop the capacity to monitor the impact
of social and economic decisions and actions on the well-being of
families, on the status of women within families, and on the
ability of families to meet the basic needs of their members.
5.10. All levels of Government, non-governmental organizations and
concerned community organizations should develop innovative ways to
provide more effective assistance to families and the individuals
within them who may be affected by specific problems, such as
extreme poverty, chronic unemployment, illness, domestic and sexual
violence, dowry payments, drug or alcohol dependence, incest, and
child abuse, neglect or abandonment.
5.11. Governments should support and develop the appropriate
mechanisms to assist families caring for children, the dependent
elderly and family members with disabilities, including those
resulting from HIV/AIDS, encourage the sharing of those
responsibilities by men and women, and support the viability of
multigenerational families.
5.12. Governments and the international community should give
greater attention to, and manifest greater solidarity with, poor
families and families that have been victimized by war, drought,
famine, natural disasters and racial and ethnic discrimination or
violence. Every effort should be made to keep their members
together, to reunite them in case of separation and to ensure
access to government programmes designed to support and assist
those vulnerable families.
5.13. Governments should assist single-parent families, and pay
special attention to the needs of widows and orphans. All efforts
should be made to assist the building of family-like ties in
especially difficult circumstances, for example, those involving
street children.
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Chapter VI
POPULATION GROWTH AND STRUCTURE
A. Fertility, mortality and population growth rates
Basis for action
6.1. The growth of the world population is at an all-time high in
absolute numbers, with current increments approaching 90 million
persons annually. According to United Nations projections, annual
population increments are likely to remain close to 90 million
until the year 2015. While it had taken 123 years for world
population to increase from 1 billion to 2 billion, succeeding
increments of 1 billion took 33 years, 14 years and 13 years. The
transition from the fifth to the sixth billion, currently under
way, is expected to take only 11 years and to be completed by 1998.
World population grew at the rate of 1.7 per cent per annum during
the period 1985-1990, but is expected to decrease during the
following decades and reach 1.0 per cent per annum by the period
2020-2025. Nevertheless, the attainment of population
stabilization during the twenty-first century will require the
implementation of all the policies and recommendations in the
present Programme of Action.
6.2. The majority of the world's countries are converging towards
a pattern of low birth and death rates, but since those countries
are proceeding at different speeds, the emerging picture is that of
a world facing increasingly diverse demographic situations. In
terms of national averages, during the period 1985-1990, fertility
ranged from an estimated 8.5 children per woman in Rwanda to 1.3
children per woman in Italy, while expectation of life at birth, an
indicator of mortality conditions, ranged from an estimated 41
years in Sierra Leone to 78.3 years in Japan. In many regions,
including some countries with economies in transition, it is
estimated that life expectancy at birth has decreased. During the
period 1985-1990, 44 per cent of the world population were living
in the 114 countries that had growth rates of more than 2 per cent
per annum. These included nearly all the countries in Africa,
whose population- doubling time averages about 24 years, two thirds
of those in Asia and one third of those in Latin America. On the
other hand, 66 countries (the majority of them in Europe),
representing 23 per cent of the world population, had growth rates
of less than 1 per cent per annum. Europe's population would take
more than 380 years to double at current rates. These disparate
levels and differentials have implications for the ultimate size
and regional distribution of the world population and for the
prospects for sustainable development. It is projected that
between 1995 and 2015 the population of the more developed regions
will increase by some 120 million, while the population of the less
developed regions will increase by 1,727 million.
Objective
6.3. Recognizing that the ultimate goal is the improvement of the
quality of life of present and future generations, the objective is
to facilitate the demographic transition as soon as possible in
countries where there is an imbalance between demographic rates and
social, economic and environmental goals, while fully respecting
human rights. This process will contribute to the stabilization of
the world population, and, together with changes in unsustainable
patterns of production and consumption, to sustainable development
and economic growth.
Actions
6.4. Countries should give greater attention to the importance of
population trends for development. Countries that have not
completed their demographic transition should take effective steps
in this regard within the context of their social and economic
development and with full respect of human rights. Countries that
have concluded the demographic transition should take necessary
steps to optimize their demographic trends within the context of
their social and economic development. These steps include
economic development and poverty alleviation, especially in rural
areas, improvement of women's status, ensuring of universal access
to quality primary education and primary health care, including
reproductive health and family-planning services, and educational
strategies regarding responsible parenthood and sexual education.
Countries should mobilize all sectors of society in these efforts,
including non-governmental organizations, local community groups
and the private sector.
6.5. In attempting to address population growth concerns,
countries should recognize the interrelationships between fertility
and mortality levels and aim to reduce high levels of infant, child
and maternal mortality so as to lessen the need for high fertility
and reduce the occurrence of high-risk births.
B. Children and youth
Basis for action
6.6. Owing to declining mortality levels and the persistence of
high fertility levels, a large number of developing countries
continue to have very large proportions of children and young
people in their populations. For the less developed regions as a
whole, 36 per cent of the population is under age 15, and even with
projected fertility declines, that proportion will still be about
30 per cent by the year 2015. In Africa, the proportion of the
population under age 15 is 45 per cent, a figure that is projected
to decline only slightly, to 40 per cent, in the year 2015.
Poverty has a devastating impact on children's health and welfare.
Children in poverty are at high risk for malnutrition and disease
and for falling prey to labour exploitation, trafficking, neglect,
sexual abuse and drug addiction. The ongoing and future demands
created by large young populations, particularly in terms of
health, education and employment, represent major challenges and
responsibilities for families, local communities, countries and the
international community. First and foremost among these
responsibilities is to ensure that every child is a wanted child.
The second responsibility is to recognize that children are the
most important resource for the future and that greater investments
in them by parents and societies are essential to the achievement
of sustained economic growth and development.
Objectives
6.7. The objectives are:
(a) To promote to the fullest extent the health, well-being
and potential of all children, adolescents and youth as
representing the world's future human resources, in line with the
commitments made in this respect at the World Summit for Children
and in accordance with the Convention on the Rights of the Child;
(b) To meet the special needs of adolescents and youth,
especially young women, with due regard for their own creative
capabilities, for social, family and community support, employment
opportunities, participation in the political process, and access
to education, health, counselling and high-quality reproductive
health services;
(c) To encourage children, adolescents and youth,
particularly young women, to continue their education in order to
equip them for a better life, to increase their human potential, to
help prevent early marriages and high-risk child-bearing and to
reduce associated mortality and morbidity.
Actions
6.8. Countries should give high priority and attention to all
dimensions of the protection, survival and development of children
and youth, particularly street children and youth, and should make
every effort to eliminate the adverse effects of poverty on
children and youth, including malnutrition and preventable
diseases. Equal educational opportunities must be ensured for boys
and girls at every level.
6.9. Countries should take effective steps to address the neglect,
as well as all types of exploitation and abuse, of children,
adolescents and youth, such as abduction, rape and incest,
pornography, trafficking, abandonment and prostitution. In
particular, countries should take appropriate action to eliminate
sexual abuse of children both within and outside their borders.
6.10. All countries must enact and strictly enforce laws against
economic exploitation, physical and mental abuse or neglect of
children in keeping with commitments made under the Convention on
the Rights of the Child and other relevant United Nations
instruments. Countries should provide support and rehabilitation
services to those who fall victims to such abuses.
6.11. Countries should create a socio-economic environment
conducive to the elimination of all child marriages and other
unions as a matter of urgency, and should discourage early
marriage. The social responsibilities that marriage entails should
be reinforced in countries' educational programmes. Governments
should take action to eliminate discrimination against young
pregnant women.
6.12. All countries must adopt collective measures to alleviate
the suffering of children in armed conflicts and other disasters,
and provide assistance for the rehabilitation of children who
become victims of those conflicts and disasters.
6.13. Countries should aim to meet the needs and aspirations of
youth, particularly in the areas of formal and non-formal
education, training, employment opportunities, housing and health,
thereby ensuring their integration and participation in all spheres
of society, including participation in the political process and
preparation for leadership roles.
6.14. Governments should formulate, with the active support of
non-governmental organizations and the private sector, training and
employment programmes. Primary importance should be given to
meeting the basic needs of young people, improving their quality of
life, and increasing their contribution to sustainable development.
6.15. Youth should be actively involved in the planning,
implementation and evaluation of development activities that have
a direct impact on their daily lives. This is especially important
with respect to information, education and communication activities
and services concerning reproductive and sexual health, including
the prevention of early pregnancies, sex education and the
prevention of HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases.
Access to, as well as confidentiality and privacy of, these
services must be ensured with the support and guidance of their
parents and in line with the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
In addition, there is a need for educational programmes in favour
of life planning skills, healthy lifestyles and the active
discouragement of substance abuse.
C. Elderly people
Basis for action
6.16. The decline in fertility levels, reinforced by continued
declines in mortality levels, is producing fundamental changes in
the age structure of the population of most societies, most notably
record increases in the proportion and number of elderly persons,
including a growing number of very elderly persons. In the more
developed regions, approximately one person in every six is at
least 60 years old, and this proportion will be close to one person
in every four by the year 2025. The situation of developing
countries that have experienced very rapid declines in their levels
of fertility deserves particular attention. In most societies,
women, because they live longer than men, constitute the majority
of the elderly population and, in many countries, elderly poor
women are especially vulnerable. The steady increase of older age
groups in national populations, both in absolute numbers and in
relation to the working-age population, has significant
implications for a majority of countries, particularly with regard
to the future viability of existing formal and informal modalities
for assistance to elderly people. The economic and social impact
of this "ageing of populations" is both an opportunity and a
challenge to all societies. Many countries are currently
re-examining their policies in the light of the principle that
elderly people constitute a valuable and important component of a
society's human resources. They are also seeking to identify how
best to assist elderly people with long-term support needs.
Objectives
6.17. The objectives are:
(a) To enhance, through appropriate mechanisms, the
self-reliance of elderly people, and to create conditions that
promote quality of life and enable them to work and live
independently in their own communities as long as possible or as
desired;
(b) To develop systems of health care as well as systems of
economic and social security in old age, where appropriate, paying
special attention to the needs of women;
(c) To develop a social support system, both formal and
informal, with a view to enhancing the ability of families to take
care of elderly people within the family.
Actions
6.18. All levels of government in medium- and long-term
socio-economic planning should take into account the increasing
numbers and proportions of elderly people in the population.
Governments should develop social security systems that ensure
greater intergenerational and intragenerational equity and
solidarity and that provide support to elderly people through the
encouragement of multigenerational families, and the provision of
long-term support and services for growing numbers of frail older
people.
6.19. Governments should seek to enhance the self-reliance of
elderly people to facilitate their continued participation in
society. In consultation with elderly people, Governments should
ensure that the necessary conditions are developed to enable
elderly people to lead self-determined, healthy and productive
lives and to make full use of the skills and abilities they have
acquired in their lives for the benefit of society. The valuable
contribution that elderly people make to families and society,
especially as volunteers and caregivers, should be given due
recognition and encouragement.
6.20. Governments, in collaboration with non-governmental
organizations and the private sector, should strengthen formal and
informal support systems and safety nets for elderly people and
eliminate all forms of violence and discrimination against elderly
people in all countries, paying special attention to the needs of
elderly women.
D. Indigenous people
Basis for action
6.21. Indigenous people have a distinct and important perspective
on population and development relationships, frequently quite
different from those of the populations with which they interrelate
within national boundaries. In some regions of the world,
indigenous people, after long periods of population loss, are
experiencing steady and in some places rapid population growth
resulting from declining mortality, although morbidity and
mortality are generally still much higher than for other sections
of the national population. In other regions, however, they are
still experiencing a steady population decline as a result of
contact with external diseases, loss of land and resources,
ecological destruction, displacement, resettlement and disruption
of their families, communities and social systems.
6.22. The situation of many indigenous groups is often
characterized by discrimination and oppression, which are sometimes
even institutionalized in national laws and structures of
governance. In many cases, unsustainable patterns of production
and consumption in the society at large are a key factor in the
ongoing destruction of the ecological stability of their lands, as
well as in an ongoing exertion of pressure to displace them from
those lands. Indigenous people believe that recognition of their
rights to their ancestral lands is inextricably linked to
sustainable development. Indigenous people call for increased
respect for indigenous culture, spirituality, lifestyles and
sustainable development models, including traditional systems of
land tenure, gender relations, use of resources and knowledge and
practice of family planning. At national, regional and
international levels, the perspectives of indigenous people have
gained increasing recognition, as reflected, inter alia, in the
presence of the Working Group on Indigenous Populations at the
United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, and the
proclamation by the General Assembly of the year 1993 as the
International Year of the World's Indigenous People.
6.23. The decision of the international community to proclaim an
International Decade of the World's Indigenous People, to commence
on 10 December 1994, represents a further important step towards
fulfilment of the aspirations of indigenous people. The goal of
the Decade, which is the strengthening of international cooperation
for the solution of problems faced by indigenous people in such
areas as human rights, the environment, development, education and
health, is acknowledged as directly related to the purpose of the
International Conference on Population and Development and the
present Programme of Action. Accordingly, the distinct
perspectives of indigenous people are incorporated throughout the
present Programme of Action within the context of its specific
chapters.
Objectives
6.24. The objectives are:
(a) To incorporate the perspectives and needs of indigenous
communities into the design, implementation, monitoring and
evaluation of the population, development and environment
programmes that affect them;
(b) To ensure that indigenous people receive population- and
development- related services that they deem socially, culturally
and ecologically appropriate;
(c) To address social and economic factors that act to
disadvantage indigenous people.
Actions
6.25. Governments and other important institutions in society
should recognize the distinct perspective of indigenous people on
aspects of population and development and, in consultation with
indigenous people and in collaboration with concerned
non-governmental and intergovernmental organizations, should
address their specific needs, including needs for primary health
care and reproductive health services. All human rights violations
and discrimination, especially all forms of coercion, must be
eliminated.
6.26. Within the context of the activities of the International
Decade of the World's Indigenous People, the United Nations should,
in full cooperation and collaboration with indigenous people and
their relevant organizations, develop an enhanced understanding of
indigenous people and compile data on their demographic
characteristics, both current and historical, as a means of
improving the understanding of the population status of indigenous
people. Special efforts are necessary to integrate statistics
pertaining to indigenous populations into the national
data-collection system.
6.27. Governments should respect the cultures of indigenous people
and enable them to have tenure and manage their lands, protect and
restore the natural resources and ecosystems on which indigenous
communities depend for their survival and well-being and, in
consultation with indigenous people, take this into account in the
formulation of national population and development policies.
E. Persons with disabilities
Basis for action
6.28. Persons with disabilities constitute a significant
proportion of the population. The implementation of the World
Programme of Action concerning Disabled Persons (1983-1992)
contributed towards increased awareness and expanded knowledge of
disability issues, increased the role played by persons with
disabilities and by concerned organizations, and contributed
towards the improvement and expansion of disability legislation.
However, there remains a pressing need for continued action to
promote effective measures for the prevention of disability, for
rehabilitation and for the realization of the goals of full
participation and equality for persons with disabilities. In its
resolution 47/88 of 16 December 1992, the General Assembly
encouraged the consideration by, inter alia, the International
Conference on Population and Development, of disability issues
relevant to the subject-matter of the Conference.
Objectives
6.29. The objectives are:
(a) To ensure the realization of the rights of all persons
with disabilities, and their participation in all aspects of
social, economic and cultural life;
(b) To create, improve and develop necessary conditions that
will ensure equal opportunities for persons with disabilities and
the valuing of their capabilities in the process of economic and
social development;
(c) To ensure the dignity and promote the self-reliance of
persons with disabilities.
Actions
6.30. Governments at all levels should consider the needs of
persons with disabilities in terms of ethical and human rights
dimensions. Governments should recognize needs concerning, inter
alia, reproductive health, including family planning and sexual
health, HIV/AIDS, information, education and communication.
Governments should eliminate specific forms of discrimination that
persons with disabilities may face with regard to reproductive
rights, household and family formation, and international
migration, while taking into account health and other
considerations relevant under national immigration regulations.
6.31. Governments at all levels should develop the infrastructure
to address the needs of persons with disabilities, in particular
with regard to their education, training and rehabilitation.
6.32. Governments at all levels should promote mechanisms ensuring
the realization of the rights of persons with disabilities and
reinforce their capabilities of integration.
6.33. Governments at all levels should implement and promote a
system of follow-up of social and economic integration of persons
with disabilities.
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Chapter VII
REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS AND REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH
7.1. This chapter is especially guided by the principles
contained in chapter II and in particular the introductory
paragraphs.
A. Reproductive rights and reproductive health
Basis for action
7.2. Reproductive health is a state of complete physical, mental
and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or
infirmity, in all matters relating to the reproductive system and
to its functions and processes. Reproductive health therefore
implies that people are able to have a satisfying and safe sex life
and that they have the capability to reproduce and the freedom to
decide if, when and how often to do so. Implicit in this last
condition are the right of men and women to be informed and to have
access to safe, effective, affordable and acceptable methods of
family planning of their choice, as well as other methods of their
choice for regulation of fertility which are not against the law,
and the right of access to appropriate health-care services that
will enable women to go safely through pregnancy and childbirth and
provide couples with the best chance of having a healthy infant.
In line with the above definition of reproductive health,
reproductive health care is defined as the constellation of
methods, techniques and services that contribute to reproductive
health and well-being by preventing and solving reproductive health
problems. It also includes sexual health, the purpose of which is
the enhancement of life and personal relations, and not merely
counselling and care related to reproduction and sexually
transmitted diseases.
7.3. Bearing in mind the above definition, reproductive rights
embrace certain human rights that are already recognized in
national laws, international human rights documents and other
consensus documents. These rights rest on the recognition of the
basic right of all couples and individuals to decide freely and
responsibly the number, spacing and timing of their children and to
have the information and means to do so, and the right to attain
the highest standard of sexual and reproductive health. It also
includes their right to make decisions concerning reproduction free
of discrimination, coercion and violence, as expressed in human
rights documents. In the exercise of this right, they should take
into account the needs of their living and future children and
their responsibilities towards the community. The promotion of the
responsible exercise of these rights for all people should be the
fundamental basis for government- and community-supported policies
and programmes in the area of reproductive health, including family
planning. As part of their commitment, full attention should be
given to the promotion of mutually respectful and equitable gender
relations and particularly to meeting the educational and service
needs of adolescents to enable them to deal in a positive and
responsible way with their sexuality. Reproductive health eludes
many of the world's people because of such factors as: inadequate
levels of knowledge about human sexuality and inappropriate or
poor-quality reproductive health information and services; the
prevalence of high-risk sexual behaviour; discriminatory social
practices; negative attitudes towards women and girls; and the
limited power many women and girls have over their sexual and
reproductive lives. Adolescents are particularly vulnerable
because of their lack of information and access to relevant
services in most countries. Older women and men have distinct
reproductive and sexual health issues which are often inadequately
addressed.
7.4. The implementation of the present Programme of Action is to
be guided by the above comprehensive definition of reproductive
health, which includes sexual health.
Objectives
7.5. The objectives are:
(a) To ensure that comprehensive and factual information and
a full range of reproductive health-care services, including family
planning, are accessible, affordable, acceptable and convenient to
all users;
(b) To enable and support responsible voluntary decisions
about child-bearing and methods of family planning of their choice,
as well as other methods of their choice for regulation of
fertility which are not against the law and to have the
information, education and means to do so;
(c) To meet changing reproductive health needs over the life
cycle and to do so in ways sensitive to the diversity of
circumstances of local communities.
Actions
7.6. All countries should strive to make accessible through the
primary health-care system, reproductive health to all individuals
of appropriate ages as soon as possible and no later than the year
2015. Reproductive health care in the context of primary health
care should, inter alia, include: family-planning counselling,
information, education, communication and services; education and
services for prenatal care, safe delivery and post-natal care,
especially breast-feeding and infant and women's health care;
prevention and appropriate treatment of infertility; abortion as
specified in paragraph 8.25, including prevention of abortion and
the management of the consequences of abortion; treatment of
reproductive tract infections; sexually transmitted diseases and
other reproductive health conditions; and information, education
and counselling, as appropriate, on human sexuality, reproductive
health and responsible parenthood. Referral for family-planning
services and further diagnosis and treatment for complications of
pregnancy, delivery and abortion, infertility, reproductive tract
infections, breast cancer and cancers of the reproductive system,
sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV/AIDS should always be
available, as required. Active discouragement of harmful
practices, such as female genital mutilation, should also be an
integral component of primary health care, including reproductive
health-care programmes.
7.7. Reproductive health-care programmes should be designed to
serve the needs of women, including adolescents, and must involve
women in the leadership, planning, decision-making, management,
implementation, organization and evaluation of services.
Governments and other organizations should take positive steps to
include women at all levels of the health-care system.
7.8. Innovative programmes must be developed to make information,
counselling and services for reproductive health accessible to
adolescents and adult men. Such programmes must both educate and
enable men to share more equally in family planning and in domestic
and child-rearing responsibilities and to accept the major
responsibility for the prevention of sexually transmitted diseases.
Programmes must reach men in their workplaces, at home and where
they gather for recreation. Boys and adolescents, with the support
and guidance of their parents, and in line with the Convention on
the Rights of the Child, should also be reached through schools,
youth organizations and wherever they congregate. Voluntary and
appropriate male methods for contraception, as well as for the
prevention of sexually transmitted diseases, including AIDS, should
be promoted and made accessible with adequate information and
counselling.
7.9. Governments should promote much greater community
participation in reproductive health-care services by
decentralizing the management of public health programmes and by
forming partnerships in cooperation with local non-governmental
organizations and private health-care providers. All types of
non-governmental organizations, including local women's groups,
trade unions, cooperatives, youth programmes and religious groups,
should be encouraged to become involved in the promotion of better
reproductive health.
7.10. Without jeopardizing international support for programmes in
developing countries, the international community should, upon
request, give consideration to the training, technical assistance,
short-term contraceptive supply needs and the needs of the
countries in transition from centrally managed to market economies,
where reproductive health is poor and in some cases deteriorating.
Those countries, at the same time, must themselves give higher
priority to reproductive health services, including a comprehensive
range of contraceptive means, and must address their current
reliance on abortion for fertility regulation by meeting the need
of women in those countries for better information and more choices
on an urgent basis.
7.11. Migrants and displaced persons in many parts of the world
have limited access to reproductive health care and may face
specific serious threats to their reproductive health and rights.
Services must be particularly sensitive to the needs of individual
women and adolescents and responsive to their often powerless
situation, with particular attention to those who are victims of
sexual violence.
B. Family planning
Basis for action
7.12. The aim of family-planning programmes must be to enable
couples and individuals to decide freely and responsibly the number
and spacing of their children and to have the information and means
to do so and to ensure informed choices and make available a full
range of safe and effective methods. The success of population
education and family-planning programmes in a variety of settings
demonstrates that informed individuals everywhere can and will act
responsibly in the light of their own needs and those of their
families and communities. The principle of informed free choice is
essential to the long-term success of family-planning programmes.
Any form of coercion has no part to play. In every society there
are many social and economic incentives and disincentives that
affect individual decisions about child-bearing and family size.
Over the past century, many Governments have experimented with such
schemes, including specific incentives and disincentives, in order
to lower or raise fertility. Most such schemes have had only
marginal impact on fertility and in some cases have been
counterproductive. Governmental goals for family planning should
be defined in terms of unmet needs for information and services.
Demographic goals, while legitimately the subject of government
development strategies, should not be imposed on family-planning
providers in the form of targets or quotas for the recruitment of
clients.
7.13. Over the past three decades, the increasing availability of
safer methods of modern contraception, although still in some
respects inadequate, has permitted greater opportunities for
individual choice and responsible decision-making in matters of
reproduction throughout much of the world. Currently, about 55 per
cent of couples in developing regions use some method of family
planning. This figure represents nearly a fivefold increase since
the 1960s. Family-planning programmes have contributed
considerably to the decline in average fertility rates for
developing countries, from about six to seven children per woman in
the 1960s to about three to four children at present. However, the
full range of modern family-planning methods still remains
unavailable to at least 350 million couples world wide, many of
whom say they want to space or prevent another pregnancy. Survey
data suggest that approximately 120 million additional women world
wide would be currently using a modern family-planning method if
more accurate information and affordable services were easily
available, and if partners, extended families and the community
were more supportive. These numbers do not include the substantial
and growing numbers of sexually active unmarried individuals
wanting and in need of information and services. During the decade
of the 1990s, the number of couples of reproductive age will grow
by about 18 million per annum. To meet their needs and close the
existing large gaps in services, family planning and contraceptive
supplies will need to expand very rapidly over the next several
years. The quality of family-planning programmes is often directly
related to the level and continuity of contraceptive use and to the
growth in demand for services. Family-planning programmes work
best when they are part of or linked to broader reproductive health
programmes that address closely related health needs and when women
are fully involved in the design, provision, management and
evaluation of services.
Objectives
7.14. The objectives are:
(a) To help couples and individuals meet their reproductive
goals in a framework that promotes optimum health, responsibility
and family well-being, and respects the dignity of all persons and
their right to choose the number, spacing and timing of the birth
of their children;
(b) To prevent unwanted pregnancies and reduce the incidence
of high-risk pregnancies and morbidity and mortality;
(c) To make quality family-planning services affordable,
acceptable and accessible to all who need and want them, while
maintaining confidentiality;
(d) To improve the quality of family-planning advice,
information, education, communication, counselling and services;
(e) To increase the participation and sharing of
responsibility of men in the actual practice of family planning;
(f) To promote breast-feeding to enhance birth spacing.
Actions
7.15. Governments and the international community should use the
full means at their disposal to support the principle of voluntary
choice in family planning.
7.16. All countries should, over the next several years, assess
the extent of national unmet need for good-quality family-planning
services and its integration in the reproductive health context,
paying particular attention to the most vulnerable and underserved
groups in the population. All countries should take steps to meet
the family-planning needs of their populations as soon as possible
and should, in all cases by the year 2015, seek to provide
universal access to a full range of safe and reliable
family-planning methods and to related reproductive health services
which are not against the law. The aim should be to assist couples
and individuals to achieve their reproductive goals and give them
the full opportunity to exercise the right to have children by
choice.
7.17. Governments at all levels are urged to institute systems of
monitoring and evaluation of user-centred services with a view to
detecting, preventing and controlling abuses by family-planning
managers and providers and to ensure a continuing improvement in
the quality of services. To this end, Governments should secure
conformity to human rights and to ethical and professional
standards in the delivery of family planning and related
reproductive health services aimed at ensuring responsible,
voluntary and informed consent and also regarding service
provision. In-vitro fertilization techniques should be provided in
accordance with appropriate ethical guidelines and medical
standards.
7.18. Non-governmental organizations should play an active role in
mobilizing community and family support, in increasing access and
acceptability of reproductive health services including family
planning, and cooperate with Governments in the process of
preparation and provision of care, based on informed choice, and in
helping to monitor public- and private-sector programmes, including
their own.
7.19. As part of the effort to meet unmet needs, all countries
should seek to identify and remove all the major remaining barriers
to the utilization of family-planning services. Some of those
barriers are related to the inadequacy, poor quality and cost of
existing family-planning services. It should be the goal of
public, private and non-governmental family-planning organizations
to remove all programme-related barriers to family-planning use by
the year 2005 through the redesign or expansion of information and
services and other ways to increase the ability of couples and
individuals to make free and informed decisions about the number,
spacing and timing of births and protect themselves from sexually
transmitted diseases.
7.20. Specifically, Governments should make it easier for couples
and individuals to take responsibility for their own reproductive
health by removing unnecessary legal, medical, clinical and
regulatory barriers to information and to access to family-planning
services and methods.
7.21. All political and community leaders are urged to play a
strong, sustained and highly visible role in promoting and
legitimizing the provision and use of family-planning and
reproductive health services. Governments at all levels are urged
to provide a climate that is favourable to good-quality public and
private family-planning and reproductive health information and
services through all possible channels. Finally, leaders and
legislators at all levels must translate their public support for
reproductive health, including family planning, into adequate
allocations of budgetary, human and administrative resources to
help meet the needs of all those who cannot pay the full cost of
services.
7.22. Governments are encouraged to focus most of their efforts
towards meeting their population and development objectives through
education and voluntary measures rather than schemes involving
incentives and disincentives.
7.23. In the coming years, all family-planning programmes must
make significant efforts to improve quality of care. Among other
measures, programmes should:
(a) Recognize that appropriate methods for couples and
individuals vary according to their age, parity, family-size
preference and other factors, and ensure that women and men have
information and access to the widest possible range of safe and
effective family-planning methods in order to enable them to
exercise free and informed choice;
(b) Provide accessible, complete and accurate information
about various family-planning methods, including their health risks
and benefits, possible side effects and their effectiveness in the
prevention of the spread of HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted
diseases;
(c) Make services safer, affordable, more convenient and
accessible for clients and ensure, through strengthened logistical
systems, a sufficient and continuous supply of essential
high-quality contraceptives. Privacy and confidentiality should be
ensured;
(d) Expand and upgrade formal and informal training in sexual
and reproductive health care and family planning for all
health-care providers, health educators and managers, including
training in interpersonal communications and counselling;
(e) Ensure appropriate follow-up care, including treatment
for side effects of contraceptive use;
(f) Ensure availability of related reproductive health
services on site or through a strong referral mechanism;
(g) In addition to quantitative measures of performance, give
more emphasis to qualitative ones that take into account the
perspectives of current and potential users of services through
such means as effective management information systems and survey
techniques for the timely evaluation of services;
(h) Family-planning and reproductive health programmes should
emphasize breast-feeding education and support services, which can
simultaneously contribute to birth spacing, better maternal and
child health and higher child survival.
7.24. Governments should take appropriate steps to help women
avoid abortion, which in no case should be promoted as a method of
family planning, and in all cases provide for the humane treatment
and counselling of women who have had recourse to abortion.
7.25. In order to meet the substantial increase in demand for
contraceptives over the next decade and beyond, the international
community should move, on an immediate basis, to establish an
efficient coordination system and global, regional and subregional
facilities for the procurement of contraceptives and other
commodities essential to reproductive health programmes of
developing countries and countries with economies in transition.
The international community should also consider such measures as
the transfer of technology to developing countries to enable them
to produce and distribute high-quality contraceptives and other
commodities essential to reproductive health services, in order to
strengthen the self-reliance of those countries. At the request of
the countries concerned, the World Health Organization should
continue to provide advice on the quality, safety and efficacy of
family-planning methods.
7.26. Provision of reproductive health-care services should not be
confined to the public sector but should involve the private sector
and non-governmental organizations, in accordance with the needs
and resources of their communities, and include, where appropriate,
effective strategies for cost recovery and service delivery,
including social marketing and community-based services. Special
efforts should be made to improve accessibility through outreach
services.
C. Sexually transmitted diseases and prevention
of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)
Basis for action
7.27. The world-wide incidence of sexually transmitted diseases is
high and increasing. The situation has worsened considerably with
the emergence of the HIV epidemic. Although the incidence of some
sexually transmitted diseases has stabilized in parts of the world,
there have been increasing cases in many regions.
7.28. The social and economic disadvantages that women face make
them especially vulnerable to sexually transmitted infections,
including HIV, as illustrated, for example, by their exposure to
the high-risk sexual behaviour of their partners. For women, the
symptoms of infections from sexually transmitted diseases are often
hidden, making them more difficult to diagnose than in men, and the
health consequences are often greater, including increased risk of
infertility and ectopic pregnancy. The risk of transmission from
infected men to women is also greater than from infected women to
men, and many women are powerless to take steps to protect
themselves.
Objective
7.29. The objective is to prevent, reduce the incidence of, and
provide treatment for, sexually transmitted diseases, including
HIV/AIDS, and the complications of sexually transmitted diseases
such as infertility, with special attention to girls and women.
Actions
7.30. Reproductive health programmes should increase their efforts
to prevent, detect and treat sexually transmitted diseases and
other reproductive tract infections, especially at the primary
health-care level. Special outreach efforts should be made to
those who do not have access to reproductive health- care
programmes.
7.31. All health-care providers, including all family-planning
providers, should be given specialized training in the prevention
and detection of, and counselling on, sexually transmitted
diseases, especially infections in women and youth, including
HIV/AIDS.
7.32. Information, education and counselling for responsible
sexual behaviour and effective prevention of sexually transmitted
diseases, including HIV, should become integral components of all
reproductive and sexual health services.
7.33. Promotion and the reliable supply and distribution of
high-quality condoms should become integral components of all
reproductive health-care services. All relevant international
organizations, especially the World Health Organization, should
significantly increase their procurement. Governments and the
international community should provide all means to reduce the
spread and the rate of transmission of HIV/AIDS infection.
D. Human sexuality and gender relations
Basis for action
7.34. Human sexuality and gender relations are closely
interrelated and together affect the ability of men and women to
achieve and maintain sexual health and manage their reproductive
lives. Equal relationships between men and women in matters of
sexual relations and reproduction, including full respect for the
physical integrity of the human body, require mutual respect and
willingness to accept responsibility for the consequences of sexual
behaviour. Responsible sexual behaviour, sensitivity and equity in
gender relations, particularly when instilled during the formative
years, enhance and promote respectful and harmonious partnerships
between men and women.
7.35. Violence against women, particularly domestic violence and
rape, is widespread, and rising numbers of women are at risk from
AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases as a result of
high-risk sexual behaviour on the part of their partners. In a
number of countries, harmful practices meant to control women's
sexuality have led to great suffering. Among them is the practice
of female genital mutilation, which is a violation of basic rights
and a major lifelong risk to women's health.
Objectives
7.36. The objectives are:
(a) To promote adequate development of responsible sexuality,
permitting relations of equity and mutual respect between the
genders and contributing to improving the quality of life of
individuals;
(b) To ensure that women and men have access to the
information, education and services needed to achieve good sexual
health and exercise their reproductive rights and responsibilities.
Actions
7.37. Support should be given to integral sexual education and
services for young people, with the support and guidance of their
parents and in line with the Convention on the Rights of the Child,
that stress responsibility of males for their own sexual health and
fertility and that help them exercise those responsibilities.
Educational efforts should begin within the family unit, in the
community and in the schools at an appropriate age, but must also
reach adults, in particular men, through non-formal education and
a variety of community-based efforts.
7.38. In the light of the urgent need to prevent unwanted
pregnancies, the rapid spread of AIDS and other sexually
transmitted diseases, and the prevalence of sexual abuse and
violence, Governments should base national policies on a better
understanding of the need for responsible human sexuality and the
realities of current sexual behaviour.
7.39. Active and open discussion of the need to protect women,
youth and children from any abuse, including sexual abuse,
exploitation, trafficking and violence, must be encouraged and
supported by educational programmes at both national and community
levels. Governments should set the necessary conditions and
procedures to encourage victims to report violations of their
rights. Laws addressing those concerns should be enacted where
they do not exist, made explicit, strengthened and enforced, and
appropriate rehabilitation services provided. Governments should
also prohibit the production and the trade of child pornography.
7.40. Governments and communities should urgently take steps to
stop the practice of female genital mutilation and protect women
and girls from all such similar unnecessary and dangerous
practices. Steps to eliminate the practice should include strong
community outreach programmes involving village and religious
leaders, education and counselling about its impact on girls' and
women's health, and appropriate treatment and rehabilitation for
girls and women who have suffered mutilation. Services should
include counselling for women and men to discourage the practice.
E. Adolescents
Basis for action
7.41. The reproductive health needs of adolescents as a group have
been largely ignored to date by existing reproductive health
services. The response of societies to the reproductive health
needs of adolescents should be based on information that helps them
attain a level of maturity required to make responsible decisions.
In particular, information and services should be made available to
adolescents to help them understand their sexuality and protect
them from unwanted pregnancies, sexually transmitted diseases and
subsequent risk of infertility. This should be combined with the
education of young men to respect women's self-determination and to
share responsibility with women in matters of sexuality and
reproduction. This effort is uniquely important for the health of
young women and their children, for women's self-determination and,
in many countries, for efforts to slow the momentum of population
growth. Motherhood at a very young age entails a risk of maternal
death that is much greater than average, and the children of young
mothers have higher levels of morbidity and mortality. Early
child-bearing continues to be an impediment to improvements in the
educational, economic and social status of women in all parts of
the world. Overall for young women, early marriage and early
motherhood can severely curtail educational and employment
opportunities and are likely to have a long-term, adverse impact on
their and their children's quality of life.
7.42. Poor educational and economic opportunities and sexual
exploitation are important factors in the high levels of adolescent
child-bearing. In both developed and developing countries,
adolescents faced with few apparent life choices have little
incentive to avoid pregnancy and child-bearing.
7.43. In many societies, adolescents face pressures to engage in
sexual activity. Young women, particularly low-income adolescents,
are especially vulnerable. Sexually active adolescents of both
sexes are increasingly at high risk of contracting and transmitting
sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV/AIDS, and they are
typically poorly informed about how to protect themselves.
Programmes for adolescents have proven most effective when they
secure the full involvement of adolescents in identifying their
reproductive and sexual health needs and in designing programmes
that respond to those needs.
Objectives
7.44. The objectives are:
(a) To address adolescent sexual and reproductive health
issues, including unwanted pregnancy, unsafe abortion 20/ and
sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV/AIDS, through the
promotion of responsible and healthy reproductive and sexual
behaviour, including voluntary abstinence, and the provision of
appropriate services and counselling specifically suitable for that
age group;
(b) To substantially reduce all adolescent pregnancies.
Actions
7.45. Recognizing the rights, duties and responsibilities of
parents and other persons legally responsible for adolescents to
provide, in a manner consistent with the evolving capacities of the
adolescent, appropriate direction and guidance in sexual and
reproductive matters, countries must ensure that the programmes and
attitudes of health-care providers do not restrict the access of
adolescents to appropriate services and the information they need,
including on sexually transmitted diseases and sexual abuse. In
doing so, and in order to, inter alia, address sexual abuse, these
services must safeguard the rights of adolescents to privacy,
confidentiality, respect and informed consent, respecting cultural
values and religious beliefs. In this context, countries should,
where appropriate, remove legal, regulatory and social barriers to
reproductive health information and care for adolescents.
7.46. Countries, with the support of the international community,
should protect and promote the rights of adolescents to
reproductive health education, information and care and greatly
reduce the number of adolescent pregnancies.
7.47. Governments, in collaboration with non-governmental
organizations, are urged to meet the special needs of adolescents
and to establish appropriate programmes to respond to those needs.
Such programmes should include support mechanisms for the education
and counselling of adolescents in the areas of gender relations and
equality, violence against adolescents, responsible sexual
behaviour, responsible family-planning practice, family life,
reproductive health, sexually transmitted diseases, HIV infection
and AIDS prevention. Programmes for the prevention and treatment
of sexual abuse and incest and other reproductive health services
should be provided. Such programmes should provide information to
adolescents and make a conscious effort to strengthen positive
social and cultural values. Sexually active adolescents will
require special family-planning information, counselling and
services, and those who become pregnant will require special
support from their families and community during pregnancy and
early child care. Adolescents must be fully involved in the
planning, implementation and evaluation of such information and
services with proper regard for parental guidance and
responsibilities.
7.48. Programmes should involve and train all who are in a
position to provide guidance to adolescents concerning responsible
sexual and reproductive behaviour, particularly parents and
families, and also communities, religious institutions, schools,
the mass media and peer groups. Governments and non-governmental
organizations should promote programmes directed to the education
of parents, with the objective of improving the interaction of
parents and children to enable parents to comply better with their
educational duties to support the process of maturation of their
children, particularly in the areas of sexual behaviour and
reproductive health.
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Chapter VIII
HEALTH, MORBIDITY AND MORTALITY
A. Primary health care and the health-care sector
Basis for action
8.1. One of the main achievements of the twentieth century has
been the unprecedented increase in human longevity. In the past
half century, expectation of life at birth in the world as a whole
has increased by about 20 years, and the risk of dying in the first
year of life has been reduced by nearly two thirds. Nevertheless,
these achievements fall short of the much greater improvements that
had been anticipated in the World Population Plan of Action and the
Declaration of Alma Ata, adopted by the International Conference on
Primary Health Care in 1978. There remain entire national
populations and sizeable population groups within many countries
that are still subject to very high rates of morbidity and
mortality. Differences linked to socio-economic status or
ethnicity are often substantial. In many countries with economies
in transition, the mortality rate has considerably increased as a
result of deaths caused by accidents and violence.
8.2. The increases in life expectancy recorded in most regions of
the world reflect significant gains in public health and in access
to primary health-care services. Notable achievements include the
vaccination of about 80 per cent of the children in the world and
the widespread use of low-cost treatments, such as oral rehydration
therapy, to ensure that more children survive. Yet these
achievements have not been realized in all countries, and
preventable or treatable illnesses are still the leading killers of
young children. Moreover, large segments of many populations
continue to lack access to clean water and sanitation facilities,
are forced to live in congested conditions and lack adequate
nutrition. Large numbers of people remain at continued risk of
infectious, parasitic and water-borne diseases, such as
tuberculosis, malaria and schistosomiasis. In addition, the health
effects of environmental degradation and exposure to hazardous
substances in the workplace are increasingly a cause of concern in
many countries. Similarly, the growing consumption of tobacco,
alcohol and drugs will precipitate a marked increase in costly
chronic diseases among working age and elderly people. The impact
of reductions in expenditures for health and other social services
which have taken place in many countries as a result of
public-sector retrenchment, misallocation of available health
resources, structural adjustment and the transition to market
economies has pre-empted significant changes in lifestyles,
livelihoods and consumption patterns and is also a factor in
increasing morbidity and mortality. Although economic reforms are
essential to sustained economic growth, it is equally essential
that the design and implementation of structural adjustment
programmes incorporate the social dimension.
Objectives
8.3. The objectives are:
(a) To increase the accessibility, availability,
acceptability and affordability of health-care services and
facilities to all people in accordance with national commitments to
provide access to basic health care for all;
(b) To increase the healthy life-span and improve the
quality of life of all people, and to reduce disparities in life
expectancy between and within countries.
Actions
8.4. All countries should make access to basic health care and
health promotion the central strategies for reducing mortality and
morbidity. Sufficient resources should be assigned so that primary
health services attain full coverage of the population.
Governments should strengthen health and nutrition information,
education and communication activities so as to enable people to
increase their control over and improve their health. Governments
should provide the necessary backup facilities to meet the demand
created.
8.5. In keeping with the Declaration of Alma Ata, all countries
should reduce mortality and morbidity and seek to make primary
health care, including reproductive health care, available
universally by the end of the current decade. Countries should aim
to achieve by 2005 a life expectancy at birth greater than 70 years
and by 2015 a life expectancy at birth greater than 75 years.
Countries with the highest levels of mortality should aim to
achieve by 2005 a life expectancy at birth greater than 65 years
and by 2015 a life expectancy at birth greater than 70 years.
Efforts to ensure a longer and healthier life for all should
emphasize the reduction of morbidity and mortality differentials
between males and females as well as among geographical regions,
social classes and indigenous and ethnic groups.
8.6. The role of women as primary custodians of family health
should be recognized and supported. Access to basic health care,
expanded health education, the availability of simple
cost-effective remedies, and the reappraisal of primary health-care
services, including reproductive health-care services to facilitate
the proper use of women's time, should be provided.
8.7. Governments should ensure community participation in health
policy planning, especially with respect to the long-term care of
the elderly, those with disabilities and those infected with HIV
and other endemic diseases. Such participation should also be
promoted in child-survival and maternal health programmes,
breast-feeding support programmes, programmes for the early
detection and treatment of cancer of the reproductive system, and
programmes for the prevention of HIV infection and other sexually
transmitted diseases.
8.8. All countries should re-examine training curricula and the
delegation of responsibilities within the health-care delivery
system in order to reduce frequent, unnecessary and costly reliance
on physicians and on secondary- and tertiary-care facilities, while
maintaining effective referral services. Access to health-care
services for all people and especially for the most underserved and
vulnerable groups must be ensured. Governments should seek to make
basic health-care services more sustainable financially, while
ensuring equitable access, by integrating reproductive health
services, including maternal and child health and family-planning
services, and by making appropriate use of community-based
services, social marketing and cost-recovery schemes, with a view
to increasing the range and quality of services available. The
involvement of users and the community in the financial management
of health-care services should be promoted.
8.9. Through technology transfer, developing countries should be
assisted in building their capacity to produce generic drugs for
the domestic market and to ensure the wide availability and
accessibility of such drugs. To meet the substantial increase in
demand for vaccines, antibiotics and other commodities over the
next decade and beyond, the international community should
strengthen global, regional and local mechanisms for the
production, quality control and procurement of those items, where
feasible, in developing countries. The international community
should facilitate regional cooperation in the manufacture, quality
control and distribution of vaccines.
8.10. All countries should give priority to measures that improve
the quality of life and health by ensuring a safe and sanitary
living environment for all population groups through measures aimed
at avoiding crowded housing conditions, reducing air pollution,
ensuring access to clean water and sanitation, improving waste
management, and increasing the safety of the workplace. Special
attention should be given to the living conditions of the poor and
disadvantaged in urban and rural areas. The impact of
environmental problems on health, particularly that of vulnerable
groups, should be monitored by Governments on a regular basis.
8.11. Reform of the health sector and health policy, including the
rational allocation of resources, should be promoted in order to
achieve the stated objectives. All Governments should examine ways
to maximize the cost- effectiveness of health programmes in order
to achieve increased life expectancy, reduce morbidity and
mortality and ensure access to basic health- care services for all
people.
B. Child survival and health
Basis for action
8.12. Important progress has been made in reducing infant and
child mortality rates everywhere. Improvements in the survival of
children have been the main component of the overall increase in
average life expectancy in the world over the past century, first
in the developed countries and over the past 50 years in the
developing countries. The number of infant deaths (i.e., of
children under age 1) per 1,000 live births at the world level
declined from 92 in 1970-1975 to about 62 in 1990-1995. For
developed regions, the decline was from 22 to 12 infant deaths per
1,000 births, and for developing countries from 105 to 69 infant
deaths per 1,000 births. Improvements have been slower in
sub-Saharan Africa and in some Asian countries where, during
1990-1995, more than one in every 10 children born alive will die
before their first birthday. The mortality of children under age
5 exhibits significant variations between and within regions and
countries. Indigenous people generally have higher infant and
child mortality rates than the national norm. Poverty,
malnutrition, a decline in breast-feeding, and inadequacy or lack
of sanitation and of health facilities are all factors associated
with high infant and child mortality. In some countries, civil
unrest and wars have also had major negative impacts on child
survival. Unwanted births, child neglect and abuse are also
factors contributing to the rise in child mortality. In addition,
HIV infection can be transmitted from mother to child before or
during childbirth, and young children whose mothers die are at a
very high risk of dying themselves at a young age.
8.13. The World Summit for Children, held in 1990, adopted a set
of goals for children and development up to the year 2000,
including a reduction in infant and under-5 child mortality rates
by one third, or to 50 and 70 per 1,000 live births, respectively,
whichever is less. These goals are based on the accomplishments of
child-survival programmes during the 1980s, which demonstrate not
only that effective low-cost technologies are available but also
that they can be delivered efficiently to large populations.
However, the morbidity and mortality reductions achieved through
extraordinary measures in the 1980s are in danger of being eroded
if the broad-based health-delivery systems established during the
decade are not institutionalized and sustained.
8.14. Child survival is closely linked to the timing, spacing and
number of births and to the reproductive health of mothers. Early,
late, numerous and closely spaced pregnancies are major
contributors to high infant and child mortality and morbidity
rates, especially where health-care facilities are scarce. Where
infant mortality remains high, couples often have more children
than they otherwise would to ensure that a desired number survive.
Objectives
8.15. The objectives are:
(a) To promote child health and survival and to reduce
disparities between and within developed and developing countries
as quickly as possible, with particular attention to eliminating
the pattern of excess and preventable mortality among girl infants
and children;
(b) To improve the health and nutritional status of infants
and children;
(c) To promote breast-feeding as a child-survival strategy.
Actions
8.16. Over the next 20 years, through international cooperation
and national programmes, the gap between average infant and child
mortality rates in the developed and the developing regions of the
world should be substantially narrowed, and disparities within
countries, those between geographical regions, ethnic or cultural
groups, and socio-economic groups should be eliminated. Countries
with indigenous people should achieve infant and under-5 mortality
levels among their indigenous people that are the same as those of
the general population. Countries should strive to reduce their
infant and under-5 mortality rates by one third, or to 50 and 70
per 1,000 live births, respectively, whichever is less, by the year
2000, with appropriate adaptation to the particular situation of
each country. By 2005, countries with intermediate mortality
levels should aim to achieve an infant mortality rate below 50
deaths per 1,000 and an under-5 mortality rate below 60 deaths per
1,000 births. By 2015, all countries should aim to achieve an
infant mortality rate below 35 per 1,000 live births and an under-5
mortality rate below 45 per 1,000. Countries that achieve these
levels earlier should strive to lower them further.
8.17. All Governments should assess the underlying causes of high
child mortality and should, within the framework of primary health
care, extend integrated reproductive health-care and child-health
services, [including safe motherhood, 21/ child-survival programmes
and family-planning services, to all the population and
particularly to the most vulnerable and underserved groups. Such
services should include prenatal care and counselling, with special
emphasis on high-risk pregnancies and the prevention of sexually
transmitted diseases and HIV infection; adequate delivery
assistance; and neonatal care, including exclusive breast-feeding,
information on optimal breast-feeding and on proper weaning
practices, and the provision of micronutrient supplementation and
tetanus toxoid, where appropriate. Interventions to reduce the
incidence of low birth weight and other nutritional deficiencies,
such as anaemia, should include the promotion of maternal nutrition
through information, education and counselling and the promotion of
longer intervals between births. All countries should give
priority to efforts to reduce the major childhood diseases,
particularly infectious and parasitic diseases, and to prevent
malnutrition among children, especially the girl child, through
measures aimed at eradicating poverty and ensuring that all
children live in a sanitary environment and by disseminating
information on hygiene and nutrition. It is also important to
provide parents with information and education about child care,
including the use of mental and physical stimulation.
8.18. For infants and children to receive the best nutrition and
for specific protection against a range of diseases, breast-feeding
should be protected, promoted and supported. By means of legal,
economic, practical and emotional support, mothers should be
enabled to breast-feed their infants exclusively for four to six
months without food or drink supplementation and to continue
breast- feeding infants with appropriate and adequate complementary
food up to the age of two years or beyond. To achieve these goals,
Governments should promote public information on the benefits of
breast-feeding; health personnel should receive training on the
management of breast-feeding; and countries should examine ways and
means to implement fully the WHO International Code of Marketing of
Breast Milk Substitutes.
C. Women's health and safe motherhood
Basis for action
8.19. Complications related to pregnancy and childbirth are among
the leading causes of mortality for women of reproductive age in
many parts of the developing world. At the global level, it has
been estimated that about half a million women die each year of
pregnancy-related causes, 99 per cent of them in developing
countries. The gap in maternal mortality between developed and
developing regions is wide: in 1988, it ranged from more than 700
per 100,000 live births in the least developed countries to about
26 per 100,000 live births in the developed regions. Rates of
1,000 or more maternal deaths per 100,000 live births have been
reported in several rural areas of Africa, giving women with many
pregnancies a high lifetime risk of death during their reproductive
years. According to the World Health Organization, the lifetime
risk of dying from pregnancy or childbirth-related causes is 1 in
20 in some developing countries, compared to 1 in 10,000 in some
developed countries. The age at which women begin or stop
child-bearing, the interval between each birth, the total number of
lifetime pregnancies and the socio-cultural and economic
circumstances in which women live all influence maternal morbidity
and mortality. At present, approximately 90 per cent of the
countries of the world, representing 96 per cent of the world
population, have policies that permit abortion under varying legal
conditions to save the life of a woman. However, a significant
proportion of the abortions carried out are self-induced or
otherwise unsafe, leading to a large fraction of maternal deaths or
to permanent injury to the women involved. Maternal deaths have
very serious consequences within the family, given the crucial role
of the mother for her children's health and welfare. The death of
the mother increases the risk to the survival of her young
children, especially if the family is not able to provide a
substitute for the maternal role. Greater attention to the
reproductive health needs of female adolescents and young women
could prevent the major share of maternal morbidity and mortality
through prevention of unwanted pregnancies and any subsequent
poorly managed abortion. Safe motherhood has been accepted in many
countries as a strategy to reduce maternal morbidity and mortality.
Objectives
8.20. The objectives are:
(a) To promote women's health and safe motherhood; to
achieve a rapid and substantial reduction in maternal morbidity and
mortality and reduce the differences observed between developing
and developed countries and within countries. On the basis of a
commitment to women's health and well-being, to reduce greatly the
number of deaths and morbidity from unsafe abortion; 20/
(b) To improve the health and nutritional status of women,
especially of pregnant and nursing women.
Actions
8.21. Countries should strive to effect significant reductions in
maternal mortality by the year 2015: a reduction in maternal
mortality by one half of the 1990 levels by the year 2000 and a
further one half by 2015. The realization of these goals will have
different implications for countries with different 1990 levels of
maternal mortality. Countries with intermediate levels of
mortality should aim to achieve by the year 2005 a maternal
mortality rate below 100 per 100,000 live births and by the year
2015 a maternal mortality rate below 60 per 100,000 live births.
Countries with the highest levels of mortality should aim to
achieve by 2005 a maternal mortality rate below 125 per 100,000
live births and by 2015 a maternal mortality rate below 75 per
100,000 live births.] However, all countries should reduce
maternal morbidity and mortality to levels where they no longer
constitute a public health problem. Disparities in maternal
mortality within countries and between geographical regions,
socio-economic and ethnic groups should be narrowed.
8.22. All countries, with the support of all sections of the
international community, must expand the provision of maternal
health services in the context of primary health care. These
services, based on the concept of informed choice, should include
education on safe motherhood, prenatal care that is focused and
effective, maternal nutrition programmes, adequate delivery
assistance that avoids excessive recourse to caesarean sections and
provides for obstetric emergencies; referral services for
pregnancy, childbirth and abortion complications; post-natal care
and family planning. All births should be assisted by trained
persons, preferably nurses and midwives, but at least by trained
birth attendants. The underlying causes of maternal morbidity and
mortality should be identified, and attention should be given to
the development of strategies to overcome them and for adequate
evaluation and monitoring mechanisms to assess the progress being
made in reducing maternal mortality and morbidity and to enhance
the effectiveness of ongoing programmes. Programmes and education
to engage men's support for maternal health and safe motherhood
should be developed.
8.23. All countries, especially developing countries, with the
support of the international community, should aim at further
reductions in maternal mortality through measures to prevent,
detect and manage high-risk pregnancies and births, particularly
those to adolescents and late-parity women.
8.24. All countries should design and implement special programmes
to address the nutritional needs of women of child-bearing age,
especially those who are pregnant or breast-feeding, and should
give particular attention to the prevention and management of
nutritional anaemia and iodine-deficiency disorders. Priority
should be accorded to improving the nutritional and health status
of young women through education and training as part of maternal
health and safe motherhood programmes. Adolescent females and
males should be provided with information, education and
counselling to help them delay early family formation, premature
sexual activity and first pregnancy.
8.25. In no case should abortion be promoted as a method of family
planning. All Governments and relevant intergovernmental and
non-governmental organizations are urged to strengthen their
commitment to women's health, to deal with the health impact of
unsafe abortion 20/ as a major public health concern and to reduce
the recourse to abortion through expanded and improved
family-planning services. Prevention of unwanted pregnancies must
always be given the highest priority and every attempt should be
made to eliminate the need for abortion. Women who have unwanted
pregnancies should have ready access to reliable information and
compassionate counselling. Any measures or changes related to
abortion within the health system can only be determined at the
national or local level according to the national legislative
process. In circumstances where abortion is not against the law,
such abortion should be safe. In all cases, women should have
access to quality services for the management of complications
arising from abortion. Post-abortion counselling, education and
family-planning services should be offered promptly, which will
also help to avoid repeat abortions.
8.26. Programmes to reduce maternal morbidity and mortality should
include information and reproductive health services, including
family-planning services. In order to reduce high-risk
pregnancies, maternal health and safe motherhood programmes should
include counselling and family-planning information.
8.27. All countries, as a matter of some urgency, need to seek
changes in high- risk sexual behaviour and devise strategies to
ensure that men share responsibility for sexual and reproductive
health, including family planning, and for preventing and
controlling sexually transmitted diseases, HIV infection and AIDS.
D. Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection and
acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS)
Basis for action
8.28. The AIDS pandemic is a major concern in both developed and
developing countries. WHO estimates that the cumulative number of
AIDS cases in the world amounted to 2.5 million persons by mid-1993
and that more than 14 million people had been infected with HIV
since the pandemic began, a number that is projected to rise to
between 30 million and 40 million by the end of the decade if
effective prevention strategies are not pursued. As of mid-1993,
about four fifths of all persons ever infected with HIV lived in
developing countries where the infection was being transmitted
mainly through heterosexual intercourse and the number of new cases
was rising most rapidly among women. As a consequence, a growing
number of children are becoming orphans, themselves at high risk of
illness and death. In many countries, the pandemic is now
spreading from urban to rural areas and between rural areas and is
affecting economic and agricultural production.
Objectives
8.29. The objectives are:
(a) To prevent, reduce the spread of and minimize the
impact of HIV infection; to increase awareness of the disastrous
consequences of HIV infection and AIDS and associated fatal
diseases, at the individual, community and national levels, and of
the ways of preventing it; to address the social, economic, gender
and racial inequities that increase vulnerability to the disease;
(b) To ensure that HIV-infected individuals have adequate
medical care and are not discriminated against; to provide
counselling and other support for people infected with HIV and to
alleviate the suffering of people living with AIDS and that of
their family members, especially orphans; to ensure that the
individual rights and the confidentiality of persons infected with
HIV are respected; to ensure that sexual and reproductive health
programmes address HIV infection and AIDS;
(c) To intensify research on methods to control the
HIV/AIDS pandemic and to find an effective treatment for the
disease.
Actions
8.30. Governments should assess the demographic and development
impact of HIV infection and AIDS. The AIDS pandemic should be
controlled through a multisectoral approach that pays sufficient
attention to its socio-economic ramifications, including the heavy
burden on health infrastructure and household income, its negative
impact on the labour force and productivity, and the increasing
number of orphaned children. Multisectoral national plans and
strategies to deal with AIDS should be integrated into population
and development strategies. The socio-economic factors underlying
the spread of HIV infection should be investigated, and programmes
to address the problems faced by those left orphaned by the AIDS
pandemic should be developed.
8.31. Programmes to reduce the spread of HIV infection should give
high priority to information, education and communication campaigns
to raise awareness and emphasize behavioural change. Sex education
and information should be provided to both those infected and those
not infected, and especially to adolescents. Health providers,
including family-planning providers, need training in counselling
on sexually transmitted diseases and HIV infection, including the
assessment and identification of high-risk behaviours needing
special attention and services; training in the promotion of safe
and responsible sexual behaviour, including voluntary abstinence,
and condom use; training in the avoidance of contaminated equipment
and blood products; and in the avoidance of sharing needles among
injecting drug users. Governments should develop guidelines and
counselling services on AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases
within the primary health-care services. Wherever possible,
reproductive health programmes, including family-planning
programmes, should include facilities for the diagnosis and
treatment of common sexually transmitted diseases, including
reproductive tract infection, recognizing that many sexually
transmitted diseases increase the risk of HIV transmission. The
links between the prevention of HIV infection and the prevention
and treatment of tuberculosis should be assured.
8.32. Governments should mobilize all segments of society to
control the AIDS pandemic, including non-governmental
organizations, community organizations, religious leaders, the
private sector, the media, schools and health facilities.
Mobilization at the family and community levels should be given
priority. Communities need to develop strategies that respond to
local perceptions of the priority accorded to health issues
associated with the spread of HIV and sexually transmitted
diseases.
8.33. The international community should mobilize the human and
financial resources required to reduce the rate of transmission of
HIV infection. To that end, research on a broad range of
approaches to prevent HIV transmission and to seek a cure for the
disease should be promoted and supported by all countries. In
particular, donor and research communities should support and
strengthen current efforts to find a vaccine and to develop
women-controlled methods, such as vaginal microbicides, to prevent
HIV infection. Increased support is also needed for the treatment
and care of HIV-infected persons and AIDS patients. The
coordination of activities to combat the AIDS pandemic must be
enhanced. Particular attention should be given to activities of
the United Nations system at the national level, where measures
such as joint programmes can improve coordination and ensure a more
efficient use of scarce resources. The international community
should also mobilize its efforts in monitoring and evaluating the
results of various efforts to search for new strategies.
8.34. Governments should develop policies and guidelines to
protect the individual rights of and eliminate discrimination
against persons infected with HIV and their families. Services to
detect HIV infection should be strengthened, making sure that they
ensure confidentiality. Special programmes should be devised to
provide care and the necessary emotional support to men and women
affected by AIDS and to counsel their families and near relations.
8.35. Responsible sexual behaviour, including voluntary sexual
abstinence, for the prevention of HIV infection should be promoted
and included in education and information programmes. Condoms and
drugs for the prevention and treatment of sexually transmitted
diseases should be made widely available and affordable and should
be included in all essential drug lists. Effective action should
be taken to further control the quality of blood products and
equipment decontamination.
=================================================================
Chapter IX
POPULATION DISTRIBUTION, URBANIZATION AND INTERNAL MIGRATION
A. Population distribution and sustainable development
Basis for action
9.1. In the early 1990s, approximately half of the Governments in
the world, mostly those of developing countries, considered the
patterns of population distribution in their territories to be
unsatisfactory and wished to modify them. A key issue was the
rapid growth of urban areas, which are expected to house more than
half of the world population by 2005. Consequently, attention has
mostly been paid to rural-urban migration, although rural-rural and
urban- urban migration are in fact the dominant forms of spatial
mobility in many countries. The process of urbanization is an
intrinsic dimension of economic and social development and, in
consequence, both developed and developing countries are going
through the process of shifting from predominantly rural to
predominantly urban societies. For individuals, migration is often
a rational and dynamic effort to seek new opportunities in life.
Cities are centres of economic growth, providing the impetus for
socio-economic innovation and change. However, migration is also
prompted by push factors, such as inequitable allocation of
development resources, adoption of inappropriate technologies and
lack of access to available land. The alarming consequences of
urbanization visible in many countries are related to its rapid
pace, to which Governments have been unable to respond with their
current management capacities and practices. Even in developing
countries, however, there are already signs of a changing pattern
of population distribution, in the sense that the trend towards
concentration in a few large cities is giving way to a more
widespread distribution in medium-sized urban centres. This
movement is also found in some developed countries, with people
indicating preference for living in smaller places. Effective
population distribution policies are those that, while respecting
the right of individuals to live and work in the community of their
choice, take into account the effects of development strategies on
population distribution. Urbanization has profound implications
for the livelihood, way of life and values of individuals. At the
same time, migration has economic, social and environmental
implications - both positive and negative - for the places of
origin and destination.
Objectives
9.2. The objectives are:
(a) To foster a more balanced spatial distribution of the
population by promoting in an integrated manner the equitable and
ecologically sustainable development of major sending and receiving
areas, with particular emphasis on the promotion of economic,
social and gender equity based on respect for human rights,
especially the right to development;
(b) To reduce the role of the various push factors as they
relate to migration flows.
Actions
9.3. Governments formulating population distribution policies
should ensure that the objectives and goals of those policies are
consistent with other development goals, policies and basic human
rights. Governments, assisted by interested local, regional and
intergovernmental agencies, should assess on a regular basis how
the consequences of their economic and environmental policies,
sectoral priorities, infrastructure investment and balance of
resources among regional, central, provincial and local authorities
influence population distribution and internal migration, both
permanent and temporary.
9.4. In order to achieve a balanced spatial distribution of
production employment and population, countries should adopt
sustainable regional development strategies and strategies for the
encouragement of urban consolidation, the growth of small or
medium-sized urban centres and the sustainable development of rural
areas, including the adoption of labour- intensive projects,
training for non-farming jobs for youth and effective transport and
communication systems. To create an enabling context for local
development, including the provision of services, Governments
should consider decentralizing their administrative systems. This
also involves giving responsibility for expenditure and the right
to raise revenue to regional, district and local authorities.
While vast improvements to the urban infrastructure and
environmental strategies are essential in many developing countries
to provide a healthy environment for urban residents, similar
activities should also be pursued in rural areas.
9.5. To reduce urban bias and isolated rural development,
Governments should examine the feasibility of providing incentives
to encourage the redistribution and relocation of industries and
businesses from urban to rural areas and to encourage the
establishment of new businesses, industrial units and income-
generating projects in rural areas.
9.6. Governments wishing to create alternatives to out-migration
from rural areas should establish the preconditions for development
in rural areas, actively support access to ownership or use of land
and access to water resources, especially for family units, make
and encourage investments to enhance rural productivity, improve
rural infrastructure and social services and facilitate the
establishment of credit, production and marketing cooperatives and
other grass-roots organizations that give people greater control
over resources and improve their livelihoods. Particular attention
is needed to ensure that these opportunities are also made
available to migrants' families remaining in the areas of origin.
9.7. Governments should pursue development strategies offering
tangible benefits to investors in rural areas and to rural
producers. Governments should also seek to reduce restrictions on
international trade in agricultural products.
9.8. Governments should strengthen their capacities to respond to
the pressures caused by rapid urbanization by revising and
reorienting the agencies and mechanisms for urban management as
necessary and ensuring the wide participation of all population
groups in planning and decision-making on local development.
Particular attention should be paid to land management in order to
ensure economical land use, protect fragile ecosystems and
facilitate the access of the poor to land in both urban and rural
areas.
9.9. Countries are urged to recognize that the lands of indigenous
people and their communities should be protected from activities
that are environmentally unsound or that the indigenous people
concerned consider to be socially and culturally inappropriate.
The term "lands" is understood to include the environment of the
areas which the people concerned traditionally occupy.
9.10. Countries should increase information and training on
conservation practices and foster the creation of sustainable
off-farm rural employment opportunities in order to limit the
further expansion of human settlements to areas with fragile
ecosystems.
9.11. Population distribution policies should be consistent with
such international instruments, when applicable, as the Geneva
Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time
of War (1949), including article 49.
B. Population growth in large urban agglomerations
Basis for action
9.12. In many countries, the urban system is characterized by the
overwhelming preponderance of a single major city or agglomeration.
The tendency towards population concentration, fostered by the
concentration of public and private resources in some cities, has
also contributed to the rising number and size of mega-cities. In
1992, there were 13 cities with at least 10 million inhabitants and
their number is expected to double by 2010, when most mega-cities
will be located in the developing countries. The continued
concentration of population in primate cities, and in mega-cities
in particular, poses specific economic, social and environmental
challenges for Governments. Yet large agglomerations also
represent the most dynamic centres of economic and cultural
activity in many countries. It is therefore essential that the
specific problems of large cities be analysed and addressed, in
full awareness of the positive contribution that large cities make
to national economic and social development. The challenges faced
by cities are often exacerbated by weak management capacities at
the local level to address the consequences of population
concentration, socio-economic development, environmental impacts
and their interrelations.
Objective
9.13. The objective is to enhance the management of urban
agglomerations through more participatory and resource-conscious
planning and management, review and revise the policies and
mechanisms that contribute to the excessive concentration of
population in large cities, and improve the security and quality of
life of both rural and urban low-income residents.
Actions
9.14. Governments should increase the capacity and competence of
city and municipal authorities to manage urban development, to
safeguard the environment, to respond to the need of all citizens,
including urban squatters, for personal safety, basic
infrastructure and services, to eliminate health and social
problems, including problems of drugs and criminality, and problems
resulting from overcrowding and disasters, and to provide people
with alternatives to living in areas prone to natural and man-made
disasters.
9.15. In order to improve the plight of the urban poor, many of
whom work in the informal sector of the economy, Governments are
urged to promote the integration of migrants from rural areas into
urban areas and to develop and improve their income-earning
capability by facilitating their access to employment, credit,
production, marketing opportunities, basic education, health
services, vocational training and transportation, with special
attention to the situation of women workers and women heads of
households. Child-care centres and special protection and
rehabilitation programmes for street children should be
established.
9.16. To finance the needed infrastructure and services in a
balanced manner, taking into account the interests of the poor
segments of society, local and national government agencies should
consider introducing equitable cost-recovery schemes and increasing
revenues by appropriate measures.
9.17. Governments should strengthen the capacity for land
management, including urban planning, at all levels in order to
take into account demographic trends and encourage the search for
innovative approaches to address the challenges facing cities, with
special attention to the pressures and needs resulting from the
growth of their populations.
9.18. Governments should promote the development and
implementation of effective environmental management strategies for
urban agglomerations, giving special attention to water, waste and
air management, as well as to environmentally sound energy and
transport systems.
C. Internally displaced persons
Basis for action
9.19. During the past decade, awareness of the situation of
persons who are forced to leave their places of usual residence for
a variety of reasons has been rising. Because there is no single
definition of internally displaced persons, estimates of their
number vary, as do the causes of their migration. However, it is
generally accepted that these causes range from environmental
degradation to natural disasters and internal conflicts that
destroy human settlements and force people to flee from one area of
the country to another. Indigenous people, in particular, are in
many cases subject to displacement. Given the forced nature of
their movement, internally displaced persons often find themselves
in particularly vulnerable situations, especially women, who may be
subjected to rape and sexual assault in situations of armed
conflict. Internal displacement is often a precursor of outflows
of refugees and externally displaced persons. Returning refugees
may also be internally displaced.
Objectives
9.20. The objectives are:
(a) To offer adequate protection and assistance to persons
displaced within their country, particularly women, children and
the elderly, who are the most vulnerable, and to find solutions to
the root causes of their displacement in view of preventing it and,
when appropriate, to facilitate return or resettlement;
(b) To put an end to all forms of forced migration, including
"ethnic cleansing".
Actions
9.21. Countries should address the causes of internal
displacement, including environmental degradation, natural
disasters, armed conflict and forced resettlement, and establish
the necessary mechanisms to protect and assist displaced persons,
including, where possible, compensation for damages, especially
those who are not able to return to their normal place of residence
in the short term. Adequate capacities for disaster preparedness
should be developed. The United Nations, through dialogue with
Governments and all intergovernmental and non-governmental
organizations, is encouraged to continue to review the need for
protection and assistance to internally displaced persons, the root
causes of internal displacement, prevention and long-term
solutions, taking into account specific situations.
9.22. Measures should be taken to ensure that internally displaced
persons receive basic education, employment opportunities,
vocational training and basic health-care services, including
reproductive health services and family planning.
9.23. In order to reverse declining environmental quality and
minimize conflict over access to grazing land, the modernization of
the pastoralist economic system should be pursued, with assistance
provided as necessary through bilateral and multilateral
arrangements.
9.24. Governments, international organizations and
non-governmental organizations are encouraged to strengthen
development assistance for internally displaced persons so that
they can return to their places of origin.
9.25. Measures should be taken, at the national level with
international cooperation, as appropriate, in accordance with the
Charter of the United Nations, to find lasting solutions to
questions related to internally displaced persons, including their
right to voluntary and safe return to their home of origin.
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Chapter X
INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION
A. International migration and development
Basis for action
10.1. International economic, political and cultural
interrelations play an important role in the flow of people between
countries, whether they are developing, developed or with economies
in transition. In its diverse types, international migration is
linked to such interrelations and both affects and is affected by
the development process. International economic imbalances,
poverty and environmental degradation, combined with the absence of
peace and security, human rights violations and the varying degrees
of development of judicial and democratic institutions are all
factors affecting international migration. Although most
international migration flows occur between neighbouring countries,
interregional migration, particularly that directed to developed
countries, has been growing. It is estimated that the number of
international migrants in the world, including refugees, is in
excess of 125 million, about half of them in the developing
countries. In recent years, the main receiving countries in the
developed world registered a net migration intake of approximately
1.4 million persons annually, about two thirds of whom originated
in developing countries. Orderly international migration can have
positive impacts on both the communities of origin and the
communities of destination, providing the former with remittances
and the latter with needed human resources. International
migration also has the potential of facilitating the transfer of
skills and contributing to cultural enrichment. However,
international migration entails the loss of human resources for
many countries of origin and may give rise to political, economic
or social tensions in countries of destination. To be effective,
international migration policies need to take into account the
economic constraints of the receiving country, the impact of
migration on the host society and its effects on countries of
origin. The long-term manageability of international migration
hinges on making the option to remain in one's country a viable one
for all people. Sustainable economic growth with equity and
development strategies consistent with this aim are a necessary
means to that end. In addition, more effective use can be made of
the potential contribution that expatriate nationals can make to
the economic development of their countries of origin.
Objectives
10.2. The objectives are:
(a) To address the root causes of migration, especially those
related to poverty;
(b) To encourage more cooperation and dialogue between
countries of origin and countries of destination in order to
maximize the benefits of migration to those concerned and increase
the likelihood that migration has positive consequences for the
development of both sending and receiving countries;
(c) To facilitate the reintegration process of returning
migrants.
Actions
10.3. Governments of countries of origin and of countries of
destination should seek to make the option of remaining in one's
country viable for all people. To that end, efforts to achieve
sustainable economic and social development, ensuring a better
economic balance between developed and developing countries and
countries with economies in transition, should be strengthened. It
is also necessary to increase efforts to defuse international and
internal conflicts before they escalate; to ensure that the rights
of persons belonging to ethnic, religious or linguistic minorities,
and indigenous people are respected; and to respect the rule of
law, promote good governance, strengthen democracy and promote
human rights. Furthermore, greater support should be provided for
the attainment of national and household food security, for
education, nutrition, health and population-related programmes and
to ensure effective environmental protection. Such efforts may
require national and international financial assistance,
reassessment of commercial and tariff relations, increased access
to world markets and stepped-up efforts on the part of developing
countries and countries with economies in transition to create a
domestic framework for sustainable economic growth with an emphasis
on job creation. The economic situation in those countries is
likely to improve only gradually and, therefore, migration flows
from those countries are likely to decline only in the long term;
in the interim, the acute problems currently observed will cause
migration flows to continue for the short-to-medium term, and
Governments are accordingly urged to adopt transparent
international migration policies and programmes to manage those
flows.
10.4. Governments of countries of origin wishing to foster the
inflow of remittances and their productive use for development
should adopt sound exchange rate, monetary and economic policies,
facilitate the provision of banking facilities that enable the safe
and timely transfer of migrants' funds, and promote the conditions
necessary to increase domestic savings and channel them into
productive investment.
10.5. Governments of countries of destination are invited to
consider the use of certain forms of temporary migration, such as
short-term and project-related migration, as a means of improving
the skills of nationals of countries of origin, especially
developing countries and countries with economies in transition.
To that end, they should consider, as appropriate, entering into
bilateral or multilateral agreements. Appropriate steps should be
taken to safeguard the wages and working conditions of both migrant
and native workers in the affected sectors. Governments of
countries of origin are urged to facilitate the return of migrants
and their reintegration into their home communities, and to devise
ways of using their skills. Governments of countries of origin
should consider collaborating with countries of destination and
engaging the support of appropriate international organizations in
promoting the return on a voluntary basis of qualified migrants who
can play a crucial role in the transfer of knowledge, skills and
technology. Countries of destination are encouraged to facilitate
return migration by adopting flexible policies, such as the
transferability of pensions and other work benefits.
10.6. Governments of countries affected by international migration
are invited to cooperate, with a view to integrating the issue into
their political and economic agendas and engaging in technical
cooperation to aid developing countries and countries with
economies in transition in addressing the impact of international
migration. Governments are urged to exchange information regarding
their international migration policies and the regulations
governing the admission and stay of migrants in their territories.
States that have not already done so are invited to consider
ratifying the International Convention on the Protection of the
Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families.
10.7. Governments are encouraged to consider requests for
migration from countries whose existence, according to available
scientific evidence, is imminently threatened by global warming and
climate change.
10.8. In cooperation with international and non-governmental
organizations and research institutions, Governments should support
the gathering of data on flows and stocks of international migrants
and on factors causing migration, as well as the monitoring of
international migration. The identification of strategies to
ensure that migration contributes to development and international
relations should also be supported. The role of international
organizations with mandates in the area of migration should be
strengthened so that they can deliver adequate technical support to
developing countries, advise in the management of international
migration flows and promote intergovernmental cooperation through,
inter alia, bilateral and multilateral negotiations, as
appropriate.
B. Documented migrants
Basis for action
10.9. Documented migrants are those who satisfy all the legal
requirements to enter, stay and, if applicable, hold employment in
the country of destination. In some countries, many documented
migrants have, over time, acquired the right to long-term
residence. In such cases, the integration of documented migrants
into the host society is generally desirable, and for that purpose
it is important to extend to them the same social, economic and
legal rights as those enjoyed by citizens, in accordance with
national legislation. The family reunification of documented
migrants is an important factor in international migration. It is
also important to protect documented migrants and their families
from racism, ethnocentrism and xenophobia, and to respect their
physical integrity, dignity, religious beliefs and cultural values.
Documented migration is generally beneficial to the host country,
since migrants are in general concentrated in the most productive
ages and have skills needed by the receiving country, and their
admission is congruent with the policies of the Government. The
remittances of documented migrants to their countries of origin
often constitute a very important source of foreign exchange and
are instrumental in improving the well-being of relatives left
behind.
Objectives
10.10. The objectives are:
(a) To ensure the social and economic integration of
documented migrants, especially of those who have acquired the
right to long-term residence in the country of destination, and
their equal treatment before the law;
(b) To eliminate discriminatory practices against documented
migrants, especially women, children and the elderly;
(c) To ensure protection against racism, ethnocentrism and
xenophobia;
(d) To promote the welfare of documented migrants and members
of their families;
(e) To ensure the respect of the cultural and religious
values, beliefs and practices of documented migrants, in so far as
they accord with national legislation and universally recognized
human rights;
(f) To take into account the special needs and circumstances
of temporary migrants.
Actions
10.11. Governments of receiving countries are urged to consider
extending to documented migrants who meet appropriate
length-of-stay requirements, and to members of their families whose
stay in the receiving country is regular, treatment equal to that
accorded their own nationals with regard to the enjoyment of basic
human rights, including equality of opportunity and treatment in
respect of religious practices, working conditions, social
security, participation in trade unions, access to health,
education, cultural and other social services, as well as equal
access to the judicial system and equal treatment before the law.
Governments of receiving countries are further urged to take
appropriate steps to avoid all forms of discrimination against
migrants, including eliminating discriminatory practices concerning
their nationality and the nationality of their children, and to
protect their rights and safety. Women and children who migrate as
family members should be protected from abuse or denial of their
human rights by their sponsors, and Governments are asked to
consider extending their stay should the family relationship
dissolve, within the limits of national legislation.
10.12. In order to promote the integration of documented migrants
having the right to long-term residence, Governments of receiving
countries are urged to consider giving them civil and political
rights and responsibilities, as appropriate, and facilitating their
naturalization. Special efforts should be made to enhance the
integration of the children of long-term migrants by providing them
with educational and training opportunities equal to those of
nationals, allowing them to exercise an economic activity, and
facilitating the naturalization of those who have been raised in
the receiving country. Consistent with article 10 of the
Convention on the Rights of the Child and all other relevant
universally recognized human rights instruments, all Governments,
particularly those of receiving countries, must recognize the vital
importance of family reunification and promote its integration into
their national legislation in order to ensure the protection of the
unity of the families of documented migrants. Governments of
receiving countries must ensure the protection of migrants and
their families, giving priority to programmes and strategies that
combat religious intolerance, racism, ethnocentrism, xenophobia and
gender discrimination and that generate the necessary public
sensitivity in that regard.
10.13. Governments of countries of destination should respect the
basic human rights of documented migrants as those Governments
assert their right to regulate access to their territory and adopt
policies that respond to and shape immigration flows. With regard
to the admission of migrants, Governments should avoid
discriminating on the basis of race, religion, sex and disability,
while taking into account health and other considerations relevant
under national immigration regulations, particularly considering
the special needs of the elderly and children. Governments are
urged to promote, through family reunion, the normalization of the
family life of legal migrants who have the right to long-term
residence.
10.14. Governments should consider providing assistance and
cooperation for programmes that would address the adverse social
and economic consequences of forced migration.
C. Undocumented migrants
Basis for action
10.15. It is the right of every nation State to decide who can
enter and stay in its territory and under what conditions. Such
right, however, should be exercised taking care to avoid racist or
xenophobic actions and policies. Undocumented or irregular
migrants are persons who do not fulfil the requirements established
by the country of destination to enter, stay or exercise an
economic activity. Given that the pressures for migration are
growing in a number of developing countries, especially since their
labour force continues to increase, undocumented or irregular
migration is expected to rise.
Objectives
10.16. The objectives are:
(a) To address the root causes of undocumented migration;
(b) To reduce substantially the number of undocumented
migrants, while ensuring that those in need of international
protection receive it; to prevent the exploitation of undocumented
migrants and to ensure that their basic human rights are protected;
(c) To prevent all international trafficking in migrants,
especially for the purposes of prostitution;
(d) To ensure protection against racism, ethnocentrism and
xenophobia.
Actions
10.17. Governments of countries of origin and countries of
destination are urged to cooperate in reducing the causes of
undocumented migration, safeguarding the basic human rights of
undocumented migrants including the right to seek and to enjoy in
other countries asylum from persecution, and preventing their
exploitation. Governments should identify the causes of
undocumented migration and its economic, social and demographic
impact as well as its implications for the formulation of social,
economic and international migration policies.
10.18. Governments of both receiving countries and countries of
origin should adopt effective sanctions against those who organize
undocumented migration, exploit undocumented migrants or engage in
trafficking in undocumented migrants, especially those who engage
in any form of international traffic in women, youth and children.
Governments of countries of origin, where the activities of agents
or other intermediaries in the migration process are legal, should
regulate such activities in order to prevent abuses, especially
exploitation, prostitution and coercive adoption.
10.19. Governments, with the assistance of appropriate
international organizations, should deter undocumented migration by
making potential migrants aware of the legal conditions for entry,
stay and employment in host countries through information
activities in the countries of origin.
10.20. Governments of countries of origin of undocumented migrants
and persons whose asylum claims have been rejected have the
responsibility to accept the return and reintegration of those
persons, and should not penalize such persons on their return. In
addition, Governments of countries of origin and countries of
destination should try to find satisfactory solutions to the
problems caused by undocumented migration through bilateral or
multilateral negotiations on, inter alia, readmission agreements
that protect the basic human rights of the persons involved in
accordance with relevant international instruments.
D. Refugees, asylum-seekers and displaced persons
Basis for action
10.21. In less than 10 years, from 1985 to 1993, the number of
refugees has more than doubled, from 8.5 million to 19 million.
This has been caused by multiple and complex factors, including
massive violations of human rights. Most of those refugees find
asylum in developing countries, often imposing great burdens on
those States. The institution of asylum is under severe strain in
industrialized countries for a variety of reasons, including the
growing numbers of refugees and asylum-seekers and the misuse of
asylum procedures by migrants attempting to circumvent immigration
restrictions. While two thirds of all countries in the world have
ratified the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees or
the 1967 Protocol, which establish standards for the protection of
refugees, there is a need to strengthen the support for
international protection of and assistance to refugees, especially
refugee women and refugee children, who are particularly
vulnerable. Displaced persons, who do not qualify for refugee
status and are in some cases outside their country, are also
vulnerable and need international assistance. Regional agreements
to provide protection to persons fleeing war should be considered.
Objectives
10.22. The objectives are:
(a) To reduce pressures leading to refugee movements and
displacement by combating their root causes at all levels and
undertaking related preventive action;
(b) To find and implement durable solutions to the plight of
refugees and displaced persons;
(c) To ensure effective protection of and assistance to
refugee populations, with particular attention to the needs and
physical security of refugee women and refugee children;
(d) To prevent the erosion of the institution of asylum;
(e) To provide adequate health, education and social services
for refugees and displaced persons;
(f) To integrate refugee and returnee assistance and
rehabilitation programmes into development planning, with due
attention to gender equity.
Actions
10.23. Governments are urged to address the root causes of
movements of refugees and displaced persons by taking appropriate
measures, particularly with respect to conflict resolution; the
promotion of peace and reconciliation; respect for human rights,
including those of persons belonging to minorities; respect for
independence, territorial integrity and sovereignty of States.
Moreover, factors that contribute to forced displacements need to
be addressed through initiatives related to the alleviation of
poverty, democratization, good governance and the prevention of
environmental degradation. Governments and all other entities
should respect and safeguard the right of people to remain in
safety in their homes and should refrain from policies or practices
that force people to flee.
10.24. Governments are urged to strengthen their support for
international protection and assistance activities on behalf of
refugees and, as appropriate, displaced persons and to promote the
search for durable solutions to their plight. In doing so,
Governments are encouraged to enhance regional and international
mechanisms that promote appropriate shared responsibility for the
protection and assistance needs of refugees. All necessary
measures should be taken to ensure the physical protection of
refugees - in particular, that of refugee women and refugee
children - especially against exploitation, abuse and all forms of
violence.
10.25. Adequate international support should be extended to
countries of asylum to meet the basic needs of refugees and to
assist in the search for durable solutions. Refugee populations
should be assisted in achieving self- sufficiency. Refugees,
particularly refugee women, should be involved in the planning of
refugee assistance activities and in their implementation. In
planning and implementing refugee assistance activities, special
attention should be given to the specific needs of refugee women
and refugee children. Refugees should be provided with access to
adequate accommodation, education, health services, including
family planning, and other necessary social services. Refugees are
invited to respect the laws and regulations of their countries of
asylum.
10.26. Governments should create conditions that would allow for
the voluntary repatriation of refugees in safety and dignity.
Rehabilitation assistance to repatriating refugees should, where
possible, be linked to long-term reconstruction and development
plans. The international community should provide assistance for
refugee repatriation and rehabilitation programmes and for the
removal of land mines and other unexploded devices that constitute
a serious threat to the safety of returnees and the local
population.
10.27. Governments are urged to abide by international law
concerning refugees. States that have not already done so are
invited to consider acceding to the international instruments
concerning refugees - in particular, the 1951 Convention and the
1967 Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees. Governments are
furthermore urged to respect the principle of non-refoulement
(i.e., the principle of no forcible return of persons to places
where their lives or freedom would be threatened because of race,
religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or
political opinion). Governments should ensure that asylum-seekers
in the Government's territory have access to a fair hearing and
should facilitate the expeditious processing of asylum requests,
ensuring that guidelines and procedures for the determination of
refugee status are sensitive to the particular situation of women.
10.28. In cases of sudden and massive arrivals of refugees and
displaced persons in need of international protection, Governments
of receiving countries should consider according to them at least
temporary protection and treatment in accordance with
internationally recognized standards and with national law,
practices and regulations, until a solution to their plight can be
found. Persons in need of protection should be encouraged to stay
in safe areas and, to the extent possible and as appropriate, near
their countries of origin. Governments should strengthen
protection mechanisms and provide aid to assist the population in
such areas. The principles of collective cooperation and
international solidarity should be followed in assisting host
countries, upon their request.
10.29. The problems of refugees and displaced persons arising from
forced migration, including their right to repatriation, should be
settled in accordance with the relevant principles of the Charter
of the United Nations, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,
other international instruments and relevant United Nations
resolutions.
==============================================================
Chapter XI
POPULATION, DEVELOPMENT AND EDUCATION
A. Education, population and sustainable development
Basis for action
11.1. In the past 20 years, the world has experienced a rise in
educational levels. Although the differences in educational
attainment between males and females have shrunk, 75 per cent of
illiterate persons in the world are women. Lack of basic education
and low levels of literacy of adults continue to inhibit the
development process in every area. The world community has a
special responsibility to ensure that all children receive an
education of improved quality and that they complete primary
school. Education is an indispensable tool for the improvement of
the quality of life. However, it is more difficult to meet
educational needs when there is rapid population growth.
11.2. Education is a key factor in sustainable development: it is
at the same time a component of well-being and a factor in the
development of well-being through its links with demographic as
well as economic and social factors. Education is also a means to
enable the individual to gain access to knowledge, which is a
precondition for coping, by anyone wishing to do so, with today's
complex world. The reduction of fertility, morbidity and mortality
rates, the empowerment of women, the improvement in the quality of
the working population and the promotion of genuine democracy are
largely assisted by progress in education. The integration of
migrants is also facilitated by universal access to education,
which respects the religious and cultural backgrounds of migrants.
11.3. The relationship between education and demographic and
social changes is one of interdependence. There is a close and
complex relationship among education, marriage age, fertility,
mortality, mobility and activity. The increase in the education of
women and girls contributes to greater empowerment of women, to a
postponement of the age of marriage and to a reduction in the size
of families. When mothers are better educated, their children's
survival rate tends to increase. Broader access to education is
also a factor in internal migration and the composition of the
working population.
11.4. The education and training of young people should prepare
them for career development and professional life in order to cope
with today's complex world. It is on the content of the
educational curricula and the nature of the training received that
the prospects of gainful employment opportunities depend.
Inadequacies in and discrepancies between the educational system
and the production system can lead to unemployment and
underemployment, a devaluing of qualifications and, in some cases,
the exodus of qualified people from rural to urban areas and to
"brain drain". It is therefore essential to promote harmonious
development of educational systems and economic and social systems
conducive to sustainable development.
Objectives
11.5. The objectives are:
(a) To achieve universal access to quality education, with
particular priority being given to primary and technical education
and job training, to combat illiteracy and to eliminate gender
disparities in access to, retention in, and support for, education;
(b) To promote non-formal education for young people,
guaranteeing equal access for women and men to literacy centres;
(c) To introduce and improve the content of the curriculum so
as to promote greater responsibility and awareness on the
interrelationships between population and sustainable development;
health issues, including reproductive health; and gender equity.
Actions
11.6. The eradication of illiteracy is one of the prerequisites
for human development. All countries should consolidate the
progress made in the 1990s towards providing universal access to
primary education, as agreed upon at the World Conference on
Education for All, held at Jomtien, Thailand, in 1990. All
countries should further strive to ensure the complete access to
primary school or an equivalent level of education by both girls
and boys as quickly as possible, and in any case before the year
2015. Attention should also be given to the quality and type of
education, including recognition of traditional values. Countries
that have achieved the goal of universal primary education are
urged to extend education and training to, and facilitate access to
and completion of education at secondary school and higher levels.
11.7. Investments in education and job training should be given
high priority in development budgets at all levels, and should take
into account the range and level of future workforce skill
requirements.
11.8. Countries should take affirmative steps to keep girls and
adolescents in school by building more community schools, by
training teachers to be more gender sensitive, by providing
scholarships and other appropriate incentives and by sensitizing
parents to the value of educating girls, with a view to closing the
gender gap in primary and secondary school education by the year
2005. Countries should also supplement those efforts by making
full use of non-formal education opportunities. Pregnant
adolescents should be enabled to continue their schooling.
11.9. To be most effective, education about population issues must
begin in primary school and continue through all levels of formal
and non-formal education, taking into account the rights and
responsibilities of parents and the needs of children and
adolescents. Where such programmes already exist, curricula should
be reviewed, updated and broadened with a view to ensuring adequate
coverage of such important concerns as gender sensitivity,
reproductive choices and responsibilities, and sexually transmitted
diseases, including HIV/AIDS. To ensure acceptance of population
education programmes by the community, population education
projects should emphasize consultation with parents and community
leaders.
11.10. Efforts in the training of population specialists at the
university level should be strengthened and the incorporation of
content relating to demographic variables and their
interrelationships with development planning in the social and
economic disciplines, as well as to health and the environment,
should be encouraged.
B. Population information, education and communication
Basis for action
11.11. Greater public knowledge, understanding and commitment at
all levels, from the individual to the international, are vital to
the achievement of the goals and objectives of the present
Programme of Action. In all countries and among all groups,
therefore, information, education and communication activities
concerning population and sustainable development issues must be
strengthened. This includes the establishment of gender- and
culturally sensitive information, education and communication plans
and strategies related to population and development. At the
national level, more adequate and appropriate information enables
planners and policy makers to make more appropriate plans and
decisions in relation to population and sustainable development.
At the most basic level, more adequate and appropriate information
is conducive to informed, responsible decision-making concerning
health, sexual and reproductive behaviour, family life, and
patterns of production and consumption. In addition, more and
better information about the causes and benefits of migration can
create a more positive environment for societies to address and
respond to migration challenges.
11.12. Effective information, education and communication are
prerequisites for sustainable human development and pave the way
for attitudinal and behavioural change. Indeed, this begins with
the recognition that decisions must be made freely, responsibly and
in an informed manner, on the number and spacing of children and in
all other aspects of daily life, including sexual and reproductive
behaviour. Greater public knowledge and commitment in a democratic
setting create a climate conducive to responsible and informed
decisions and behaviour. Most important, they also pave the way
for democratic public discussion and thereby make possible strong
political commitment and popular support for needed action at the
local, national and international levels.
11.13. Effective information, education and communication
activities include a range of communication channels, from the most
intimate levels of interpersonal communication to formal school
curricula, from traditional folk arts to modern mass entertainment,
and from seminars for local community leaders to coverage of global
issues by the national and international news media. Multichannel
approaches are usually more effective than any single communication
channel. All these channels of communication have an important
role to play in promoting an understanding of the
interrelationships between population and sustainable development.
Schools and religious institutions, taking into account their
values and teachings, may be important vehicles in all countries
for instilling gender and racial sensitivity, respect, tolerance
and equity, family responsibility and other important attitudes at
all ages. Effective networks also exist in many countries for
non-formal education on population and sustainable development
issues through the workplace, health facilities, trade unions,
community centres, youth groups, religious institutions, women's
organizations and other non-governmental organizations. Such
issues may also be included in more structured adult education,
vocational training and literacy programmes, particularly for
women. These networks are critical to reaching the entire
population, especially men, adolescents and young couples.
Parliamentarians, teachers, religious and other community leaders,
traditional healers, health professionals, parents and older
relatives are influential in forming public opinion and should be
consulted during the preparation of information, education and
communication activities. The media also offer many potentially
powerful role models.
11.14. Current information, education and communication
technologies, such as global interlinked telephone, television and
data transmission networks, compact discs and new multimedia
technologies, can help bridge the geographical, social and economic
gaps that currently exist in access to information around the
world. They can help ensure that the vast majority of the world's
people are involved in debates at the local, national and global
levels about demographic changes and sustainable human development,
economic and social inequities, the importance of empowering women,
reproductive health and family planning, health promotion, ageing
populations, rapid urbanization and migration. Greater public
involvement of national authorities and the community ensure the
widespread diffusion of such technologies and the freer flow of
information within and between countries. It is essential that
parliaments have full access to the information necessary for
decision-making.
Objectives
11.15. The objectives are:
(a) To increase awareness, knowledge, understanding and
commitment at all levels of society so that families, couples,
individuals, opinion and community leaders, non-governmental
organizations, policy makers, Governments and the international
community appreciate the significance and relevance of
population-related issues, and take the responsible actions
necessary to address such issues within sustained economic growth
in the context of sustainable development;
(b) To encourage attitudes in favour of responsible behaviour
in population and development, especially in such areas such
environment, family, sexuality, reproduction, gender and racial
sensitivity;
(c) To ensure political commitment to population and
development issues by national Governments in order to promote the
participation of both public and private sectors at all levels in
the design, implementation and monitoring of population and
development policies and programmes;
(d) To enhance the ability of couples and individuals to
exercise their basic right to decide freely and responsibly on the
number and spacing of their children, and to have the information,
education and means to do so.
Actions
11.16. Information, education and communication efforts should
raise awareness through public education campaigns on such priority
issues as: safe motherhood, reproductive health and rights,
maternal and child health and family planning, discrimination
against and valorization of the girl child and persons with
disabilities; child abuse; violence against women; male
responsibility; gender equality; sexually transmitted diseases,
including HIV/AIDS; responsible sexual behaviour; teenage
pregnancy; racism and xenophobia; ageing populations; and
unsustainable consumption and production patterns. More education
is needed in all societies on the implications of
population-environment relationships, in order to influence
behavioural change and consumer lifestyles and to promote
sustainable management of natural resources. The media should be
a major instrument for expanding knowledge and motivation.
11.17. Elected representatives at all levels, the scientific
community, religious, political, traditional and community leaders,
non-governmental organizations, parents' associations, social
workers, women's groups, the private sector, qualified
communication specialists and others in influential positions
should have access to information on population and sustainable
development and related issues. They should promote understanding
of the issues addressed in the present Programme of Action and
mobilize public opinion in support of the actions proposed.
11.18. Members of Parliament are invited to continue to promote
wide awareness on issues related to population and sustainable
development and to ensure the enactment of legislation necessary
for effective implementation of the present Programme of Action.
11.19. A coordinated strategic approach to information, education
and communication should be adopted in order to maximize the impact
of various information, education and communication activities,
both modern and traditional, which may be undertaken on several
fronts by various actors and with diverse audiences. It is
especially important that information, education and communication
strategies be linked to, and complement, national population and
development policies and strategies and a full range of services in
reproductive health, including family planning and sexual health,
in order to enhance the use of those services and improve the
quality of counselling and care.
11.20. Information, education and communication activities should
rely on up-to-date research findings to determine information needs
and the most effective culturally acceptable ways of reaching
intended audiences. To that end, professionals experienced in the
traditional and non-traditional media should be enlisted. The
participation of the intended audiences in the design,
implementation and monitoring of information, education and
communication activities should be ensured so as to enhance the
relevance and impact of those activities.
11.21. The interpersonal communication skills - in particular,
motivational and counselling skills - of public, private and
non-governmental organization service providers, community leaders,
teachers, peer groups and others should be strengthened, whenever
possible, to enhance interaction and quality assurance in the
delivery of reproductive health, including family planning and
sexual health services. Such communication should be free from
coercion.
11.22. The tremendous potential of print, audiovisual and
electronic media, including databases and networks such as the
United Nations Population Information Network (POPIN), should be
harnessed to disseminate technical information and to promote and
strengthen understanding of the relationships between population,
consumption, production and sustainable development.
11.23. Governments, non-governmental organizations and the private
sector should make greater and more effective use of the
entertainment media, including radio and television soap operas and
drama, folk theatre and other traditional media to encourage public
discussion of important but sometimes sensitive topics related to
the implementation of the present Programme of Action. When the
entertainment media - especially dramas - are used for advocacy
purposes or to promote particular lifestyles, the public should be
so informed, and in each case the identity of sponsors should be
indicated in an appropriate manner.
11.24. Age-appropriate education, especially for adolescents,
about the issues considered in the present Programme of Action
should begin in the home and community and continue through all
levels and channels of formal and non-formal education, taking into
account the rights and responsibilities of parents and the needs of
adolescents. Where such education already exists, curricula and
educational materials should be reviewed, updated and broadened
with a view to ensuring adequate coverage of important
population-related issues and to counteract myths and
misconceptions about them. Where no such education exists,
appropriate curricula and materials should be developed. To ensure
acceptance, effectiveness and usefulness by the community,
education projects should be based on the findings of
socio-cultural studies and should involve the active participation
of parents and families, women, youth, the elderly and community
leaders.
11.25. Governments should give priority to the training and
retention of information, education and communication specialists,
especially teachers, and of all others involved in the planning,
implementation, monitoring and evaluation of information, education
and communication programmes. It is necessary to train specialists
who can contribute to the important conceptual and methodological
development of education concerning population and related issues.
Therefore, systems for professional training should be created and
strengthened with specializations that prepare them to work
effectively with Governments and with non-governmental
organizations active in this field. In addition, there should be
greater collaboration between the academic community and other
entities in order to strengthen conceptual and methodological work
and research in this field.
11.26. To enhance solidarity and to sustain development
assistance, all countries need to be continuously informed about
population and development issues. Countries should establish
information mechanisms, where appropriate, to facilitate the
systematic collection, analysis, dissemination and utilization of
population-related information at the national and international
levels, and networks should be established or strengthened at the
national, subregional, regional and global levels to promote
information and experience exchange.
==================================================================
Chapter XII
TECHNOLOGY, RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
A. Basic data collection, analysis and dissemination
Basis for action
12.1. Valid, reliable, timely, culturally relevant and
internationally comparable data form the basis for policy and
programme development, implementation, monitoring and evaluation.
While there have been marked improvements in the availability of
population and related development data following important
advances made during the past two decades in the methodologies and
technology for data collection and analysis, many gaps remain with
regard to the quality and coverage of baseline information,
including vital data on births and deaths, as well as the
continuity of data sets over time. Gender and ethnicity-specific
information, which is needed to enhance and monitor the sensitivity
of development policies and programmes, is still insufficient in
many areas. Measurement of migration, particularly at the regional
and international levels, is also among the areas least valid and
least adequately covered. As a matter of principle, individuals,
organizations and developing countries should have access, on a
no-cost basis, to the data and findings based on research carried
out in their own countries, including those maintained by other
countries and international agencies.
Objectives
12.2. The objectives are:
(a) To establish a factual basis for understanding and
anticipating the interrelationships of population and
socio-economic - including environmental - variables and for
improving programme development, implementation, monitoring and
evaluation;
(b) To strengthen national capacity to seek new information
and meet the need for basic data collection, analysis and
dissemination, giving particular attention to information
classified by age, sex, ethnicity and different geographical units,
in order to use the findings in the formulation, implementation,
monitoring and evaluation of overall sustainable development
strategies and foster international cooperation, including such
cooperation at the regional and subregional levels;
(c) To ensure political commitment to, and understanding of,
the need for data collection on a regular basis and the analysis,
dissemination and full utilization of data.
Actions
12.3. Governments of all countries, particularly developing
countries, assisted as appropriate through bilateral cooperation
and international organizations and, where necessary, through
interregional, regional and subregional cooperation, should
strengthen their national capacity to carry out sustained and
comprehensive programmes on collection, analysis, dissemination and
utilization of population and development data. Particular
attention should be given to the monitoring of population trends
and the preparation of demographic projections and to the
monitoring of progress towards the attainment of the health,
education, gender, ethnic and social-equity goals, and of service
accessibility and quality of care, as stated in the present
Programme of Action.
12.4. Programmes for the collection, processing, analysis and
timely dissemination and utilization of population and related
development data should include disaggregation, including gender
disaggregation, and coverage and presentation compatible with the
needs of effective programme implementation on population and
development. Interaction between the community of data users and
data providers should be promoted in order to enable data providers
to respond better to user needs. Research should be designed to
take into account legal and ethical standards and should be carried
out in consultation and partnership with, and with the active
participation of, local communities and institutions, and the
findings thereof should be made accessible and available to policy
makers, decision makers, planners and managers of programmes for
their timely use. Comparability should be ensured in all research
and data collection programmes.
12.5. Comprehensive and reliable qualitative as well as
quantitative databases, allowing linkages between population,
education, health, poverty, family well-being, environment and
development issues and providing information disaggregated at
appropriate and desired levels, should be established and
maintained by all countries to meet the needs of research as well
as those of policy and programme development, implementation,
monitoring and evaluation. Special attention should be given to
assessing and measuring the quality and accessibility of care
through the development of suitable indicators.
12.6. Demographic, socio-economic and other relevant information
networks should be created or strengthened, where appropriate, at
the national, regional and global levels to facilitate monitoring
the implementation of programmes of action and activities on
population, environment and development at the national, regional
and global levels.
12.7. All data collection and analysis activities should give due
consideration to gender-disaggregation, enhancing knowledge on the
position and role of gender in social and demographic processes.
In particular, in order to provide a more accurate picture of
women's current and potential contribution to economic development,
data collection should delineate more precisely the nature of
women's social and labour force status and make that a basis for
policy and programme decisions on improving women's income. Such
data should address, inter alia, women's unpaid economic activities
in the family and in the informal sector.
12.8. Training programmes in statistics, demography, and
population and development studies should be designed and
implemented at the national and regional levels, particularly in
developing countries, with enhanced technical and financial
support, through international cooperation and greater national
resources.
12.9. All countries, with the support of appropriate
organizations, should strengthen the collection and analysis of
demographic data, including international migration data, in order
to achieve a better understanding of that phenomenon and thus
support the formulation of national and international policies on
international migration.
B. Reproductive health research
Basis for action
12.10. Research, in particular biomedical research, has been
instrumental in giving more and more people access to a greater
range of safe and effective modern methods for regulation of
fertility. However, not all persons can find a family-planning
method that suits them and the range of choices available to men is
more limited than that available to women. The growing incidence
of sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV/AIDS, demands
substantially higher investments in new methods of prevention,
diagnosis and treatment. In spite of greatly reduced funding for
reproductive health research, prospects for developing and
introducing new methods and products for contraception and
regulation of fertility have been promising. Improved
collaboration and coordination of activities internationally will
increase cost-effectiveness, but a significant increase in support
from Governments and industry is needed to bring a number of
potential new, safe and affordable methods to fruition, especially
barrier methods. This research needs to be guided at all stages by
gender perspectives, particularly women's, and the needs of users,
and should be carried out in strict conformity with internationally
accepted legal, ethical, medical and scientific standards for
biomedical research.
Objectives
12.11. The objectives are:
(a) To contribute to the understanding of factors affecting
universal reproductive health, including sexual health, and to
expand reproductive choice;
(b) To ensure the initial and continued safety, quality and
health aspects of methods for regulation of fertility;
(c) To ensure that all people have the opportunity to achieve
and maintain sound reproductive and sexual health, the
international community should mobilize the full spectrum of basic
biomedical, social and behavioural and programme-related research
on reproductive health and sexuality.
Actions
12.12. Governments, assisted by the international community and
donor agencies, the private sector, non-governmental organizations
and the academic community, should increase support for basic and
applied biomedical, technological, clinical, epidemiological and
social science research to strengthen reproductive health services,
including the improvement of existing and the development of new
methods for regulation of fertility that meet users' needs and are
acceptable, easy to use, safe, free of long- and short-term
side-effects and second-generation effects, effective, affordable
and suitable for different age and cultural groups and for
different phases of the reproductive cycle. Testing and
introduction of all new technologies should be continually
monitored to avoid potential abuse. Specifically, areas that need
increased attention should include barrier methods, both male and
female, for fertility control and the prevention of sexually
transmitted diseases, including HIV/AIDS, as well as microbicides
and virucides, which may or may not prevent pregnancy.
12.13. Research on sexuality and gender roles and relationships in
different cultural settings is urgently needed, with emphasis on
such areas as abuse, discrimination and violence against women;
genital mutilation, where practised; sexual behaviour and mores;
male attitudes towards sexuality and procreation, fertility, family
and gender roles; risk-taking behaviour regarding sexually
transmitted diseases and unplanned pregnancies; women's and men's
perceived needs for methods for regulation of fertility and sexual
health services; and reasons for non-use or ineffective use of
existing services and technologies.
12.14. High priority should also be given to the development of
new methods for regulation of fertility for men. Special research
should be undertaken on factors inhibiting male participation in
order to enhance male involvement and responsibility in family
planning. In conducting sexual and reproductive health research,
special attention should be given to the needs of adolescents in
order to develop suitable policies and programmes and appropriate
technologies to meet their health needs. Special priority should
be given to research on sexually transmitted diseases, including
HIV/AIDS, and research on infertility.
12.15. To expedite the availability of improved and new methods
for regulation of fertility, efforts must be made to increase the
involvement of industry, including industry in developing countries
and countries with economies in transition. A new type of
partnership between the public and private sectors, including women
and consumer groups, is needed to mobilize the experience and
resources of industry while protecting the public interest.
National drug and device regulatory agencies should be actively
involved in all stages of the development process to ensure that
all legal and ethical standards are met. Developed countries
should assist research programmes in developing countries and
countries with economies in transition with their knowledge,
experience and technical expertise and promote the transfer of
appropriate technologies to them. The international community
should facilitate the establishment of manufacturing capacities for
contraceptive commodities in developing countries, particularly the
least developed among them, and countries with economies in
transition.
12.16. All research on products for regulation of fertility and
sexual and reproductive health must be carried out in adherence to
internationally accepted ethical and technical standards and
cultural conditions for biomedical research. Special attention
needs to be given to the continuous surveillance of contraceptive
safety and side-effects. Users', in particular women's,
perspectives and women's organizations should be incorporated into
all stages of the research and development process.
12.17. Since unsafe abortion 20/ is a major threat to the health
and lives of women, research to understand and better address the
determinants and consequences of induced abortion, including its
effects on subsequent fertility, reproductive and mental health and
contraceptive practice, should be promoted, as well as research on
treatment of complications of abortions and post-abortion care.
12.18. There should be enhanced research on natural methods for
regulation of fertility, looking for more effective procedures to
detect the moment of ovulation during the menstrual cycle and after
childbirth.
C. Social and economic research
Basis for action
12.19. During the past several decades, the formulation,
implementation, monitoring and evaluation of population policies,
programmes and activities have benefited from the findings of
social and economic research highlighting how population change
results from and impacts on complex interactions of social,
economic and environmental factors. Nevertheless, some aspects of
those interactions are still poorly understood and knowledge is
lacking, especially with regard to developing countries, in areas
relevant to a range of population and development policies,
particularly concerning indigenous practices. Social and economic
research is clearly needed to enable programmes to take into
account the views of their intended beneficiaries, especially
women, the young and other less empowered groups, and to respond to
the specific needs of those groups and of communities. Research
regarding the interrelations between global or regional economic
factors and national demographic processes is required. Improved
quality of services can be achieved only where quality has been
defined by both users and providers of services and where women are
actively involved in decision-making and service delivery.
Objectives
12.20. The objectives are:
(a) To promote socio-cultural and economic research that
assists in the design of programmes, activities and services to
improve the quality of life and meet the needs of individuals,
families and communities, in particular all underserved groups; 22/
(b) To promote the use of research findings to improve the
formulation of policies and the implementation, monitoring and
evaluation of programmes and projects that improve the welfare of
individuals and families and the needy to enhance their quality,
efficiency and client-sensitivity, and to increase the national and
international capacity for such research;
(c) To understand that sexual and reproductive behaviour
occurs in varying socio-cultural contexts, and to understand the
importance of that context for the design and implementation of
service programmes.
Actions
12.21. Governments, funding agencies and research organizations
should encourage and promote socio-cultural and economic research
on relevant population and development policies and programmes,
including indigenous practices, especially with regard to
interlinkages between population, poverty alleviation, environment,
sustained economic growth and sustainable development.
12.22. Socio-cultural and economic research should be built into
population and development programmes and strategies in order to
provide guidance for programme managers on ways and means of
reaching underserved clients and responding to their needs. To
this end, programmes should provide for operations research,
evaluation research and other applied social science research.
This research should be participatory in character. Mechanisms
should be established with a view to ensuring that research
findings are incorporated into the decision- making process.
12.23. Policy-oriented research, at the national and international
levels, should be undertaken on areas beset by population
pressures, poverty, over-consumption patterns, destruction of
ecosystems and degradation of resources, giving particular
attention to the interactions between those factors. Research
should also be done on the development and improvement of methods
with regard to sustainable food production and crop and livestock
systems in both developed and developing countries.
12.24. Governments, intergovernmental organizations,
non-governmental organizations concerned, funding agencies and
research organizations are urged to give priority to research on
the linkages between women's roles and status and demographic and
development processes. Among the vital areas for research are
changing family structures; family well-being; the interactions
between women's and men's diverse roles, including their use of
time, access to power and decision-making and control over
resources; associated norms, laws, values and beliefs; and the
economic and demographic outcomes of gender inequality. Women
should be involved at all stages of gender research planning, and
efforts should be made to recruit and train more female
researchers.
12.25. Given the changing nature and extent of the spatial
mobility of population, research to improve the understanding of
the causes and consequences of migration and mobility, whether
internal or international, is urgently needed. To provide a sound
foundation for such research, special efforts need to be made to
improve the quality, timeliness and accessibility of data on
internal and international migration levels, trends and policies.
12.26. In the light of the persistence of significant mortality
and morbidity differentials between population subgroups within
countries, it is urgent to step up efforts to investigate the
factors underlying such differentials, in order to devise more
effective policies and programmes for their reduction. Of special
importance are the causes of differentials, including gender
differentials, in mortality and morbidity, particularly at younger
and older ages. Increased attention should also be paid to the
relative importance of various socio-economic and environmental
factors in determining mortality differentials by region or
socio-economic and ethnic group. Causes and trends in maternal,
perinatal and infant morbidity and mortality also need further
investigation.
================================================================
Chapter XIII
NATIONAL ACTION
A. National policies and plans of action
Basis for action
13.1. During the past few decades, considerable experience has
been gained around the world on how government policies and
programmes can be designed and implemented to address population
and development concerns, enhance the choices of people and
contribute to broad social progress. As is the case with other
social development programmes, experience has also shown, in
instances where the leadership is strongly committed to economic
growth, human resource development, gender equality and equity and
meeting the health needs of the population, in particular the
reproductive health needs, including family planning and sexual
health, countries have been able to mobilize sustained commitment
at all levels to make population and development programmes and
projects successful.
13.2. While such success can be facilitated by developments in the
overall social and economic context, and by success in other
development efforts, population and development are intrinsically
interrelated and progress in any component can catalyse improvement
in others. The many facets of population relate to many facets of
development. There is increased recognition of the need for
countries to consider migration impacts, internal and
international, in developing their relevant policies and
programmes. There is also growing recognition that
population-related policies, plans, programmes and projects, to be
sustainable, need to engage their intended beneficiaries fully in
their design and subsequent implementation.
13.3. The role of non-governmental organizations as partners in
national policies and programmes is increasingly recognized, as is
the important role of the private sector. Members of national
legislatures can have a major role to play, especially in enacting
appropriate domestic legislation for implementing the present
Programme of Action, allocating appropriate financial resources,
ensuring accountability of expenditure and raising public awareness
of population issues.
Objectives
13.4. The objectives are:
(a) To incorporate population concerns in all relevant
national development strategies, plans, policies and programmes;
(b) To foster active involvement of elected representatives
of people, particularly parliamentarians, concerned groups,
especially at the grass-roots level, and individuals, in
formulating, implementing, monitoring and evaluating strategies,
policies, plans and programmes in the field of population and
development.
Actions
13.5. Governments, with the active involvement of
parliamentarians, locally elected bodies, communities, the private
sector, non-governmental organizations and women's groups, should
work to increase awareness of population and development issues and
formulate, implement and evaluate national strategies, policies,
plans, programmes and projects that address population and
development issues, including migration, as integral parts of their
sectoral, intersectoral and overall development planning and
implementation process. They should also promote and work to
ensure adequate human resources and institutions to coordinate and
carry out the planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation
of population and development activities.
13.6. Governments and parliamentarians, in collaboration with the
international community and non-governmental organizations, should
make the necessary plans in accordance with national concerns and
priorities and take the actions required to measure, assess,
monitor and evaluate progress towards meeting the goals of the
present Programme of Action. In this connection, the active
participation of the private sector and the research community is
to be encouraged.
B. Programme management and human resource development
Basis for action
13.7. Building the capacity and self-reliance of countries to
undertake concerted national action to promote sustained economic
growth, to further sustainable national development and to improve
the quality of life for the people is a fundamental goal. This
requires the retention, motivation and participation of
appropriately trained personnel working within effective
institutional arrangements, as well as relevant involvement by the
private sector and non-governmental organizations. The lack of
adequate management skills, particularly in the least developed
countries, critically reduces the ability for strategic planning,
weakens programme execution, lessens the quality of services and
thus diminishes the usefulness of programmes to their
beneficiaries. The recent trend towards decentralization of
authority in national population and development programmes,
particularly in government programmes, significantly increases the
requirement for trained staff to meet new or expanded
responsibilities at the lower administrative levels. It also
modifies the "skill mix" required in central institutions, with
policy analysis, evaluation and strategic planning having higher
priority than previously.
Objectives
13.8. The objectives are:
(a) To improve national capacities and the
cost-effectiveness, quality and impact of national population and
development strategies, plans, policies and programmes, while
ensuring their accountability to all persons served, in particular
the most vulnerable and disadvantaged groups in society, including
the rural population and adolescents;
(b) To facilitate and accelerate the collection, analysis and
flow of data and information between actors in national population
and development programmes in order to enhance the formulation of
strategies, policies, plans and programmes and monitor and evaluate
their implementation and impact;
(c) To increase the skill level and accountability of
managers and others involved in the implementation, monitoring and
evaluation of national population and development strategies,
policies, plans and programmes;
(d) To incorporate user and gender perspectives in training
programmes and ensure the availability, motivation and retention of
appropriately trained personnel, including women, for the
formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of national
population and development strategies, policies, plans and
programmes.
Actions
13.9. Countries should:
(a) Formulate and implement human resource development
programmes in a manner that explicitly addresses the needs of
population and development strategies, policies, plans and
programmes, giving special consideration to the basic education,
training and employment of women at all levels, especially at
decision-making and managerial levels, and to the incorporation of
user and gender perspectives throughout the training programmes;
(b) Ensure the nationwide and efficient placement of trained
personnel managing population and development strategies, policies,
plans and programmes;
(c) Continuously upgrade the management skills of service
delivery personnel to enhance the cost-effectiveness, efficiency
and impact of the social services sector;
(d) Rationalize remuneration and related matters, terms and
conditions of service to ensure equal pay for equal work by women
and men and the retention and advancement of managerial and
technical personnel involved in population and development
programmes, and thereby improve national execution of these
programmes;
(e) Establish innovative mechanisms to promote
experience-sharing in population and development programme
management within and among countries at subregional, regional,
interregional and international levels in order to foster relevant
national expertise;
(f) Develop and maintain databases of national experts and
institutions of excellence in order to foster the use of national
competence, giving special consideration to the inclusion of women
and youth;
(g) Ensure effective communication with, and the involvement
of, programme beneficiaries at all levels, in particular at rural
levels, in order to ensure better overall programme management.
13.10. Governments should give special attention to the
development and implementation of client-centred management
information systems for population and development, and
particularly for reproductive health, including family- planning
and sexual health programmes, covering both governmental and
non-governmental activities and containing regularly updated data
on clientele, expenditures, infrastructure, service accessibility,
output and quality of services.
C. Resource mobilization and allocation
Basis for action
13.11. Allocation of resources for sustained human development at
the national level generally falls into various sectoral
categories. How countries can most beneficially allocate resources
among various sectors depends largely on each country's social,
economic, cultural and political realities as well as its policy
and programme priorities. In general, the quality and success of
programmes benefit from a balanced allocation of resources. In
particular, population-related programmes play an important role in
enabling, facilitating and accelerating progress in sustainable
human development programmes, especially by contributing to the
empowerment of women, improving the health of the people
(particularly of women and children, and especially in the rural
areas), slowing the growth rate of demand for social services,
mobilizing community action and stressing the long-term importance
of social-sector investments.
13.12. Domestic resources provide the largest portion of funds for
attaining development objectives. Domestic resource mobilization
is, thus, one of the highest priority areas for focused attention
to ensure the timely actions required to meet the objectives of the
present Programme of Action. Both the public and the private
sectors can potentially contribute to the resources required. Many
of the countries seeking to pursue the additional goals and
objectives of the Programme of Action, especially the least
developed countries and other poor countries that are undergoing
painful structural adjustments, are continuing to experience
recessionary trends in their economies. Their domestic resource
mobilization efforts to expand and improve their population and
development programmes will need to be complemented by a
significantly greater provision of financial and technical
resources by the international community, as indicated in chapter
XIV. In the mobilization of new and additional domestic resources
and resources from donors, special attention needs to be given to
adequate measures to address the basic needs of the most vulnerable
groups of the population, particularly in the rural areas, and to
ensure their access to social services.
13.13. Based on the current large unmet demands for reproductive
health services, including family planning, and the expected growth
in numbers of women and men of reproductive age, demand for
services will continue to grow very rapidly over the next two
decades. This demand will be accelerated by growing interest in
delayed child-bearing, better spacing of births and earlier
completion of desired family size, and by easier access to
services. Efforts to generate and make available higher levels of
domestic resources, and to ensure their effective utilization, in
support of service-delivery programmes and of associated
information, education and communication activities, thus, need to
be intensified.
13.14. Basic reproductive health, including family-planning
services, involving support for necessary training, supplies,
infrastructure and management systems, especially at the primary
health-care level, would include the following major components,
which should be integrated into basic national programmes for
population and reproductive health:
(a) In the family-planning services component - contraceptive
commodities and service delivery; capacity-building for
information, education and communication regarding family planning
and population and development issues; national capacity-building
through support for training; infrastructure development and
upgrading of facilities; policy development and programme
evaluation; management information systems; basic service
statistics; and focused efforts to ensure good quality care;
(b) In the basic reproductive health services component -
information and routine services for prenatal, normal and safe
delivery and post-natal care; abortion (as specified in paragraph
8.25); information, education and communication about reproductive
health, including sexually transmitted diseases, human sexuality
and responsible parenthood, and against harmful practices; adequate
counselling; diagnosis and treatment for sexually transmitted
diseases and other reproductive tract infections, as feasible;
prevention of infertility and appropriate treatment, where
feasible; and referrals, education and counselling services for
sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV/AIDS, and for
pregnancy and delivery complications;
(c) In the sexually transmitted diseases/HIV/AIDS prevention
programme component - mass media and in-school education
programmes, promotion of voluntary abstinence and responsible
sexual behaviour and expanded distribution of condoms;
(d) In the basic research, data and population and
development policy analysis component - national capacity-building
through support for demographic as well as programme-related data
collection and analysis, research, policy development and training.
13.15. It has been estimated that, in the developing countries and
countries with economies in transition, the implementation of
programmes in the area of reproductive health, including those
related to family planning, maternal health and the prevention of
sexually transmitted diseases, as well as other basic actions for
collecting and analysing population data, will cost: $17.0 billion
in 2000, $18.5 billion in 2005, $20.5 billion in 2010 and $21.7
billion in 2015; these are cost-estimates prepared by experts,
based on experience to date, of the four components referred to
above. These estimates should be reviewed and updated on the basis
of the comprehensive approach reflected in paragraph 13.14 of the
present Programme of Action, particularly with respect to the costs
of implementing reproductive health service delivery. Of this,
approximately 65 per cent is for the delivery system. Programme
costs in the closely related components which should be integrated
into basic national programmes for population and reproductive
health are estimated as follows:
(a) The family-planning component is estimated to cost:
$10.2 billion in 2000, $11.5 billion in 2005, $12.6 billion in 2010
and $13.8 billion in 2015. This estimate is based on census and
survey data which help to project the number of couples and
individuals who are likely to be using family-planning information
and services. Projections of future costs allow for improvements
in quality of care. While improved quality of care will increase
costs per user to some degree, these increases are likely to be
offset by declining costs per user as both prevalence and programme
efficiency increase;
(b) The reproductive health component (not including the
delivery-system costs summarized under the family-planning
component) is estimated to add: $5.0 billion in 2000, $5.4 billion
in 2005, $5.7 billion in 2010 and $6.1 billion in 2015. The
estimate for reproductive health is a global total, based on
experience with maternal health programmes in countries at
different levels of development, selectively including other
reproductive health services. The full maternal and child health
impact of these interventions will depend on the provision of
tertiary and emergency care, the costs of which should be met by
overall health-sector budgets;
(c) The sexually transmitted diseases/HIV/AIDS prevention
programme is estimated by the WHO Global Programme on AIDS to cost:
$1.3 billion in 2000, $1.4 billion in 2005 and approximately $1.5
billion in 2010 and $1.5 billion in 2015;
(d) The basic research, data and population and development
policy analysis programme is estimated to cost: $500 million in
2000, $200 million in 2005, $700 million in 2010 and $300 million
in 2015.
13.16. It is tentatively estimated that up to two thirds of the
costs will continue to be met by the countries themselves and in
the order of one third from external sources. However, the least
developed countries and other low-income developing countries will
require a greater share of external resources on a concessional and
grant basis. Thus, there will be considerable variation in needs
for external resources for population programmes, between and
within regions. The estimated global requirements for
international assistance are outlined in paragraph 14.11.
13.17. Additional resources will be needed to support programmes
addressing population and development goals, particularly
programmes seeking to attain the specific social- and
economic-sector goals contained in the present Programme of Action.
The health sector will require additional resources to strengthen
the primary health-care delivery system, child survival programmes,
emergency obstetrical care and broad-based programmes for the
control of sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV/AIDS, as
well as the humane treatment and care of those infected with
sexually transmitted diseases/HIV/AIDS, among others. The
education sector will also require substantial and additional
investments in order to provide universal basic education and to
eliminate disparities in educational access owing to gender,
geographical location, social or economic status etc.
13.18. Additional resources will be needed for action programmes
directed to improving the status and empowerment of women and their
full participation in the development process (beyond ensuring
their basic education). The full involvement of women in the
design, implementation, management and monitoring of all
development programmes will be an important component of such
activities.
13.19. Additional resources will be needed for action programmes
to accelerate development programmes; generate employment; address
environmental concerns, including unsustainable patterns of
production and consumption; provide social services; achieve
balanced distributions of population; and address poverty
eradication through sustained economic growth in the context of
sustainable development. Important relevant programmes include
those addressed in Agenda 21.
13.20. The resources needed to implement the present Programme of
Action require substantially increased investments in the near
term. The benefits of these investments can be measured in future
savings in sectoral requirements; sustainable patterns of
production and consumption and sustained economic growth in the
context of sustainable development; and overall improvements in the
quality of life.
Objective
13.21. The objective is to achieve an adequate level of resource
mobilization and allocation, at the community, national and
international levels, for population programmes and for other
related programmes, all of which seek to promote and accelerate
social and economic development, improve the quality of life for
all, foster equity and full respect for individual rights and, by
so doing, contribute to sustainable development.
Actions
13.22. Governments, non-governmental organizations, the private
sector and local communities, assisted upon request by the
international community, should strive to mobilize and effectively
utilize the resources for population and development programmes
that expand and improve the quality of reproductive health care,
including family-planning and sexually transmitted
diseases/HIV/AIDS prevention efforts. In line with the goal of the
present Programme of Action to ensure universal availability of and
access to high- quality reproductive health and family-planning
services, particular emphasis must be put on meeting the needs of
underserved population groups, including adolescents, taking into
account the rights and responsibilities of parents and the needs of
adolescents and the rural and the urban poor, and on ensuring the
safety of services and their responsiveness to women, men and
adolescents. In mobilizing resources for these purposes, countries
should examine new modalities such as increased involvement of the
private sector, the selective use of user fees, social marketing,
cost-sharing and other forms of cost recovery. However, these
modalities must not impede access to services and should be
accompanied with adequate "safety net" measures.
13.23. Governments, non-governmental organizations, the private
sector and local communities, assisted upon request by the
international community, should strive to mobilize the resources
needed to reinforce social development goals, and in particular to
satisfy the commitments Governments have undertaken previously with
regard to Education for All (the Jomtien Declaration), the
multisectoral goals of the World Summit for Children, Agenda 21 and
other relevant international agreements, and to further mobilize
the resources needed to meet the goals in the present Programme of
Action. In this regard, Governments are urged to devote an
increased proportion of public-sector expenditures to the social
sectors, as well as an increased proportion of official development
assistance, stressing, in particular, poverty eradication within
the context of sustainable development.
13.24. Governments, international organizations and
non-governmental organizations should collaborate on an ongoing
basis in the development of precise and reliable cost estimates,
where appropriate, for each category of investment.
===================================================================
Chapter XIV
INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION
A. Responsibilities of partners in development
Basis for action
14.1. International cooperation has been proved to be essential
for the implementation of population and development programmes
during the past two decades. The number of financial donors has
steadily increased and the profile of the donor community has
increasingly been shaped by the growing presence of
non-governmental and private-sector organizations. Numerous
experiences of successful cooperation between developing countries
have dispelled the stereotyped view of donors being exclusively
developed countries. Donor partnerships have become more prevalent
in a variety of configurations, so that it is no longer unusual to
find Governments and multilateral organizations working closely
together with national and international non-governmental
organizations and segments of the private sector. This evolution
of international cooperation in population and development
activities reflects the considerable changes that have taken place
during the past two decades, particularly with the greater
awareness of the magnitude, diversity and urgency of unmet needs.
Countries that formerly attached minimal importance to population
issues now recognize them at the core of their development
challenge. International migration and AIDS, for instance,
formerly matters of marginal concern to a few countries, are
currently high-priority issues in a large number of countries.
14.2. The maturing process undergone by international cooperation
in the field of population and development has accentuated a number
of difficulties and shortcomings that need to be addressed. For
instance, the expanding number and configuration of development
partners subjects both recipients and donors to increasing
pressures to decide among a multitude of competing development
priorities, a task which recipient Governments in particular may
find exceedingly difficult to carry out. Lack of adequate
financial resources and effective coordination mechanisms have been
found to result in unnecessary duplication of efforts and lack of
programme congruency. Sudden shifts in the development policies of
donors may cause disruptions of programme activities across the
world. Re-establishing and adhering to national priorities
requires a new clarification of, and commitment to, reciprocal
responsibilities among development partners.
Objectives
14.3. The objectives are:
(a) To ensure that international cooperation in the area of
population and development is consistent with national population
and development priorities centred on the well-being of intended
beneficiaries and serves to promote national capacity-building and
self-reliance;
(b) To urge that the international community adopt favourable
macroeconomic policies for promoting sustained economic growth and
sustainable development in developing countries;
(c) To clarify the reciprocal responsibilities of development
partners and improve coordination of their efforts;
(d) To develop long-term joint programmes between recipient
countries and between recipient and donor countries;
(e) To improve and strengthen policy dialogue and
coordination of population and development programmes and
activities at the international level, including bilateral and
multilateral agencies;
(f) To urge that all population and development programmes,
with full respect for the various religious and ethical values and
cultural backgrounds of each country's people, adhere to basic
human rights recognized by the international community and recalled
in the present Programme of Action.
Actions
14.4. At the programme level, national capacity-building for
population and development and transfer of appropriate technology
and know-how to developing countries, including countries with
economies in transition, must be core objectives and central
activities for international cooperation. In this respect,
important elements are to find accessible ways to meet the large
commodity needs, of family-planning programmes, through the local
production of contraceptives of assured quality and affordability,
for which technology cooperation, joint ventures and other forms of
technical assistance should be encouraged.
14.5. The international community should promote a supportive
economic environment by adopting favourable macroeconomic policies
for promoting sustained economic growth and development.
14.6. Governments should ensure that national development plans
take note of anticipated international funding and cooperation in
their population and development programmes, including loans from
international financial institutions, particularly with respect to
national capacity-building, technology cooperation and transfer of
appropriate technology, which should be provided on favourable
terms, including on concessional and preferential terms, as
mutually agreed, taking into account the need to protect
international property rights, as well as the special needs of
developing countries.
14.7. Recipient Governments should strengthen their national
coordination mechanisms for international cooperation in population
and development, and in consultations with donors clarify the
responsibilities assigned to various types of development partners,
including intergovernmental and international non-governmental
organizations, based on careful consideration of their comparative
advantages in the context of national development priorities and of
their ability to interact with national development partners. The
international community should assist recipient Governments to
undertake these coordinating efforts.
B. Towards a new commitment to funding population
and development
Basis for action
14.8. There is a strong consensus on the need to mobilize
significant additional financial resources from both the
international community and within developing countries and
countries with economies in transition for national population
programmes in support of sustainable development. The Amsterdam
Declaration on a Better Life for Future Generations, adopted at the
International Forum on Population in the Twenty-first Century, held
at Amsterdam in 1989, called on Governments to double the total
global expenditures in population programmes and on donors to
increase substantially their contribution, in order to meet the
needs of millions of people in developing countries in the fields
of family planning and other population activities by the year
2000. However, since then, international resources for population
activities have come under severe pressure, owing to the prolonged
economic recession in traditional donor countries. Also,
developing countries face increasing difficulties in allocating
sufficient funds for their population and related programmes.
Additional resources are urgently required to better identify and
satisfy unmet needs in issues related to population and
development, such as reproductive health care, including
family-planning and sexual health information and services, as well
as to respond to future increases in demand, to keep pace with the
growing demands that need to be served, and to improve the scope
and quality of programmes.
14.9. To assist the implementation of population and reproductive
health care, including family-planning and sexual health
programmes, financial and technical assistance from bilateral and
multilateral agencies have been provided to the national and
subnational agencies involved. As some of these began to be
successful, it became desirable for countries to learn from one
another's experiences, through a number of different modalities
(e.g., long- and short- term training programmes, observation study
tours and consultant services).
Objectives
14.10. The objectives are:
(a) To increase substantially the availability of
international financial assistance in the field of population and
development in order to enable developing countries and countries
with economies in transition to achieve the goals of the present
Programme of Action as they pursue their self-reliant and
capacity-building efforts;
(b) To increase the commitment to, and the stability of,
international financial assistance in the field of population and
development by diversifying the sources of contributions, while
striving to avoid as far as possible a reduction in the resources
for other development areas. Additional resources should be made
available for short-term assistance to the countries with economies
in transition;
(c) To increase international financial assistance to direct
South-South cooperation and to facilitate financing procedures for
direct South-South cooperation.
Actions
14.11. The international community should strive for the
fulfilment of the agreed target of 0.7 per cent of the gross
national product for overall official development assistance and
endeavour to increase the share of funding for population and
development programmes commensurate with the scope and scale of
activities required to achieve the objectives and goals of the
present Programme of Action. A crucially urgent challenge to the
international donor community is therefore the translation of their
commitment to the objectives and quantitative goals of the present
Programme of Action into commensurate financial contributions to
population programmes in developing countries and countries with
economies in transition. Given the magnitude of the financial
resource needs for national population and development programmes
(as identified in chapter XIII), and assuming that recipient
countries will be able to generate sufficient increases in
domestically generated resources, the need for complementary
resource flows from donor countries would be in the order of (in
1993 US dollars): $5.7 billion in 2000; $6.1 billion in 2005; $6.8
billion in 2010; and $7.2 billion in 2015. The international
community takes note of the initiative to mobilize resources to
give all people access to basic social services, known as the 20/20
initiative, which will be studied further in the context of the
World Summit for Social Development.
14.12. Recipient countries should ensure that international
assistance for population and development activities is used
effectively to meet national population and development objectives
so as to assist donors to secure commitment to further resources
for programmes.
14.13. The United Nations Population Fund, other United Nations
organizations, multilateral financial institutions, regional banks
and bilateral financial sources are invited to consult, with a view
to coordinating their financing policies and planning procedures to
improve the impact, complementarity and cost-effectiveness of their
contributions to the achievement of the population programmes of
the developing countries and countries with economies in
transition.
14.14. Criteria for allocation of external financial resources for
population activities in developing countries should include:
(a) Coherent national programmes, plans and strategies on
population and development;
(b) The recognized priority to the least developed countries;
(c) The need to complement national financial efforts on
population;
(d) The need to avoid obstacles to, or reversal of, progress
achieved thus far;
(e) Problems of significant social sectors and areas that are
not reflected in national average indicators.
14.15. Countries with economies in transition should receive
temporary assistance for population and development activities in
the light of the difficult economic and social problems these
countries face at present.
14.16. In devising the appropriate balance between funding
sources, more attention should be given to South-South cooperation
as well as to new ways of mobilizing private contributions,
particularly in partnership with non-governmental organizations.
The international community should urge donor agencies to improve
and modify their funding procedures in order to facilitate and give
higher priority to supporting direct South-South collaborative
arrangements.
14.17. Innovative financing, including new ways of generating
public and private financing resources and various forms of debt
relief should be explored.
14.18. International financial institutions are encouraged to
increase their financial assistance, particularly in population and
reproductive health, including family planning and sexual health
care.
===================================================================
Chapter XV*
PARTNERSHIP WITH THE NON-GOVERNMENTAL SECTOR
A. Local, national and international non-governmental
organizations
Basis for action
15.1 As the contribution, real and potential, of non-governmental
organizations gains clearer recognition in many countries and at
regional and international levels, it is important to affirm its
relevance in the context of the preparation and implementation of
the present Programme of Action. To address the challenges of
population and development effectively, broad and effective
partnership is essential between Governments and non-governmental
organizations (comprising not-for-profit groups and organizations
at the local, national and international levels) to assist in the
formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of
population and development objectives and activities.
15.2. Despite widely varying situations in their relationship and
interaction with Governments, non-governmental organizations have
made and are increasingly making important contributions to both
population and development activities at all levels. In many areas
of population and development activities, non-governmental groups
are already rightly recognized for their comparative advantage in
relation to government agencies, because of innovative, flexible
and responsive programme design and implementation, including
grass-roots participation, and because quite often they are rooted
in and interact with constituencies that are poorly served and hard
to reach through government channels.
15.3. Non-governmental organizations are important voices of the
people, and their associations and networks provide an effective
and efficient means of better focusing local and national
initiatives and addressing pressing population, environmental,
migration and economic and social development concerns.
15.4. Non-governmental organizations are actively involved in the
provision of programme and project services in virtually every area
of socio-economic development, including the population sector.
Many of them have, in a number of countries, a long history of
involvement and participation in population-related activities,
particularly family planning. Their strength and credibility lies
=================================================================
* The Holy See expressed a general reservation on this
chapter. The reservation is to be interpreted in terms of the
statement made by the representative of the Holy See at the 14th
plenary meeting, on 13 September 1994.
===================================================================
in the responsible and constructive role they play in society and
the support their activities engender from the community as a
whole. Formal and informal organizations and networks, including
grass-roots movements, merit greater recognition at the local,
national and international levels as valid and valuable partners
for the implementation of the present Programme of Action. For
such partnerships to develop and thrive, it is necessary for
governmental and non-governmental organizations to institute
appropriate systems and mechanisms to facilitate constructive
dialogue, in the context of national programmes and policies,
recognizing their distinct roles, responsibilities and particular
capacities.
15.5. The experience, capabilities and expertise of many
non-governmental organizations and local community groups in areas
of direct relevance to the Programme of Action is acknowledged.
Non-governmental organizations, especially those working in the
field of sexual and reproductive health and family planning,
women's organizations and immigrant and refugee support advocacy
groups, have increased public knowledge and provided educational
services to men and women which contribute towards successful
implementation of population and development policies. Youth
organizations are increasingly becoming effective partners in
developing programmes to educate youth on reproductive health,
gender and environmental issues. Other groups, such as
organizations of the aged, migrants, organizations of persons with
disabilities and informal grass-roots groups, also contribute
effectively to the enhancement of programmes for their particular
constituencies. These diverse organizations can help in ensuring
the quality and relevance of programmes and services to the people
they are meant to serve. They should be invited to participate
with local, national and international decision-making bodies,
including the United Nations system, to ensure effective
implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the present Programme
of Action.
15.6. In recognition of the importance of effective partnership,
non-governmental organizations are invited to foster coordination,
cooperation and communication at the local, national, regional and
international levels and with local and national governments, to
reinforce their effectiveness as key participants in the
implementation of population and development programmes and
policies. The involvement of non-governmental organizations should
be seen as complementary to the responsibility of Governments to
provide full, safe and accessible reproductive health services,
including family-planning and sexual health services. Like
Governments, non-governmental organizations should be accountable
for their actions and should offer transparency with respect to
their services and evaluation procedures.
Objective
15.7. The objective is to promote an effective partnership between
all levels of government and the full range of non-governmental
organizations and local community groups, in the discussion and
decisions on the design, implementation, coordination, monitoring
and evaluation of programmes relating to population, development
and environment in accordance with the general policy framework of
Governments, taking duly into account the responsibilities and
roles of the respective partners.
Actions
15.8. Governments and intergovernmental organizations, in dialogue
with non-governmental organizations and local community groups, and
in full respect for their autonomy, should integrate them in their
decision-making and facilitate the contribution that
non-governmental organizations can make at all levels towards
finding solutions to population and development concerns and, in
particular, to ensure the implementation of the present Programme
of Action. Non-governmental organizations should have a key role
in national and international development processes.
15.9. Governments should ensure the essential roles and
participation of women's organizations in the design and
implementation of population and development programmes. Involving
women at all levels, especially the managerial level, is critical
to meeting the objectives and implementing the present Programme of
Action.
15.10. Adequate financial and technical resources and information
necessary for the effective participation of non-governmental
organizations in the research, design, implementation, monitoring
and evaluation of population and development activities should, if
feasible and if requested, be made available to the
non-governmental sector by Governments, intergovernmental
organizations and international financial institutions in a manner
that will not compromise their full autonomy. To ensure
transparency, accountability and effective division of labour,
these same institutions should make available the necessary
information and documents to those non-governmental organizations.
International organizations may provide financial and technical
assistance to non-governmental organizations in accordance with the
laws and regulations of each country.
15.11. Governments and donor countries, including
intergovernmental organizations and international financial
institutions, should ensure that non-governmental organizations and
their networks are able to maintain their autonomy and strengthen
their capacity through regular dialogue and consultations,
appropriate training and outreach activities, and thus play a
greater partnership role at all levels.
15.12. Non-governmental organizations and their networks and local
communities should strengthen their interaction with their
constituencies, ensure the transparency of their activities,
mobilize public opinion, participate in the implementation of
population and development programmes and actively contribute to
the national, regional and international debate on population and
development issues. Governments, where appropriate, should include
representation of non-governmental organizations on country
delegations to regional and international forums where issues on
population and development are discussed.
B. The private sector
Basis for action
15.13. The private, profit-oriented sector plays an important role
in social and economic development, including production and
delivery of reproductive health-care services and commodities,
appropriate education and information relevant to population and
development programmes. In a growing number of countries, the
private sector has or is developing the financial, managerial and
technological capacity to carry out an array of population and
development activities in a cost-efficient and effective manner.
This experience has laid the groundwork for useful partnerships
which the private sector can further develop and expand.
Private-sector involvement may assist or supplement but must not
mitigate the responsibility of Governments to provide full, safe
and accessible reproductive health services to all people. The
private sector must also ensure that all population and development
programmes, with full respect for the various religious and ethical
values and cultural backgrounds of each country's people, adhere to
basic rights recognized by the international community and recalled
in the present Programme of Action.
15.14. Another aspect of the private sector's role is its
importance as a partner for economic growth and sustainable
development. Through its actions and attitudes, the private sector
can make a decisive impact on the quality of life of its employees
and often on large segments of society and their attitudes.
Experience gained from these programmes is useful to Governments
and non-governmental organizations alike in their ongoing efforts
to find innovative ways of effectively involving the private sector
in population and development programmes. A growing consciousness
of corporate responsibilities increasingly is leading
private-sector decision makers to search for new ways in which
for-profit entities can constructively work with Governments and
non-governmental organizations on population and sustainable
development issues. By acknowledging the contribution of the
private sector, and by seeking more programme areas for mutually
beneficial cooperation, Governments and non-governmental
organizations alike may strengthen the efficiency of their
population and development activities.
Objectives
15.15. The objectives are:
(a) To strengthen the partnership between Governments,
international organizations and the private sector in identifying
new areas of cooperation;
(b) To promote the role of the private sector in service
delivery and in the production and distribution, within each region
of the world, of high- quality reproductive health and
family-planning commodities and contraceptives, which are
accessible and affordable to low-income sectors of the population.
Actions
15.16. Governments and non-governmental and international
organizations should intensify their cooperation with the private,
for-profit sector in matters pertaining to population and
sustainable development in order to strengthen the contribution of
that sector in the implementation of population and development
programmes, including the production and delivery of quality
contraceptive commodities and services with appropriate information
and education, in a socially responsible, culturally sensitive,
acceptable and cost-effective manner.
15.17. Non-profit and profit-oriented organizations and their
networks should develop mechanisms whereby they can exchange ideas
and experiences in the population and development fields with a
view to sharing innovative approaches and research and development
initiatives. The dissemination of information and research should
be a priority.
15.18. Governments are strongly encouraged to set standards for
service delivery and review legal, regulatory and import policies
to identify and eliminate those policies that unnecessarily prevent
or restrict the greater involvement of the private sector in
efficient production of commodities for reproductive health,
including family planning, and in service delivery. Governments,
taking into account cultural and social differences, should
strongly encourage the private sector to meet its responsibilities
regarding consumer information dissemination.
15.19. The profit-oriented sector should consider how it might
better assist non-profit non-governmental organizations to play a
wider role in society through the enhancement or creation of
suitable mechanisms to channel financial and other appropriate
support to non-governmental organizations and their associations.
15.20. Private-sector employers should continue to devise and
implement special programmes that help meet their employees' needs
for information, education and reproductive health services, and
accommodate their employees' needs to combine work and family
responsibilities. Organized health-care providers and health
insurers should also continue to include family planning and
reproductive health services in the package of health benefits they
provide.
=================================================================
Chapter XVI*
FOLLOW-UP TO THE CONFERENCE
A. Activities at the national level
Basis for action
16.1. The significance of the International Conference on
Population and Development will depend on the willingness of
Governments, local communities, the non-governmental sector, the
international community and all other concerned organizations and
individuals to turn the recommendations of the Conference into
action. This commitment will be of particular importance at the
national and individual levels. Such a willingness to truly
integrate population concerns into all aspects of economic and
social activity and their interrelationships will greatly assist in
the achievement of an improved quality of life for all individuals
as well as for future generations. All efforts must be pursued
towards sustained economic growth within the context of sustainable
development.
16.2. The extensive and varied preparatory processes at the
international, regional, subregional, national and local levels
have constituted an important contribution to the formulation of
the present Programme of Action. Considerable institutional
development has taken place in many countries in order to steer the
national preparatory process; greater awareness of population
issues has been fostered through public information and education
campaigns, and national reports have been prepared for the
Conference. The great majority of countries participating in the
Conference responded to an invitation to prepare comprehensive
national population reports. The complementarity of those reports
to others commissioned by recent international conferences and
initiatives relating to environmental, economic and social
development is noteworthy and encouraging. The importance of
building on these activities in the follow-up to the Conference is
fully acknowledged.
16.3. The main functions related to Conference follow-up include
policy guidance, including building strong political support at all
levels for population and development; resource mobilization;
coordination and mutual accountability of efforts to implement the
Programme of Action; problem solving and sharing of experience
within and between countries; and monitoring and reporting of
progress in the implementation of the Programme of Action. Each of
these functions requires concerted and coordinated follow-up at the
national and international levels, and must fully involve all
relevant individuals and organizations, including non-governmental
==================================================================
* The Holy See expressed a general reservation on this
chapter. The reservation is to be interpreted in terms of the
statement made by the representative of the Holy See at the 14th
plenary meeting, on 13 September 1994.
==================================================================
and community-based organizations. Implementation, monitoring and
evaluation of the Programme of Action at all levels should be
conducted in a manner consistent with its principles and
objectives.
16.4. The implementation of the present Programme of Action at all
levels must be viewed as part of an integrated follow-up effort to
major international conferences, including the present Conference,
the World Conference on Health for All, the World Conference on
Education for All, the World Summit for Children, the United
Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries, the United
Nations Conference on Environment and Development, the
International Conference on Nutrition, the World Conference on
Human Rights, the Global Conference on the Sustainable Development
of Small Island Developing States, the World Summit for Social
Development, the Fourth World Conference on Women and the United
Nations Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II).
16.5. The implementation of the goals, objectives and actions of
the present Programme of Action will in many instances require
additional resources.
Objective
16.6. The objective is to encourage and enable countries to fully
and effectively implement the Programme of Action, through
appropriate and relevant policies and programmes at the national
level.
Actions
16.7. Governments should: (a) commit themselves at the highest
political level to achieving the goals and objectives contained in
the present Programme of Action and (b) take a lead role in
coordinating the implementation, monitoring and evaluation of
follow-up actions.
16.8. Governments, organizations of the United Nations system and
major groups, in particular non-governmental organizations, should
give the widest possible dissemination to the Programme of Action
and should seek public support for the goals, objectives and
actions of the Programme of Action. This may involve follow-up
meetings, publications and audio-visual aids and both print and
electronic media.
16.9. All countries should consider their current spending
priorities with a view to making additional contributions for the
implementation of the Programme of Action, taking into account the
provisions of chapters XIII and XIV and the economic constraints
faced by developing countries.
16.10. All countries should establish appropriate national
follow-up, accountability and monitoring mechanisms in partnership
with non-governmental organizations, community groups and
representatives of the media and the academic community, as well as
with the support of parliamentarians.
16.11. The international community should assist interested
Governments in organizing appropriate national-level follow-up,
including national capacity-building for project formulation and
programme management, as well as strengthening of coordination and
evaluation mechanisms to assess the implementation of the present
Programme of Action.
16.12. Governments, with the assistance of the international
community, where necessary, should as soon as possible set up or
enhance national databases to provide baseline data and information
that can be used to measure or assess progress towards the
achievement of the goals and objectives of the present Programme of
Action and other related international documents, commitments and
agreements. For the purpose of assessing progress, all countries
should regularly assess their progress towards achieving the
objectives and goals of the Programme of Action and other related
commitments and agreements and report, on a periodic basis, in
collaboration with non-governmental organizations and community
groups.
16.13. In the preparation of those assessments and reports,
Governments should outline successes achieved, as well as problems
and obstacles encountered. Where possible, such national reports
should be compatible with the national sustainable development
plans that countries will prepare in the context of the
implementation of Agenda 21. Efforts should also be made to devise
an appropriate consolidated reporting system, taking into account
all relevant United Nations conferences having national reporting
requirements in related fields.
B. Subregional and regional activities
Basis for action
16.14. Activities undertaken at both the subregional and regional
levels have been an important aspect of preparations for the
Conference. The outcome of subregional and regional preparatory
meetings on population and development has clearly demonstrated the
importance of acknowledging, alongside both international and
national actions, the continuing contribution of subregional and
regional action.
Objective
16.15. The objective is to promote implementation of the present
Programme of Action at the subregional and regional levels, with
attention to specific subregional and regional strategies and
needs.
Actions
16.16. Regional commissions, organizations of the United Nations
system functioning at the regional level, and other relevant
subregional and regional organizations should play an active role
within their mandates regarding the implementation of the present
Programme of Action through subregional and regional initiatives on
population and development. Such action should be coordinated
among the organizations concerned at the subregional and regional
levels, with a view to ensuring efficient and effective action in
addressing specific population and development issues relevant to
the regions concerned, as appropriate.
16.17. At the subregional and regional levels:
(a) Governments in the subregions and regions and relevant
organizations are invited, where appropriate, to reinforce existing
follow-up mechanisms, including meetings for the follow-up of
regional declarations on population and development issues;
(b) Multidisciplinary expertise should, where necessary, be
utilized to play a key role in the implementation and follow-up of
the present Programme of Action;
(c) Cooperation in the critical areas of capacity-building,
the sharing and exchange of information and experiences, know-how
and technical expertise should be strengthened with the appropriate
assistance of the international community, taking into account the
need for a partnership with non-governmental organizations and
other major groups, in the implementation and follow-up of the
Programme of Action at the regional level;
(d) Governments should ensure that training and research in
population and development issues at the tertiary level are
strengthened, and that research findings and implications are
widely disseminated.
C. Activities at the international level
Basis for action
16.18. The implementation of the goals, objectives and actions of
the present Programme of Action will require new and additional
financial resources from the public and private sectors,
non-governmental organizations and the international community.
While some of the resources required could come from the reordering
of priorities, additional resources will be needed. In this
context, developing countries, particularly the least developed
countries, will require additional resources, including on
concessional and grant terms, according to sound and equitable
indicators. Countries with economies in transition may also
require temporary assistance in the light of the difficult economic
and social problems these countries face at present. Developed
countries, and others in a position to do so, should consider
providing additional resources, as needed, to support the
implementation of the decisions of this Conference through
bilateral and multilateral channels, as well as through
non-governmental organizations.
16.19. South-South cooperation at all levels is an important
instrument of development. In this regard, such cooperation -
technical cooperation among developing countries - should play an
important part in the implementation of the present Programme of
Action.
Objectives
16.20. The objectives are:
(a) To ensure full and consistent support, including
financial and technical assistance from the international
community, including the United Nations system, for all efforts
directed at the implementation of the present Programme of Action
at all levels;
(b) To ensure a coordinated approach and a clearer division
of labour in population-relevant policy and operational aspects of
development cooperation. This should be supplemented by enhanced
coordination and planning in the mobilization of resources;
(c) To ensure that population and development issues receive
appropriate focus and integration in the work of the relevant
bodies and entities of the United Nations system.
Actions
16.21. The General Assembly is the highest intergovernmental
mechanism for the formulation and appraisal of policy on matters
relating to the follow-up to this Conference. To ensure effective
follow-up to the Conference, as well as to enhance
intergovernmental decision-making capacity for the integration of
population and development issues, the Assembly should organize a
regular review of the implementation of the present Programme of
Action. In fulfilling this task, the Assembly should consider the
timing, format and organizational aspects of such a review.
16.22. The General Assembly and the Economic and Social Council
should carry out their respective responsibilities, as entrusted to
them in the Charter of the United Nations, in the formulation of
policies and the provision of guidance to and coordination of
United Nations activities in the field of population and
development.
16.23. The Economic and Social Council, in the context of its role
under the Charter, vis-…-vis the General Assembly and in accordance
with Assembly resolutions 45/264, 46/235 and 48/162, should assist
the General Assembly in promoting an integrated approach and in
providing system-wide coordination and guidance in the monitoring
of the implementation of the present Programme of Action and in
making recommendations in this regard. Appropriate steps should be
taken to request regular reports from the specialized agencies
regarding their plans and programmes related to the implementation
of this Programme of Action, pursuant to Article 64 of the Charter.
16.24. The Economic and Social Council is invited to review the
reporting system within the United Nations system regarding
population and development issues, taking into account the
reporting procedures that are required in follow-up to other
international conferences, with a view to establishing, where
possible, a more coherent reporting system.
16.25. Within their respective mandates and in accordance with
General Assembly resolution 48/162, the Assembly, during its
forty-ninth session, and the Economic and Social Council, in 1995,
should review the roles, responsibilities, mandates and comparative
advantages of both the relevant intergovernmental bodies and the
organs of the United Nations system addressing population and
development, with a view to:
(a) Ensuring the effective and efficient implementation,
monitoring and evaluation of the United Nations operational
activities that will be undertaken on the basis of the present
Programme of Action;
(b) Improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the current
United Nations structures and machinery responsible for
implementing and monitoring population and development activities,
including strategies for addressing coordination and for
intergovernmental review;
(c) Ensuring clear recognition of the interrelationships
between policy guidance, research, standard-setting and operational
activities for population and development, as well as the division
of labour between the bodies concerned.
16.26. As part of this review, the Economic and Social Council
should, in the context of General Assembly resolution 48/162,
consider the respective roles of the relevant United Nations organs
dealing with population and development, including the United
Nations Population Fund and the Population Division of the
Department for Economic and Social Information and Policy Analysis
of the United Nations Secretariat, regarding the follow-up to the
present Programme of Action.
16.27. The General Assembly, at its forty-ninth session, in
accordance with its resolution 48/162, is invited to give further
consideration to the establishment of a separate Executive Board of
the United Nations Population Fund, taking into account the results
of the above-mentioned review and bearing in mind the
administrative, budgetary and programme implications of such a
proposal.
16.28. The Secretary-General of the United Nations is invited to
consult with the various bodies of the United Nations system, as
well as with international financial institutions and various
bilateral aid organizations and agencies, with a view to promoting
an exchange of information among them on the requirements for
international assistance and to reviewing, on a regular basis, the
specific needs of countries in the field of population and
development, including emergency and temporary needs, and
maximizing the availability of resources and their most effective
utilization.
16.29. All specialized agencies and related organizations of the
United Nations system are invited to strengthen and adjust their
activities, programmes and medium-term strategies, as appropriate,
to take into account the follow-up to the Conference. Relevant
governing bodies should review their policies, programmes, budgets
and activities in this regard.
Notes
1/ Report of the United Nations Conference on Environment
and Development, Rio de Janeiro, 3-14 June 1992, vol. I,
Resolutions Adopted by the Conference (United Nations publication,
Sales No. E.93.I.8 and corrigenda), resolution 1, annex II.
2/ The source for the population figures in paragraphs 1.3
and 1.4 is World Population Prospects: The 1994 Revision (United
Nations publication, forthcoming).
3/ See Report of the United Nations World Population
Conference, Bucharest, 19-30 August 1974 (United Nations
publication, Sales No. E.75.XIII.3).
4/ See Report of the International Conference on Population,
Mexico City, 6-14 August 1984 (United Nations publication, Sales
No. E.84.XIII.8 and corrigenda).
5/ See Report of the World Conference to Review and Appraise
the Achievements of the United Nations Decade for Women: Equality,
Development and Peace, Nairobi, 15-26 July 1985 (United Nations
publication, Sales No. E.85.IV.10).
6/ See First Call for Children (New York, United Nations
Children's Fund, 1990).
7/ See Report of the United Nations Conference on
Environment and Development, Rio de Janeiro, 3-14 June 1992 (United
Nations publication, Sales No. E.93.I.8 and corrigenda).
8/ See The Final Report of the International Conference on
Nutrition, Rome, 5-11 December 1992 (Rome, Food and Agriculture
Organization of the United Nations, 1993).
9/ See Report of the World Conference on Human Rights,
Vienna, 14-25 June 1993 (A/CONF.157/24 (Part I)).
10/ General Assembly resolution 47/75.
11/ General Assembly resolution 48/163.
12/ See Report of the Global Conference on the Sustainable
Development of Small Island Developing States, Bridgetown,
Barbados, 25 April-6 May 1994 (United Nations publication, Sales
No. 94.I.18 and corrigenda).
13/ General Assembly resolution 44/82.
14/ General Assembly resolution 47/92.
15/ Resolutions 36/8 and 37/7 of the Commission on the Status
of Women (Official Records of the Economic and Social Council,
1992, Supplement No. 4 (E/1992/24), chap. I, sect. C, and ibid.,
1993, Supplement No. 7 (E/1993/27), chap. I, sect. C).
16/ General Assembly resolution 45/199, annex.
17/ See Report of the Second United Nations Conference on the
Least Developed Countries, Paris, 3-14 September 1990
(A/CONF.147/18), part one.
18/ General Assembly resolution 46/151, annex, sect. II.
19/ Children, as appropriate, adolescents, women, the aged,
the disabled, indigenous people, rural populations, urban
populations, migrants, refugees, displaced persons and
slum-dwellers.
20/ Unsafe abortion is defined as a procedure for terminating
an unwanted pregnancy either by persons lacking the necessary
skills or in an environment lacking the minimal medical standards
or both (based on World Health Organization, The Prevention and
Management of Unsafe Abortion, Report of a Technical Working Group,
Geneva, April 1992 (WHO/MSM/92.5)).
21/ Safe motherhood aims at attaining optimal maternal and
newborn health. It implies reduction of maternal mortality and
morbidity and enhancement of the health of newborn infants through
equitable access to primary health care, including family planning,
prenatal, delivery and post-natal care for the mother and infant,
and access to essential obstetric and neonatal care (World Health
Organization, Health Population and Development, WHO Position
Paper, Geneva, 1994 (WHO/FHE/94.1)).
22/ Which could include children, adolescents, women, the
aged, the disabled, indigenous people, rural populations, urban
populations, migrants, refugees, displaced persons and
slum-dwellers.
===================================================================
Resolution 2
Expression of thanks to the people and
Government of Egypt*
The International Conference on Population and Development,
Having met in Cairo from 5 to 13 September 1994 at the
invitation of the Government of Egypt,
1. Expresses its deep appreciation to His Excellency
Muhammad Hosni Mubarak, President of the Arab Republic of Egypt,
for his outstanding contribution, as President of the International
Conference on Population and Development, to the successful outcome
of the Conference;
2. Expresses its profound gratitude to the Government of
Egypt for having made it possible for the Conference to be held in
Cairo and for the excellent facilities, staff and services so
graciously placed at its disposal;
3. Requests the Government of Egypt to convey to the City of
Cairo and to the people of Egypt the gratitude of the Conference
for the hospitality and warm welcome extended to the participants.
Resolution 3
Credentials of representatives to the International
Conference on Population and Development**
The International Conference on Population and Development,
Having considered the report of the Credentials Committee 1/
and the recommendation contained therein,
Approves the report of the Credentials Committee.
* Adopted at the 14th plenary meeting, on 13 September
1994; for the discussion, see chap. VIII.
** Adopted at the 13th plenary meeting, on 13 September
1994; for the discussion, see chap. VI.
1/ A/CONF.171/11 and Corr.1.
=================================================================
Chapter II
ATTENDANCE AND ORGANIZATION OF WORK
A. Date and place of the Conference
1. The International Conference on Population and Development was
held at Cairo from 5 to 13 September 1994, in conformity with
General Assembly resolutions 47/176 of 22 December 1992 and 48/186
of 21 December 1993. During that period the Conference held 14
plenary meetings.
B. Pre-Conference consultations
2. Pre-Conference consultations open to all States invited to
participate in the Conference were held at Cairo on 3 and 4
September 1994 to consider a number of procedural and
organizational matters. These and other informal consultations
were conducted under the chairmanship of His Excellency Mr. Mohamed
Adel Elsafty, Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs of Egypt. The
report on the consultations (A/CONF.171/L.2) was submitted to the
Conference and the recommendations contained in it were accepted as
the basis for the organization of the Conference's work.
C. Attendance
3. The following States and regional economic integration
organization were represented at the Conference:
Afghanistan
Albania
Algeria
Angola
Antigua and Barbuda
Argentina
Armenia
Australia
Austria
Azerbaijan
Bahamas
Bahrain
Bangladesh
Barbados
Belarus
Belgium
Belize
Benin
Bhutan
Bolivia
Botswana
Brazil
Brunei Darussalam
Bulgaria
Burkina Faso
Burundi
Cambodia
Cameroon
Canada
Cape Verde
Central African Republic
Chad
Chile
China
Colombia
Comoros
Congo
Cook Islands
Costa Rica
C“te d'Ivoire
Croatia
Cuba
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Democratic People's Republic
of Korea
Denmark
Djibouti
Dominican Republic
Ecuador
Egypt
El Salvador
Equatorial Guinea
Eritrea
Estonia
Ethiopia
European Community
Fiji
Finland
France
Gabon
Gambia
Georgia
Germany
Ghana
Greece
Guatemala
Guinea
Guinea-Bissau
Guyana
Haiti
Holy See
Honduras
Hungary
Iceland
India
Indonesia
Iran (Islamic Republic of)
Ireland
Israel
Italy
Jamaica
Japan
Jordan
Kazakhstan
Kenya
Kiribati
Kuwait
Kyrgyzstan
Lao People's Democratic Republic
Latvia
Lesotho
Liberia
Libyan Arab Jamahiriya
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Madagascar
Malawi
Malaysia
Maldives
Mali
Malta
Marshall Islands
Mauritania
Mauritius
Mexico
Micronesia (Federated States of)
Mongolia
Morocco
Mozambique
Myanmar
Namibia
Nepal
Netherlands
New Zealand
Nicaragua
Niger
Nigeria
Niue
Norway
Oman
Pakistan
Panama
Papua New Guinea
Paraguay
Peru
Philippines
Poland
Portugal
Republic of Korea
Republic of Moldova
Romania
Russian Federation
Rwanda
Saint Kitts and Nevis
Saint Lucia
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Samoa
San Marino
Sao Tome and Principe
Senegal
Seychelles
Sierra Leone
Singapore
Slovakia
Slovenia
Solomon Islands
South Africa
Spain
Sri Lanka
Suriname
Swaziland
Sweden
Switzerland
Syrian Arab Republic
Tajikistan
Thailand
The former Yugoslav Republic
of Macedonia
Togo
Tonga
Trinidad and Tobago
Tunisia
Turkey
Turkmenistan
Tuvalu
Uganda
Ukraine
United Arab Emirates
United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Northern Ireland
United Republic of Tanzania
United States of America
Uruguay
Uzbekistan
Vanuatu
Venezuela
Viet Nam
Yemen
Zaire
Zambia
Zimbabwe
4. The observer for Palestine attended the Conference.
5. The following associate members of the regional commissions
were represented by observers:
Aruba
British Virgin Islands
Guam
Netherlands Antilles
Republic of Palau
United States Virgin Islands
6. The secretariats of the following regional commissions were
represented:
Economic Commission for Africa
Economic Commission for Europe
Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean
Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific
Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia
7. The following United Nations bodies and programmes were
represented:
United Nations Children's Fund
United Nations Development Fund for Women
United Nations Development Programme
United Nations Environment Programme
United Nations Population Fund
United Nations University
World Food Programme
United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (Habitat)
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Office of the
International Research and Training Institute for the
Advancement of Women Joint Inspection Unit
8. The following specialized agencies were represented:
International Labour Organization
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization
World Health Organization
World Bank
International Monetary Fund
World Meteorological Organization
International Fund for Agricultural Development
United Nations Industrial Development Organization
9. The following intergovernmental organizations were
represented:
African Development Bank
Agency for Cultural and Technical Cooperation
Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development
Arab Maghreb Union
Asian-African Legal Consultative Committee
Asian Development Bank
Caribbean Community Secretariat
Caribbean Development and Cooperation Committee
Centre d'etudes et de recherche sur la population pour le
developpement
Comision Regional de Asuntos Sociales
Commission of the European Communities
Commonwealth of Independent States
Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf
Council of Arab Economic Unity
Council of Europe
East West Center
Institut de formation et de recherche demographiques
Inter-American Development Bank
International Committee of the Red Cross
International Food Policy Research Institute
International Organization for Migration
Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
Latin American Centre for Management Development
League of Arab States
Organization of African Unity
Organization of American States
Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development
Organization of the Islamic Conference
Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries Fund for
International Development
Pacific Islands Development Program
South Pacific Commission
South Pacific Forum Secretariat
10. A large number of non-governmental organizations attended the
Conference. The list of non-governmental organizations accredited
to participate in the Conference is given in documents
E/CONF.84/PC/10 and Add.1-3, A/CONF.171/PC/6
and Add.1-5 and A/CONF.171/7 and Add.1. Information on parallel
and associated activities, including NGO Forum '94, is contained in
annex IV to the present report.
D. Opening of the Conference and election of the President
11. The Conference was declared open by the Secretary-General of
the Conference, on behalf of the Secretary-General of the United
Nations.
12. At the 1st plenary meeting, on 5 September, the Conference
elected, by acclamation, as President of the Conference, His
Excellency Mr. Muhammad Hosni Mubarak, President of the Arab
Republic of Egypt. The inaugural address of the President of the
Conference is contained in annex II to the present report.
13. The Secretary-General of the United Nations and the
Secretary-General of the International Conference on Population and
Development, Dr. Nafis Sadik, then addressed the Conference. Their
inaugural addresses are contained in annex II.
14. Opening statements were made by Her Excellency Mrs. Gro Harlem
Brundtland, Prime Minister of Norway; His Excellency Mr. Albert
Gore, Vice-President of the United States of America; Her
Excellency Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto, Prime Minister of Pakistan; and
His Royal Highness Prince Mbilini, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of
Swaziland. The texts of their statements are contained in annex
II.
E. Messages from heads of State
15. The Conference received messages wishing it success from His
Excellency Mr. Soeharto, President of the Republic of Indonesia;
His Excellency Mr. Lech Walesa, President of the Republic of
Poland; and His Excellency Mr. Ion Iliescu, President of Romania.
F. Adoption of the rules of procedure
16. At the 1st plenary meeting, on 5 September, the Conference
adopted the provisional rules of procedure (A/CONF.171/2) as
recommended by the Preparatory Committee for the Conference and
approved by the General Assembly in its decision 48/490 of 14 July
1994.
G. Adoption of the agenda
17. At the 1st plenary meeting, on 5 September, the Conference
adopted as its agenda the provisional agenda (A/CONF.171/1)
recommended by the Preparatory Committee in its decision 3/2. The
agenda as adopted was as follows:
1. Opening of the Conference.
2. Election of the President.
3. Adoption of the rules of procedure.
4. Adoption of the agenda.
5. Election of officers other than the President.
6. Organization of work, including the establishment of the
Main Committee of the Conference.
7. Credentials of representatives to the Conference:
(a) Appointment of the members of the Credentials
Committee;
(b) Report of the Credentials Committee.
8. Experiences concerning population and development
strategies and programmes.
9. Programme of Action of the Conference.
10. Other matters.
11. Adoption of the report of the Conference.
H. Election of officers other than the President
18. At the 1st plenary meeting, on 5 September, the Conference
elected Vice-Presidents from the following regional groups:
African States (7 Vice-Presidents): Central African Republic,
Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, Tunisia and Zambia;
Asian States (6 Vice-Presidents): Bangladesh, China, Japan,
Indonesia, Marshall Islands and Pakistan;
Eastern European States (3 Vice-Presidents): Hungary, Romania
and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia;
Latin American and Caribbean States (5 Vice-Presidents):
Brazil, Mexico, Suriname, Uruguay and Venezuela;
Western European and other States (6 Vice-Presidents):
Canada, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Greece and Malta.
19. At the same meeting, the Conference also elected an ex officio
Vice-President from the host country, His Excellency Mr. Maher
Mahran, Minister of Population and Family Welfare of Egypt.
20. Also at the same meeting, the Conference elected Mr. Fred Sai
(Ghana) Chairman of the Main Committee.
21. At the 10th plenary meeting, on 9 September, the Conference
elected Mr. Peeter Olesk (Estonia) Rapporteur-General of the
Conference.
I. Organization of work, including the establishment
of the Main Committee of the Conference
22. At the 1st plenary meeting, on 5 September, the Conference, in
accordance with the recommendations of the pre-Conference
consultations contained in paragraphs 15 to 18 of document
A/CONF.171/L.2, approved its organization of work.
J. Accreditation of intergovernmental organizations
23. At the 1st plenary meeting, on 5 September, in accordance with
the recommendations of the pre-Conference consultations contained
in paragraph 20 of document A/CONF.171/L.2, the Conference approved
the accreditation of the intergovernmental organizations listed in
document A/CONF.171/8.
24. At the 11th plenary meeting, on 12 September, the Conference
approved the accreditation of the additional intergovernmental
organizations listed in documents A/CONF.171/8/Add.1 and 2.
K. Accreditation of non-governmental organizations
25. At the 1st plenary meeting, on 5 September, in accordance with
the recommendations of the pre-Conference consultations contained
in paragraph 21 of document A/CONF.171/L.2, the Conference approved
the accreditation of the non-governmental organizations listed in
documents A/CONF.171/7 and Add.1.
L. Appointment of the members of the Credentials Committee
26. At the 1st plenary meeting, on 5 September, in conformity with
rule 4 of the rules of procedure of the Conference and the
recommendation of the pre-Conference consultations contained in
paragraph 19 of document A/CONF.171/L.2, the Conference established
a Credentials Committee composed of Austria, the Bahamas, China,
C“te d'Ivoire, Ecuador, Mauritius, the Russian Federation, Thailand
and the United States of America, on the understanding that if one
of those States did not participate in the Conference, it would be
replaced by another State from the same regional group.
M. Other matters
27. At the 1st plenary meeting, on 5 September, the Conference
approved the arrangements for the consideration of the various
chapters of the draft programme of action as recommended by the
pre-Conference consultations. The chapters were to be considered
in the following order: I, II, VIII, VII, IX, X, XI, XIII, XIV,
III, XVI, IV, V, VI, XII and XV.
===================================================================
Chapter III
GENERAL DEBATE
1. The Conference held a general debate on experiences concerning
population development strategies and programmes (item 8) at the
2nd to 12th meetings, from 5 to 12 September 1994. Representatives
of States, specialized agencies, United Nations bodies, programmes
and offices, intergovernmental organizations and non-governmental
organizations and observers of associate members of the regional
commissions addressed the Conference. All speakers expressed their
appreciation of the efforts made by the host Government and the
secretariat in preparing for the Conference.
2. At the 2nd plenary meeting, on 5 September, the
Secretary-General of the Conference made an introductory statement.
The Conference also heard statements by the representatives of
Algeria (on behalf of the States Members of the United Nations that
are members of the Group of 77), Germany (on behalf of the European
Union), Mexico, China, Kenya, Argentina, Tuvalu, Chile and Spain.
3. At the same meeting, the Managing Director of the
International Monetary Fund made a statement.
4. At the 3rd plenary meeting, on 6 September, the Conference
heard statements by the Prime Ministers of Uganda and Ethiopia and
the representatives of France, Venezuela, Australia, Denmark,
Romania, Tunisia, India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Canada and New
Zealand.
5. At the same meeting, statements were made by the
Director-General of the World Health Organization, the President of
the World Bank and the United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees.
6. At the 4th plenary meeting, on 6 September, statements were
made by the representatives of Antigua and Barbuda, Japan, Finland,
Zimbabwe, Samoa, Malaysia, Ireland, the former Yugoslav Republic of
Macedonia, Croatia, Belgium, the Republic of Korea, the United Arab
Emirates, Austria, the Bahamas, Brazil, Turkey and Papua New
Guinea.
7. At the same meeting, statements were made by the
Director-General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and
Cultural Organization, the Executive Directors of the United
Nations Children's Fund and the United Nations Environment
Programme, the Administrator of the United Nations Development
Programme and the representative of the Committee on the
Elimination of Discrimination against Women. The representatives
of the following intergovernmental organizations made statements:
Commission of the European Communities, League of Arab States,
International Organization for Migration, Inter-American
Development Bank and Organisation for Economic Cooperation and
Development. Statements were also made by the representatives of
the following non-governmental organizations: International
Planned Parenthood Federation, International Federation of Red
Cross and Red Crescent Societies, Cousteau Society, Earth Council
and Commission on Global Governance.
8. At the 5th plenary meeting, on 7 September, the Conference
heard statements by the representatives of Italy, Paraguay, Ghana,
Tonga, Hungary, Slovenia, Fiji, Panama, Mali, Bangladesh, Trinidad
and Tobago and Cuba.
9. At the same meeting, the representative of the United Nations
Industrial Development Organization made a statement.
10. At the 6th plenary meeting, on 7 September, statements were
made by the representatives of the Federated States of Micronesia,
Bolivia, Thailand, Sweden, the Holy See, Benin, Burkina Faso,
Nicaragua, Greece, Kuwait and the Philippines. The observer for
Palestine made a statement.
11. At the same meeting, the representative of the Food and
Agriculture Organization of the United Nations made a statement.
Statements were also made by the Acting Director of the United
Nations Development Fund for Women, the Rector of the United
Nations University, the Executive Secretary of the Economic
Commission for Africa, the Chairman of the Commission on
Sustainable Development, the Chairperson of the Committee on the
Rights of the Child and the Chairperson/Rapporteur of the Working
Group on Indigenous Populations. The representative of the
Organization of African Unity, an intergovernmental organization,
made a statement. Statements were also made by the representatives
of the following non-governmental organizations: International
Youth NGO Consultation of ICPD, Independent Commission of
Population and Quality of Life, Population Action International,
Population Council, Center for Development and Population
Activities, Inter-African Committee on Traditional Practices and
International Right to Life Federation.
12. At the 7th plenary meeting, on 8 September, the Conference
heard statements by the representatives of Israel, the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, South Africa,
Ukraine, Zambia, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Malta, Namibia,
Cameroon, Switzerland and Portugal.
13. At the same meeting, statements were made by the
representatives of the Asian Development Bank and the International
Food Policy Research Institute, intergovernmental organizations.
14. At the 8th plenary meeting, on 8 September, statements were
made by the representatives of Senegal, Guatemala, Sierra Leone,
Tajikistan, Suriname, the Netherlands, Mongolia, Mozambique, the
Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the Cook Islands and
Eritrea.
15. At the same meeting, statements were made by the Executive
Secretaries of the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia
and the Economic Commission for Europe and the Deputy Executive
Secretary of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the
Pacific. Statements were made by the representatives of the
Council of Europe, the African Development Bank and the Islamic
Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization,
intergovernmental organizations. Statements were also made by the
representatives of the following non-governmental organizations:
Religious Consultation on Population, Reproductive Health and
Ethics, International Federation of Settlements and Neighbourhood
Centres, International Union for the Scientific Study of
Population, Population Institute, Union of Concerned Scientists,
American Association of Retired Persons, Church World Service,
International Panel of Academies on Population and Development,
Centro de Investigacion Social, Formaci¢n y Estudios de la Mujer,
National Audubon Society, World Council of Churches, Sasakawa Peace
Foundation, IPAS-Women's Health Initiatives and Asian Forum of
Parliamentarians on Population and Development.
16. At the 9th plenary meeting, on 9 September, the Conference
heard statements by the representatives of the Niger, Malawi,
Colombia, Botswana, Nigeria, the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Rwanda,
Estonia and Vanuatu.
17. At the 10th plenary meeting, on 9 September, statements were
made by the Prime Minister of Madagascar and the representatives of
Norway, Uruguay, Ecuador, the Russian Federation, Luxembourg,
Poland, Mauritius, Jamaica, Nepal, Guinea-Bissau, Albania, Saint
Vincent and the Grenadines, Viet Nam, Belize, Slovakia, the
Marshall Islands, Honduras, Bulgaria, the Congo, Kiribati, Niue,
Maldives and Latvia and the observer for the British Virgin
Islands.
18. At the same meeting, statements were made by the Deputy
Director-General of the International Labour Organization and the
President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development.
The Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Human
Settlements (Habitat II) and the Deputy Executive Director of the
World Food Programme also made statements. Statements were made by
the representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross
and the Agency for Cultural and Technical Cooperation,
intergovernmental organizations.
19. At the 11th plenary meeting, on 12 September, the Conference
heard statements by the representatives of Chad, C“te d'Ivoire,
Myanmar, El Salvador, Belarus, Iceland, the Czech Republic, Cyprus,
Cambodia, the Dominican Republic, the Central African Republic,
Peru, Liberia, the Lao People's Democratic Republic and the United
Republic of Tanzania.
20. At the 12th plenary meeting, on 12 September, the Conference
heard statements by the representatives of Angola, Burundi,
Seychelles, Zaire, Guinea, Costa Rica, the Gambia, Haiti, Jordan,
Gabon, San Marino, the Syrian Arab Republic, Togo, Azerbaijan, Sao
Tome and Principe, Lithuania, Georgia, Armenia and Turkmenistan and
the observer for the United States Virgin Islands.
21. At the same meeting, the Deputy Executive Director of the
United Nations Population Fund and the representative of the
Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean made
statements. The representative of the Arab Fund for Economic and
Social Development, an intergovernmental organization, made a
statement. Statements were also made by the following
non-governmental organizations: Pathfinder International, Vivid
Communication with Women in their Cultures, Family Planning
Association of India, International Confederation of Free Trade
Unions, Pacific Island Association of Non-Governmental
Organizations, International Alliance of Women - Equal Rights,
Equal Responsibilities, International Federation for Family Life
Promotion, Margaret Sanger Center and CARITAS Association in Egypt
for Community Development.
=================================================================
Chapter IV
REPORT OF THE MAIN COMMITTEE
1. At the 1st plenary meeting, on 5 September 1994, the
Conference approved the organization of its work, as set out in
document A/CONF.171/3, and decided to allocate agenda item 9
(Programme of Action of the Conference) to the Main Committee,
which was to submit its recommendations to the Conference.
2. The Main Committee held five meetings, from 5 to 12 September
1994. It also held a number of informal meetings.
3. The Main Committee had before it the following documents:
(a) Note verbale dated 9 September 1994 from the delegation
of Costa Rica to the International Conference on Population and
Development addressed to the Secretary-General of the Conference
(A/CONF.171/9);
(b) Letter dated 7 September 1994 from the Ambassador of
Tunisia to Egypt addressed to the Secretary-General of the
International Conference on Population and Development
(A/CONF.171/10);
(c) Letter dated 9 September 1994 from the Deputy to the
Alternate Head of the Delegation of Indonesia to the International
Conference on Population and Development addressed to the
Secretary-General of the Conference (A/CONF.171/12);
(d) Note by the Secretariat transmitting the draft programme
of action of the International Conference on Population and
Development (A/CONF.171/L.1).
4. The Chairman of the Main Committee was Fred Sai (Ghana), who
was elected by acclamation at the 1st plenary meeting of the
Conference, on 5 September.
5. The Main Committee, at its 1st meeting, on 5 September,
elected the following officers by acclamation:
Vice-Chairmen: Lionel A. Hurst (Antigua and Barbuda)
Nicolaas H. Biegman (Netherlands)
Bal Gopal Baidya (Nepal)
Jerzy Z. Holzer (Poland)
6. At the same meeting, on the proposal of the Chairman, the Main
Committee agreed that Mr. Holzer (Poland) should be appointed to
serve as Rapporteur as well as Vice-Chairman.
Consideration of the draft programme of action
7. At the 2nd to 5th meetings, on 9, 10 and 12 September, the
Main Committee considered the amendments to the draft programme of
action (A/CONF.171/L.1) which had been agreed upon as a result of
informal consultations.
8. At the 2nd meeting, on 9 September, the Main Committee
approved the amendments to chapter XI (Population, development and
education) of the draft programme of action and recommended the
chapter to the Conference for adoption as amended (see
A/CONF.171/L.3/Add.11 and 17). The representative of the Holy See
made a statement.
9. At the same meeting, the Main Committee approved the
amendments to chapter IX (Population distribution, urbanization and
internal migration) of the draft programme of action and
recommended the chapter to the Conference for adoption as amended
(see A/CONF.171/L.3/Add.9 and 17).
10. Also at the same meeting, the Main Committee approved the
amendments to chapter XVI (Follow-up to the Conference) of the
draft programme of action and recommended the chapter to the
Conference for adoption as amended (see A/CONF.171/L.3/Add.16).
11. At the 3rd meeting, on 10 September, the Main Committee
approved the amendments to chapter III (Interrelationships between
population, sustained economic growth and sustainable development)
of the draft programme of action and recommended the chapter to the
Conference for adoption as amended (see A/CONF.171/L.3/Add.3 and
17). The representative of the Holy See made a statement.
12. At the 4th meeting, on 10 September, the Main Committee
approved the amendments to chapter IV (Gender equality, equity and
empowerment of women) of the draft programme of action and
recommended the chapter to the Conference for adoption as amended
(see A/CONF.171/L.3/Add.4 and 17).
13. At the same meeting, the Main Committee considered proposed
amendments to chapter V (The family, its roles, rights, composition
and structure) of the draft programme of action. Statements were
made by the representatives of Australia, Germany (on behalf of the
European Union), the Holy See, Austria, Zambia, Zimbabwe, the
Dominican Republic, Honduras, Nicaragua, Ecuador and Benin. The
Main Committee postponed further consideration of the chapter (see
para. 23).
14. At the same meeting, the Main Committee approved the
amendments to chapter VI (Population growth and structure) of the
draft programme of action and recommended the chapter to the
Conference for adoption as amended (see A/CONF.171/L.3/Add.6 and
17).
15. Also at the 4th meeting, the Main Committee approved an
amended text to replace chapter VIII (Health, morbidity and
mortality) of the draft programme of action and recommended the
chapter to the Conference for adoption as amended (see
A/CONF.171/L.3/Add.8 and 17). Statements were made by the
representatives of the Holy See, Benin, the Dominican Republic,
Malta, Jordan, Ecuador, Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua, the Gambia,
the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya and Costa Rica.
16. At the same meeting, the Main Committee approved the
amendments to chapter XII (Technology, research and development) of
the draft programme of action and recommended the chapter to the
Conference as amended (see A/CONF.171/L.3/Add.12 and 17).
Statements were made by the representatives of Zimbabwe and the
Gambia.
17. At the same meeting, the Main Committee considered proposed
amendments to chapter X (International migration) of the draft
programme of action. Statements were made by the representatives
of the Dominican Republic, Senegal, Tunisia, Benin, Zimbabwe,
Algeria, Zambia, Mali, China, Cameroon, Ecuador, Swaziland, Mexico,
Mauritania, Honduras, the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Liberia, Chile,
the Philippines, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Uganda, Malawi, Nicaragua,
Botswana, Peru, El Salvador, Paraguay, the Holy See, Nepal,
Guatemala, Suriname, Cuba, the Congo, the Gambia, Haiti, Canada and
Chad. The Main Committee postponed further consideration of the
chapter (see para. 20).
18. At the 5th meeting, on 12 September, the Main Committee
approved an amended text to replace chapter VII (Reproductive
rights and reproductive health) of the draft programme of action
and recommended the chapter to the Conference for adoption as
amended (see A/CONF.171/L.3/Add.7). Statements were made by the
representatives of Argentina, the Syrian Arab Republic, Ecuador,
Egypt, the Holy See, Malta, Turkey, Sweden (also on behalf of
Finland and Norway), Nicaragua, India, Jordan, the Libyan Arab
Jamahiriya, Zambia, Mali and El Salvador.
19. At the same meeting, the Main Committee approved the
amendments to chapter XIII (National action) of the draft programme
of action and recommended the chapter to the Conference for
adoption as amended (see A/CONF.171/L.3/Add.13).
20. Also at the 5th meeting, the Main Committee approved the
amendments to chapter X (International migration) of the draft
programme of action and recommended the chapter to the Conference
for adoption as amended (see A/CONF.171/L.3/Add.10).
21. At the same meeting, the Main Committee approved an amended
text to replace chapter II (Principles) of the draft programme of
action and recommended the chapter to the Conference for adoption
as amended (see A/CONF.171/L.3/Add.2). Statements were made by the
representatives of Sweden, Germany (on behalf of the European
Union), the United States of America, the Islamic Republic of Iran,
India, Antigua and Barbuda, Egypt and the Holy See.
22. At the same meeting, the Main Committee approved an amended
text to replace chapter I (Preamble) of the draft programme of
action and recommended the chapter to the Conference for adoption
as amended (see A/CONF.171/L.3/Add.1). The representatives of
Zimbabwe and India made statements.
23. At the same meeting, the Main Committee approved the
amendments to chapter V (The family, its roles, rights, composition
and structure) of the draft programme of action and recommended the
chapter to the Conference for adoption as amended (see
A/CONF.171/L.3/Add.5).
24. Also at the 5th meeting, the Main Committee approved the
amendments to chapter XIV (International cooperation) of the draft
programme of action and recommended the chapter to the Conference
for adoption as amended (see A/CONF.171/L.3/Add.14).
25. At the same meeting, the Main Committee approved the text of
chapter XV (Partnership with the non-governmental sector) in the
light of amendments made in other chapters of the draft programme
of action and recommended the chapter to the Conference for
adoption as amended (see A/CONF.171/L.3/Add.15 and 17).
=================================================================
Chapter V
ADOPTION OF THE PROGRAMME OF ACTION
1. At the 13th plenary meeting, on 13 September, the Conference
considered the recommendations on the Programme of Action contained
in the report of the Main Committee (A/CONF.171/L.3 and Add.1-17).
The Chairman of the Main Committee, Fred Sai (Ghana) made a
statement.
2. After further amending chapters I and II of the Programme of
Action, the Conference adopted chapters I to XVI as recommended by
the Main Committee. The following made comments or expressed
reservations on various chapters of the Programme of Action:
(a) On chapter I, the representatives of Brazil and Austria;
(b) On chapter II, the representatives of the Islamic
Republic of Iran and China;
(c) On chapter IV, the representatives of the Islamic
Republic of Iran and the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya;
(d) On chapter V, the representatives of the Dominican
Republic, Pakistan and Zimbabwe;
(e) On chapter VII, the representatives of the Libyan Arab
Jamahiriya, Yemen, Egypt, Indonesia, Algeria, Afghanistan, the
Syrian Arab Republic, El Salvador, Kuwait, Jordan, Malta, the
Islamic Republic of Iran, Malaysia, Djibouti and Maldives;
(f) On chapter VIII, the representatives of Colombia, the
Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, El Salvador, Georgia, Indonesia, Yemen and
Malta;
(g) On chapter X, the representatives of the Philippines and
Cote d'Ivoire;
(h) On chapter XIV, the representative of Australia;
(i) On chapter XVI, the representatives of Tunisia and
Senegal.
3. Also at the 13th plenary meeting, the representative of
Algeria, on behalf of the States Members of the United Nations that
are members of the Group of 77, introduced a draft resolution
(A/CONF.171/L.5) entitled "Programme of Action of the International
Conference on Population and Development". The representatives of
Peru and Ecuador made statements.
4. At the 14th plenary meeting, on 13 September, the Conference
adopted the draft resolution (for the text, see chapter I,
resolution 1).
5. Before the adoption of the draft resolution, statements were
made by the representatives of Argentina, the Dominican Republic,
the United Arab Emirates, the Holy See, Nicaragua, Belize,
Honduras, Malaysia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Chile, Venezuela, Costa
Rica, Paraguay, Pakistan, Tuvalu, the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya,
Guinea, Turkey, Brunei Darussalam, Zambia, C“te d'Ivoire and
Cameroon.
Oral statements and reservations on the Programme of Action
6. At the 13th and 14th plenary meetings, the representatives of
a number of countries made statements which they requested the
secretariat of the Conference to place on record. Those statements
are set out below.
7. The representative of Afghanistan stated the following:
The delegation of Afghanistan wishes to express its
reservation about the word "individual" in chapter VII and
also about those parts that are not in conformity with Islamic
Sharia.
8. The representative of Brunei Darussalam stated the following:
According to our interpretation, one aspect of
reproductive rights and reproductive health, referring
specifically to paragraphs 7.3 and 7.47 and subparagraph 13.14
(c) of the Programme of Action, contradicts Islamic law and
our national legislation, ethical values and cultural
background. My country wishes to place on record its
reservation on those paragraphs.
9. The representative of El Salvador stated the following:
Recognizing that aspects of the Programme of Action are
tremendously positive and are of supreme importance for the
future development of mankind, the family and our children,
we, as leaders of nations, cannot but express the reservations
we feel are appropriate. If we did not, we could not possibly
face the questions from our people that are certain to be
posed.
It is for this reason - recognizing the spirit of the
document, to which we have given our consensus and our
approval - that we wish to state that there are three basic
aspects which we are concerned about. Therefore, in
accordance with the rules of procedure of this Conference, we
wish to express the following reservations and request that
they be included in full in the report of this Conference.
We Latin American countries are signatories to the
American Convention on Human Rights (Pact of San Jos‚).
Article 4 thereof states quite clearly that life must be
protected from the moment of conception. In addition, because
our countries are mainly Christian, we consider that life is
given by the Creator and cannot be taken unless there is a
reason which justifies it being extinguished. For this
reason, as far as Principle 1 of the Programme of Action is
concerned, we associate ourselves with the reservation
expressed by the delegation of Argentina: we consider that
life must be protected from the moment of conception.
As far as the family is concerned, although we are quite
clear about what is contained in the document, we would like
to express specific reservations on how the term "various
forms of family" is going to be interpreted, because the union
is between man and woman, as is defined in our Family Code in
the Constitution of our Republic.*
As far as reproductive rights, reproductive health
and family planning are concerned, we wish to express
reservations, as the other Latin American countries have done:
we should never include abortion within these concepts, either
as a service or as a method of regulating fertility.
The delegation of El Salvador endorses the
reservations expressed by other nations with regard to the
term "individuals" as we objected to that term in the Main
Committee. It is not in conformity with our legislation
and therefore could give rise to misunderstanding. We
therefore express our reservation with respect to the term
"individuals".
10. The representative of Honduras stated the following:
Pursuant to rule 33 of the rules of procedure, the
delegation of Honduras, in subscribing to the Programme of
Action of this Conference, would like to submit in accordance
with rule 38 of the same rules of procedure, the following
statement of reservations, requesting that it be included in
full in the final report.
The delegation of Honduras in supporting the
Programme of Action of the International Conference on
Population and Development bases itself on the Declaration of
the Fifteenth Summit of Central American Presidents,
adopted at Guacimo de Limon, Costa Rica, on 20 August 1994 and
bases itself specifically on the following:
(a) Article 65 of the Constitution of the Republic
of Honduras, which provides for the fact that the right to
life is inviolable, and articles 111 and 112 of the same
Constitution, which state that the State must protect the
institution of the family and marriage and the right of
men and women to contract marriages and common law marriages;
(b) The American Convention on Human Rights, which
reaffirms that every person has the right to life and that
this right will be protected by law and will be protected in
general, starting from the moment of conception, based on
moral, ethical, religious and cultural principles, which
should regulate the international community, and in accordance
with the internationally recognized human rights.
________________________
* The representative of El Salvador later
corrected his statement as follows:
In referring to the family in its various
forms, under no circumstances can we change the origin and
foundation of the family, which is the union between man and
woman from which derive children.
=============================================================
As a consequence of this, one accepts the concepts
of "family planning", "sexual health", "reproductive health",
"maternity without risk", "regulation of fertility",
"reproductive rights" and "sexual rights" so long as these
terms do not include "abortion" or "termination of
pregnancy", because Honduras does not accept these as
arbitrary actions; nor do we accept them as a way of
controlling fertility or regulating the population.
Secondly, given that new terminology has been
introduced in the document, as well as concepts which should
be further analysed, and that these terms and concepts are
expressed in scientific language, social language or public
service language, which will have to be understood in
terms of their proper context and are not interpreted in a way
that could undermine respect for human beings, the delegation
of Honduras considers that this terminology can only be
understood without prejudice to its national law.
Finally, we also state that the terms "family
composition and structure", "types of families", "different
types of families", "other unions" and similar terms can only
be accepted on the understanding that in Honduras these terms
will never be able to mean unions of persons of the same sex.
11. The representative of Jordan stated the following:
The delegation of Jordan, in its deliberations and
discussions with all delegations and in a very serious and
responsible manner, always wanted to join the consensus on the
Programme of Action. While deeply appreciating the great
efforts deployed by the Main Committee and the working groups,
which have worked for long hours with the aim of achieving
consensus on the language, and in full respect of the values
of all countries, the delegation of Jordan has reached some
compromises regarding the language on all issues.
We fully believe that the international community
respects our national legislation, our religious beliefs and
the sovereign right of each country to apply population
policies in accordance with its legislation. The delegation
of Jordan understands that the final document, particularly
chapters IV, V, VI and VII, will be applied within the
framework of Islamic Sharia and our ethical values, as well as
the laws that shape our behaviour. We will deal with the
paragraphs of this document accordingly. Therefore, we
interpret the word "individuals" to mean couples, a married
couple. I hope that you will put these comments on record.
12. The representative of Kuwait stated the following:
The delegation of Kuwait would like to express its
support for the Programme of Action, including all its
positive points for the benefit of humankind. At the same
time, we would like to put on record that our commitment to
any objectives on population policies is subject to their not
being in contradiction with Islamic Sharia or with the customs
and traditions of Kuwaiti society and the Constitution of the
State.
13. The representative of the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya stated
the following:
The delegation of the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya wishes
to express a reservation on all terms in the document that are
in contravention of Islamic Sharia, such as we see in
paragraph 4.17 and in chapter II of the document, in relation
to inheritance and extramarital sexual activities, and
the references to sexual behaviour, as in paragraph 8.31.
I wish to express a reservation, despite the
discussion that took place in the Main Committee regarding the
basic rights of couples and individuals. We express a
reservation regarding the word "individuals".
The Jamahiriya reconfirms, as part of Arab
civilization, the importance of a dialogue among all
religions, cultures and peoples in order to achieve world
peace; yet no country, no civilization has the right to
impose its political, economic and social orientations on any
other people.
I also want to express a reservation on the words
"unwanted pregnancies" in paragraph 8.25, because our written
Constitution does not allow the State to undertake abortions
unless the mother's health is in danger.
14. The representative of Nicaragua stated the following:
Under rule 33 of the rules of procedure of this
Conference, the delegation of Nicaragua supports the general
agreement arrived at on the Programme of Action.
Nevertheless, we would submit in writing pursuant to rule 38
of the rules of procedure, the following statement of
reservations. We would request that this statement be fully
reflected in the final report of this Conference.
The Government of Nicaragua, pursuant to its
Constitution and its laws, and as a signatory of the American
Convention on Human Rights, confirms that every person has a
right to life, this being a fundamental and inalienable right,
and that this right begins from the very moment of
conception.
Accordingly, first we agree that the family may take
various forms, but in no event can its essence be changed.
Its essence is the union between man and woman, from which new
human life derives.
Second, we accept the concepts of "family planning",
"sexual health", "reproductive health", "reproductive rights"
and "sexual rights" expressing an explicit reservation on
these terms and any others when they include "abortion" or
"termination of pregnancy" as a component. Abortion and
termination of pregnancy can under no circumstances be
regarded as a method of regulating fertility or a means of
population control.
Third, we also express an explicit reservation on
the terms "couple" or "unions" when they may refer to persons
of the same sex.
Fourth, Nicaragua accepts therapeutic abortion on
the grounds of medical necessity under our Constitution.
Thus, we express an explicit reservation on "abortion" and
"termination of pregnancy" in any part of the Programme of
Action of this Conference.
15. The representative of Paraguay stated the following:
In accordance with the introduction to chapter II of
the Programme of Action, the delegation of Paraguay would like
to express the following reservations.
On chapter VII, paragraph 7.2, the right to life is
the inherent right of every human being from conception to
natural death. This is stipulated in article 4 of our
national Constitution. Therefore, Paraguay accepts all
forms of family planning with full respect for life, as is
provided for in our national Constitution, and as an
expression of exercising responsible parenthood.
The inclusion of the term "interruption of
pregnancy" as part of the concept of regulation of fertility
in the working definition proposed by the World Health
Organization, which was used during the course of this
Conference, makes this concept totally unacceptable to our
country. We wish to point out that in Paraguay we recognize
constitutionally the need to work on the reproductive health
of the population as a way of improving the quality of life of
the family.
On chapter II, principle 9, and chapter V, paragraph
5.1, our national Constitution considers that the family is
the basic unit of society and is based on the union of a
couple - man and woman - recognizing as well single-parent
families. It is only from this perspective that we can
include the term "various forms of the family", respecting the
various cultures, traditions and religions.
We would like to request that this statement of
reservations be included in the final report of the
Conference.
16. The representative of the Philippines stated the
following:
The Philippine delegation would like to put on
record our regret that in paragraph 10.12 of the Programme of
Action the originally proposed wording, recognizing "the right
to family reunification" was toned down to just recognizing
"the vital importance of family reunification". In the
spirit of compromise, we agreed to the revised wording based
on the argument forwarded by other delegations that there have
been no previous international conventions or declarations
proclaiming such a right, and that this is not the appropriate
conference to establish this right. For this and other worthy
reasons, we wish to reiterate the recommendation made in the
Main Committee, supported by many delegations and received
positively by the Chairman, that an international conference
on migration be convened in the near future. We trust that
this recommendation will be part of the record of this
Conference and will be formally referred to the Economic and
Social Council and the General Assembly for proper
consideration.
17. The representative of the Syrian Arab Republic stated the
following:
I should like to put on record that the Syrian Arab
Republic will deal with and address the concepts contained in
the Programme of Action in accordance with chapter II and in
full accordance with the ethical, cultural and religious
concepts and convictions of our society in order to serve the
unit of the family, which is the nucleus of society, and in
order to enhance prosperity in our societies.
18. The representative of the United Arab Emirates stated the
following:
The delegation of the United Arab Emirates believes
in protecting man and promoting his welfare and in enhancing
his role in the family and in the State and at the
international level. We consider also that man is the
central object and the means for attaining sustainable
development. We do not consider abortion as a means of family
planning, and we adhere to the principles of Islamic law also
in matters of inheritance.
We wish to express reservations on everything that
contravenes the principles and precepts of our religion Islam,
a tolerant religion, and our laws. We would like the
secretariat of the Conference to put on record the
position we have expressed among the reservations that have
been mentioned by other States on the final document.
19. The representative of Yemen stated the following:
The delegation of Yemen believes that chapter VII
includes certain terminology that is in contradiction with
Islamic Sharia. Consequently, Yemen expresses reservations on
every term and all terminology that is in contradiction with
Islamic Sharia.
In chapter VIII, we have some observations to make,
particularly relating to paragraph 8.24. Actually, we wanted
to delete the words "sexual activity". And, if we cannot
delete them, then we wish to express our reservations. In
paragraph 8.25, concerning "unsafe abortion", we find
that the definition is unclear and is not in accordance with
our religious beliefs. In Islamic Sharia there are certain
clear-cut provisions on abortion and when it should be
undertaken. We object to the expression "unsafe abortion".
We wish to express our reservations on paragraph 8.35,
relating to "responsible sexual behaviour".
Written statements submitted on the Programme of Action
20. The written statements set out below were submitted to
the Conference secretariat for inclusion in the report of the
Conference.
21. The representative of Argentina submitted the following
written statement:
Pursuant to rule 33 of the rules of procedure of the
Conference (A/CONF.171/2), the Argentine Republic joins in the
general agreement on the Programme of Action.
However, we are submitting in writing pursuant to
rule 38 the following reservation, and we request that it be
included in full in the final report of the Conference.
Chapter II (Principles)
Principle 1
The Argentine Republic accepts Principle 1 on the
understanding that life exists from the moment of conception
and that from that moment every person, being unique and
unreproducible, enjoys the right to life, which is the source
of all other individual rights.
Chapter V (The family, its roles, rights,
composition and structure)
Paragraph 5.1
The Argentine Republic accepts paragraph 5.1 since,
although the family may exist in various forms, in no case can
its origin and foundation, i.e., the union between man and
woman, which produces children, be changed.
Chapter VII (Reproductive rights and reproductive
health)
Paragraph 7.2
The Argentine Republic cannot accept the inclusion
of abortion in the concept of "reproductive health" either as
a service or as a method of regulating fertility.
This reservation, based on the universal nature of
the right to life, also applies to all similar references to
this concept.
22. The representative of Djibouti submitted the following
written statement:
The delegation of the Republic of Djibouti has the
honour to inform you of its wish to enter express reservations
on all the passages in the paragraphs of the Programme of
Action of the International Conference on Population and
Development which conflict with the principles of Islam and
with the legislation, laws and culture of the Republic of
Djibouti.
The delegation of Djibouti would like its
reservations to be reflected in the report of the Conference.
23. The representative of the Dominican Republic submitted
the following written statement:
Pursuant to rule 33 of the rules of procedure of the
Conference (A/CONF.171/2) the Dominican Republic joins in the
general agreement on the Programme of Action. However, in
accordance with its Constitution and laws and as a signatory
of the American Convention on Human Rights, it fully
confirms its belief that everyone has a fundamental and
inalienable right to life and that this right to life begins
at the moment of conception.
Accordingly, it accepts the content of the terms
"reproductive health", "sexual health", "safe motherhood",
"reproductive rights", "sexual rights" and "regulation of
fertility" but enters an express reservation on the content of
these terms and of other terms when their meaning includes
the concept of abortion or interruption of pregnancy.
We also enter an express reservation on the term
"couple" where it refers to persons of the same sex or where
individual reproductive rights are mentioned outside the
context of marriage and the family.
These reservations also apply to all regional and
international agreements which refer to these concepts.
Chapters V and X
The Government of the Dominican Republic wishes to
place on record that during the proceedings of the Conference
in general, and in particular with regard to chapters V and X,
it often proved difficult to reach a consensus owing to the
lack of international instruments embodying the right to the
integrity of the family.
Aware that by promoting the unity and integrity of
the family as a natural development system we are ensuring the
comprehensive, sustainable development of our communities, we
propose that this right to the integrity of the family be
considered by the United Nations with a view to its
adoption as soon as possible.
Pursuant to rule 38 of the rules of procedure, we
request that this statement of reservations be included in
full in the final report of the Conference.
24. The representative of Ecuador submitted the following
written statement:
Pursuant to rule 33 of the rules of procedure of the
Conference (A/CONF.171/2), the Government of Ecuador joins in
the general agreement on the Programme of Action.
However, pursuant to rule 38 of the rules of
procedure, we enter the following reservations for inclusion
in the final report of the Conference.
Reservation
With regard to the Programme of Action of the Cairo
International Conference on Population and Development and in
accordance with the provisions of the Constitution and laws of
Ecuador and the norms of international law, the delegation of
Ecuador reaffirms, inter alia, the following principles
embodied in its Constitution: the inviolability of life, the
protection of children from the moment of conception, freedom
of conscience and religion, the protection of the family as
the fundamental unit of society, responsible paternity, the
right of parents to bring up their children and the
formulation of population and development plans by the
Government in accordance with the principles of respect for
sovereignty.
Accordingly, the delegation of Ecuador enters a
reservation with respect to all terms such as "regulation of
fertility", "interruption of pregnancy", "reproductive
health", "reproductive rights" and "unwanted children", which
in one way or another, within the context of the Programme
of Action, could involve abortion.
Ecuador also enters a reservation concerning certain
unnatural concepts relating to the family, inter alia, which
might undermine the principles contained in its Constitution.
The Government of Ecuador is willing to collaborate
in all activities designed to achieve the common good,
although it does not and cannot accept principles which
infringe its sovereignty, Constitution and laws.
25. The representative of Egypt submitted the following
written statement:
We wish to point out that the delegation of Egypt
was among those delegations that registered numerous comments
on the contents of the Programme of Action with regard to the
phrase "couples and individuals".
While recognizing that this expression was adopted
by consensus at the two previous population conferences of
1974 and 1984, our delegation called for the deletion of the
word "individuals" since it has always been our
understanding that all the questions dealt with by the
Programme of Action in this regard relate to harmonious
relations between couples united by the bond of marriage in
the context of the concept of the family as the primary
cell of society.
We should like the report of the Conference to
reflect the above.
26. The Government of Guatemala submitted the following
written statement:
The delegation of Guatemala wishes to offer its
thanks to the Egyptian people and authorities and to the
organizers of the Conference for their hospitality and for the
services provided, for they made it possible for our
deliberations about life and humanity"s future development to
reach a conclusion which our delegation sincerely hopes will
enhance respect for the life and dignity of men and women,
especially those of the new generations, in which we will have
to place our faith and trust in order to face the future
without recourse to apocalyptic forecasts but in
solidarity, justice and truth.
Pursuant to rule 33 of the rules of procedure of the
Conference (A/CONF.171/2), the Republic of Guatemala joins in
the general agreement on the Programme of Action.
Pursuant to rule 38, we submit the following
statement of reservations and request that it be included in
full in the final report of the Conference.
The Government of Guatemala enters an express
reservation on the use of terms, stipulations and provisions
which are implicitly or explicitly inconsistent with:
1. The American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of
Man
2. The American Convention on Human Rights (Pact of San
Jose)
3. The guidelines adopted at the fifteenth summit
meeting of Central American Presidents
4. The Constitution of the Republic of Guatemala
5. Civil, criminal and human rights legislation
6. The Multisectoral Agreement on Population Education
issued by the Ministry of Education of Guatemala and the
teaching approach used in such education
7. The message to the Conference from the President of
the Republic, Ramiro de Leon Carpio
We also enter express reservations on:
(a) Chapter II (Principles): we accept this
chapter but note that life exists from the moment of
conception and that the right to life is the source of all
other rights;
(b) Chapter V, paragraph 5.1: we accept this
provision on the understanding that, although the family may
exist in various forms, under no circumstances can its
essential nature, which is the union between a man and a woman
from which love and life stem, be changed;
(c) Chapter VII: we enter a reservation on the
whole chapter, for the General Assembly's mandate to the
Conference does not extend to the creation or formulation of
rights; this reservation therefore applies to all references
in the document to "reproductive rights", "sexual rights",
"reproductive health", "fertility regulation", "sexual
health", "individuals", "sexual education and services for
minors", "abortion in all its forms", "distribution of
contraceptives" and "safe motherhood";
(d) Chapter VIII: on all the paragraphs or
sentences which contain or refer to the terms and concepts
mentioned above;
(e) Chapters IX, XII, XIII and XV: on references
to those same terms and concepts.
27. The representative of the Holy See submitted the
following written statement:
Our conference, attended by persons of various
traditions and cultures, with widely differing viewpoints, has
carried out its work in a peaceful and respectful atmosphere.
The Holy See welcomes the progress that has been made in these
days, but also finds that some of its expectations have not
been met. I am sure that most delegations share similar
sentiments.
The Holy See knows well that some of its positions
are not accepted by others present here. But there are many,
believers and non-believers alike, in every country of the
world, who share the views we have expressed. The Holy See
appreciates the manner in which delegations have listened to
and taken into consideration views which they may not always
have agreed with. But the Conference would be poorer if these
views had not been heard. An international conference which
does not welcome voices that are different would be much less
a consensus conference.
As you well know, the Holy See could not find its
way to join the consensus of the Conferences of Bucharest and
Mexico City, because of some fundamental reservations. Yet,
now in Cairo for the first time, development has been linked
to population as a major issue of reflection. The current
Programme of Action, however, opens out some new paths
concerning the future of population policy. The document is
notable for its affirmations against all forms of coercion in
population policies. Clearly elaborated principles, based on
the most important documents of the international community,
clarify and enlighten the later chapters. The document
recognizes the protection and support required by the basic
unit of society, the family founded on marriage. Women's
advancement and the improvement of women's status, through
education and better health-care services, are stressed.
Migration, the all too often forgotten sector of
population policy has been examined. The Conference has given
clear indications of the concern that exists in the entire
international community about threats to women's health.
There is an appeal to greater respect for religious and
cultural beliefs of persons and communities.
But there are other aspects of the final document
which the Holy See cannot support. Together with so many
people around the world, the Holy See affirms that human life
begins at the moment of conception. That life must be
defended and protected. The Holy See can therefore never
condone abortion or policies which favour abortion. The final
document, as opposed to the earlier documents of the Bucharest
and Mexico City Conferences, recognizes abortion as a
dimension of population policy and, indeed of primary health
care, even though it does stress that abortion should not be
promoted as means of family planning and urges nations to find
alternatives to abortion. The preamble implies that the
document does not contain the affirmation of a new
internationally recognized right to abortion.
My delegation has now been able to examine and
evaluate the document in its entirety. On this occasion the
Holy See wishes, in some way, to join the consensus, even if
in an incomplete, or partial manner.
First, my delegation joins the consensus on the
Principles (chapter II), as a sign of our solidarity with the
basic inspiration which has guided, and will continue to
guide, our work. Similarly, it joins the consensus on chapter
V on the family, the basic unit of society.
The Holy See joins the consensus on chapter III on
population, sustained economic growth and sustainable
development, although it would have preferred to see a more
detailed treatment of this subject. It joins the consensus on
chapter IV (Gender equality, equity and empowerment of
women) and chapters IX and X on migration issues.
The Holy See, because of its specific nature, does
not find it appropriate to join the consensus on the operative
chapters of the document (chapters XII to XVI).
Since the approval of chapters VII and VIII in the
Committee of the Whole, it has been possible to evaluate the
significance of these chapters within the entire document, and
also within health-care policy in general. The intense
negotiations of these days have resulted in the presentation
of a text which all recognize as improved, but about which the
Holy See still has grave concerns. At the moment of their
adoption by consensus by the Main Committee, my delegation
already noted its concerns about the question of abortion.
The chapters also contain references which could be seen as
accepting extramarital sexual activity, especially among
adolescents. They would seem to assert that abortion services
belong within primary health care as a method of choice.
Despite the many positive aspects of chapters VII
and VIII, the text that has been presented to us has many
broader implications, which has led the Holy See to decide not
to join the consensus on these chapters. This does not
exclude the fact that the Holy See supports a concept of
reproductive health as a holistic concept for the promotion of
the health of men and women and will continue to work, along
with others, towards the evolution of a more precise
definition of this and other terms.
The intention therefore of my delegation is to
associate itself with this consensus in a partial manner
compatible with its own position, without hindering the
consensus among other nations, but also without
prejudicing its own position with regard to some sections.
Nothing that the Holy See has done in this consensus
process should be understood or interpreted as an endorsement
of concepts it cannot support for moral reasons. Especially,
nothing is to be understood to imply that the Holy See
endorses abortion or has in any way changed its moral position
concerning abortion or on contraceptives or sterilization or
on the use of condoms in HIV/AIDS prevention programmes.
I would ask that the text of this statement and the
reservations formally indicated below be included in the
report of the Conference.
Reservations
The Holy See, in conformity with its nature and its
particular mission, by joining in the consensus to parts of
the final document of the International Conference on
Population and Development (Cairo, 5-13 September 1994),
wishes to express its understanding of the Programme of Action
of the Conference.
1. Regarding the terms "sexual health" and "sexual
rights", and "reproductive health" and "reproductive rights",
the Holy See considers these terms as applying to a holistic
concept of health, which embrace, each in their own way, the
person in the entirety of his or her personality, mind and
body, and which foster the achievement of personal
maturity in sexuality and in the mutual love and
decision-making that characterize the conjugal relationship in
accordance with moral norms. The Holy See does not consider
abortion or access to abortion as a dimension of these terms.
2. With reference to the terms "contraception", "family
planning", "sexual and reproductive health", "sexual and
reproductive rights", and "women's ability to control their
own fertility", "widest range of family-planning services" and
any other terms regarding family-planning services and
regulation of fertility concepts in the document, the Holy
See's joining the consensus should in no way be interpreted as
constituting a change in its well-known position concerning
those family-planning methods which the Catholic Church
considers morally unacceptable or on family-planning services
which do not respect the liberty of the spouses, human
dignity and the human rights of those concerned.
3. With reference to all international agreements, the
Holy See reserves its position in this regard, in particular
on any existing agreements mentioned in this Programme of
Action, consistent with its acceptance or non-acceptance of
them.
4. With reference to the term "couples and
individuals", the Holy See reserves its position with the
understanding that this term is to mean married couples and
the individual man and woman who constitute the couple.
The document, especially in its use of this term, remains
marked by an individualistic understanding of sexuality which
does not give due attention to the mutual love and
decision-making that characterizes the conjugal relationship.
5. With reference to chapter V, the Holy See interprets
this chapter in the light of principle 9, that is, in terms of
the duty to strengthen the family, the basic unit of society,
and in terms of marriage as an equal partnership between
husband and wife.
6. The Holy See places general reservations on chapters
VII, VIII, XI, XII, XIII, XIV, XV and XVI. This reservation
is to be interpreted in terms of the statement made by the
delegation in the plenary meeting of the Conference on 13
September 1994. We request that this general reservation
be noted in each of the above-mentioned chapters.
28. The representative of the Islamic Republic of Iran
submitted the following written statement:
The Programme of Action, although it has some
positive elements, does not take into account the role of
religion and religious systems in the mobilization of
development capabilities. It suffices for us to know that
Islam, for example, makes it the duty of every Muslim to
satisfy the essential needs of the community and also imposes
the duty of showing gratitude for benefits by utilizing them
in the best possible way, as well as the duties of justice and
balance.
We therefore believe that the United Nations should
convene symposiums to study this matter.
There are some expressions that could be interpreted
as applying to sexual relations outside the framework of
marriage, and this is totally unacceptable. The use of the
expression "individuals and couples" and the contents of
principle 8 demonstrate this point. We have reservations
regarding all such references in the document.
We believe that sexual education for adolescents can
only be productive if the material is appropriate and if such
education is provided by the parents and aimed at preventing
moral deviation and physiological diseases.
29. The representative of Malta submitted the following
written statement:
Reservations on chapter VII
In joining the consensus, the delegation of Malta
would like to state:
The delegation of Malta reserves its position on the
title and provisions of this chapter and in particular on the
use of such terms as "reproductive health", "reproductive
rights" and "regulation of fertility" in this chapter and in
other parts of the document.
The interpretation given by Malta is consistent with
its national legislation, which considers the termination of
pregnancy through induced abortion as illegal.
Furthermore the delegation of Malta reserves its position
on the provisions of paragraph 7.2, in particular on "international
human rights documents and other relevant United Nations consensus
documents", consistent with its previous acceptance or
non-acceptance of them.
Reservations on chapter VIII, paragraph 8.25
In joining the consensus, the delegation of Malta would
like to state:
The termination of pregnancy through procedures of
induced abortion is illegal in Malta. The delegation of Malta
therefore cannot accept without reservation that part of paragraph
8.25 which provides for "circumstances in which abortion is not
against the law".
Furthermore the delegation of Malta reserves its position
on the wording "such abortion should be safe" since it feels that
this phrase could lend itself to multiple interpretations, implying
among other things, that abortion can be completely free of medical
and other psychological risks, while ignoring altogether the rights
of the unborn.
30. The representative of Peru submitted the following written
statement:
The delegation of Peru will join in the agreement on the
Programme of Action. In its opinion, the negotiations which are
culminating today in the adoption of the Programme of Action have
also demonstrated that positions diverge on some of the substantive
concepts of the Programme and that the international community
clearly wishes to reach agreements which we hope will benefit
everyone; we welcome this attempt to reach consensus.
However, the Government of Peru wishes to place on record
the following points:
1. The main lines of the Programme of Action will be
implemented in Peru under the Constitution and laws of the Republic
and, inter alia, under the international human rights treaties and
the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which have been duly
approved and ratified by Peru.
2. We must mention in this context article 2 of the
Constitution, which accords to everyone the right to life from the
moment of conception; abortion is rightly classified as a crime in
the Criminal Code of Peru, with the sole exception of therapeutic
abortion.
3. Peru regards abortion as a public health problem to be
tackled mainly by means of education and family planning
programmes. Accordingly, the Constitution acknowledges the
fundamental role played by the family and parents in the form of
responsible paternity and maternity, which is nothing more than the
right of parents to choose freely and voluntarily the number and
the spacing of their children. The same applies to their chosen
method of family planning, provided that it does not place life at
risk.
4. The Programme of Action contains concepts such as
"reproductive health", "reproductive rights" and "fertility
regulation", which in the opinion of the Peruvian Government
require more precise definition, with the total exclusion of
abortion on the ground that it is inconsistent with the right to
life.
We should be grateful if this interpretative reservation
on the Programme of Action could be duly placed on record.
Finally, we wish to endorse the congratulations and
thanks expressed by other delegations.
============================================================
Chapter VI
REPORT OF THE CREDENTIALS COMMITTEE
1. At the 1st plenary meeting, on 5 September 1994, the
International Conference on Population and Development, in
accordance with rule 4 of the rules of procedure of the Conference,
appointed a Credentials Committee, based on that of the Credentials
Committee of the General Assembly of the United Nations at its
forty-eighth session, consisting of the following nine members:
Austria, Bahamas, China, Cote d'Ivoire, Ecuador, Mauritius, Russian
Federation, Thailand and United States of America.
2. The Credentials Committee held one meeting, on 8 September
1994.
3. Mr. Rangsan Phaholyothin (Thailand) was unanimously elected
Chairman of the Committee.
4. The Committee had before it a memorandum by the
Secretary-General dated 7 September 1994 on the status of
credentials of representatives participating in the Conference.
Additional information on credentials received by the
Secretary-General after the issuance of the memorandum was provided
to the Committee by its Secretary.
5. As noted in paragraph 1 of the memorandum by the
Secretary-General, as updated by the additional information
received, formal credentials issued by the Head of State or
Government or by the Minister for Foreign Affairs as provided for
in rule 3 of the rules of procedure, had been received by the
Secretary- General for the representatives of the following 101
States participating in the Conference: Albania, Algeria,
Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bahamas, Barbados, Belgium, Benin,
Bhutan, Bolivia, Botswana, Brunei Darussalam, Bulgaria, Burundi,
Cambodia, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad,
China, Comoros, Croatia, Czech Republic, Democratic People's
Republic of Korea, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Eritrea,
Fiji, Finland, France, Georgia, Greece, Guyana, Holy See, Honduras,
Hungary, India, Ireland, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya,
Kuwait, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Latvia, Libyan Arab
Jamahiriya, Lithuania, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Maldives,
Mali, Malta, Mexico, Micronesia (Federated States of), Mongolia,
Myanmar, Namibia, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway,
Pakistan, Panama, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Korea,
Romania, Russian Federation, Rwanda, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint
Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, Seychelles, Sierra
Leone, Singapore, Slovakia, Solomon Islands, South Africa, Sri
Lanka, Suriname, Swaziland, Syrian Arab Republic, Thailand, the
former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago,
Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Tuvalu, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates,
United Republic of Tanzania, Vanuatu, Zaire and Zambia. In
addition, in the case of the European Community, credentials had
been submitted for its representatives by the President of the
European Commission.
6. As noted in paragraph 2 of the memorandum, as updated,
information concerning the appointment of representatives
participating in the Conference had been communicated by means of
facsimile or in the form of letters or notes verbales from
ministries, embassies, permanent missions to the United Nations or
other government offices or authorities, or through local United
Nations offices, by the following 78 States participating in the
Conference: Afghanistan, Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Armenia,
Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belarus, Belize, Brazil, Burkina
Faso, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Congo, Cook Islands, Costa Rica,
C“te d'Ivoire, Cuba, Cyprus, Djibouti, Dominica, Egypt, El
Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Estonia, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia,
Germany, Ghana, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, Iceland,
Indonesia, Iran (Islamic Republic of), Israel, Italy, Kiribati,
Kyrgyzstan, Lesotho, Liberia, Luxembourg, Marshall Islands,
Mauritania, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Nicaragua, Niger,
Nigeria, Niue, Oman, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Republic of
Moldova, San Marino, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Slovenia,
Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Tajikistan, Togo, Turkey, Uganda,
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, United States
of America, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Venezuela, Viet Nam, Yemen and
Zimbabwe.
7. The Chairman proposed that the Committee accept the
credentials of all the representatives mentioned in the memorandum
by the Secretary-General, on the understanding that formal
credentials for representatives referred to in paragraph 2 of the
Secretary-General's memorandum would be communicated to the
Secretary-General as soon as possible. The following draft
resolution was proposed by the Chairman for adopted by the
Committee:
The Credentials Committee,
Having examined the credentials of the
representatives to the International Conference on Population
and Development referred to in paragraphs 1 and 2 of the
memorandum by the Secretary-General dated 7 September 1994,
Accepts the credentials of the representatives
concerned.
8. The draft resolution was adopted by the Committee without
a vote.
9. Subsequently, on the proposal of the Chairman, the
Committee agreed to recommend to the Conference the adoption
of a draft resolution approving the report of the Credentials
Committee.
Action taken by the Conference
10. At the 13th plenary meeting, on 13 September 1994, the
Conference considered the report of the Credentials Committee
(A/CONF.171/11 and Corr.1).
11. The Conference adopted the draft resolution recommended
by the Committee in its report (for the text, see chap. I,
resolution 3).
==============================================================
Chapter VII
ADOPTION OF THE REPORT OF THE CONFERENCE
1. The Rapporteur-General introduced the report of the Conference
(A/CONF.171/L.4 and Add.1) at the 13th plenary meeting, on 13
September 1994.
2. At the same meeting, the Conference adopted the draft report
and authorized the Rapporteur-General to complete the report, in
conformity with the practice of the United Nations, with a view to
its submission to the General Assembly at its forty-ninth session.
=================================================================
Chapter VIII
CLOSURE OF THE CONFERENCE
1. At the 14th plenary meeting, on 13 September 1994, the
representative of Algeria, on behalf of the States Members of the
United Nations that are members of the Group of 77 and China,
introduced a draft resolution (A/CONF.171/L.6) expressing the
Conference's gratitude to the host country.
2. At the same meeting, the Conference adopted the draft
resolution (for the text, see chap. I, resolution 2).
3. Also at the same meeting, statements were made by the
representatives of Gabon (on behalf of the African States), the
Republic of Korea (on behalf of the Asian States), Croatia (on
behalf of the Eastern European States), Panama (on behalf of the
Latin American and Caribbean States), Belgium (on behalf of the
Western European and other States) and Senegal (on behalf of the
members of the Organization of the Islamic Conference participating
in the Conference).
4. The representative of the Committee on Non-Governmental
Organizations (on behalf of the non-governmental organizations
participating in the Conference) made a statement.
5. After statements had been made by the Minister of Foreign
Affairs of Egypt and the Secretary-General of the Conference, the
presiding officer of the Conference made a concluding statement and
declared the Conference closed.