UNITED NATIONS COMMISSION POINTS TO SUCCESS OF 1994 POPULATION AGREEMENT

NGOs Call for Strengthening Commitments to Address Ongoing Needs of Women, Adolescents

UNITED NATIONS, March 22: Forty-one nations met today to recommit to and advance progress on the Programme of Action of the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development. The Programme of Action, or Cairo Consensus, is a 20-year roadmap for improving the health and wellbeing of the world's citizens.

NGOs attending the Commission on Population and Development are urging members to reaffirm Cairo, in spite of efforts by some nations to roll back the consensus. The United States, which was a leader in crafting the Cairo consensus, has consistently isolated itself from a broad-based consensus to reaffirm Cairo at these meetings. At the Economic and Social Commission of the Asia and Pacific (ESCAP) meeting in Bangkok in December 2002, the United States was the only nation to oppose a declaration reaffirming Cairo after using U.S. assistance in an attempt to coerce other nations to join their position. In early March at the Economic Commission of Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) meeting in Santiago, similar efforts met with similar results.

"It's ironic that the U.S. was such a leader in Cairo, and now it wants to break down the consensus," remarked Bene Madunagu, of Girls Power Initiative Nigeria. "We applaud those nations who have reaffirmed Cairo, and call on the rest of the global community to do so immediately."

The strength of this agreement and its impact on social and economic development is apparent. Over the past decade, countries that have begun to implement the Cairo Consensus have seen significant health and economic gains in their communities. Families are smaller and healthier because women have access to family planning. Child survival rates have improved, and girls' school enrollment has increased. Unlike previous population agreements, the Cairo Consensus is grounded in universally recognized human rights and women's empowerment, in order to improve the quality of life of the peoples of the world.

The 10th anniversary is an opportunity to move forward in the implementation of the Programme of Action. In the coming years, nations will continue to face to tremendous challenges that inhibit fuller social and economic development, and they must be addressed:

• Nations must pledge to work to stop the spread of AIDS, giving women and adolescents, who are particularly vulnerable to the virus, the tools they need to protect themselves.
• Nations must strengthen the rights of adolescents to reproductive health information and services in a private and confidential environment.
• Nations must address the high levels of maternal mortality that persist, due in no small part to the impact of unsafe abortion. Nations must continue to address this public health hazard, including ensuring that women have access to the abortion care to which they are legally entitled.

"Young people know what they need to make healthy choices," explained MariaAntonieta Alcalde, of Balance in Mexico, and a member of the Youth Coalition. "They need honest information and reliable services from sources they trust; governments and communities leaders need to listen."

"We knew 10 years ago that when women thrive, so do their families," said Allie Stickney, of Planned Parenthood Federation of America. "Today we also know that when families and communities thrive, so do countries' economies."

In the past year, three regional U.N. bodies have reaffirmed the agreement (the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific; the Economic Commission of Europe; and the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean). Today at the Commission on Population and Development, the G77 and European Union have both signaled their ongoing commitment to the consensus and their desire to reaffirm.

past features