News Update: Tenth Anniversary of the International Conference on Population and Development
May 1, 2004Your opinion about the direction of our country’s foreign policy will play a central role in determining who wins this year’s U.S. presidential election. One issue that needs more attention, especially since the majority of U.S. citizens support family planning and reproductive health issues at home and abroad, is foreign aid. Given the unprecedented number of young people in the developing world entering their reproductive years and concerns about what lies ahead for them, now is the time to think about the tenth anniversary of the landmark 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (also known as ICPD at 10).
Background on ICPD at 10
At the September 1994 United Nations International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), 179 countries agreed to a global Programme of Action (POA) that set priorities and time-bound goals to guide national-level policy making for the next 20 years. Specifically, the POA, sometimes called the “Cairo Consensus,” addresses a broad range of topics on population and development, including sexual and reproductive health, human rights, women’s empowerment, education, the environment, internal and global migration and the prevention and control of HIV/AIDS.
The resulting consensus signaled a radical change in the approach to population issues. Sexual and reproductive health and rights replaced the narrower, demographically oriented perspective of fertility control. The international community pledged to make gender equality and human and reproductive rights the foundation of the new agreement and called for universal access to reproductive health services, education and information, and to lower infant, child and maternal mortality rates by the year 2015 (the same year the United Nations has set to reach important targets in its Millennium Development Goals).
Launching of the Countdown 2015 Initiative
PAI has joined with Family Care International and International Planned Parenthood Federation to develop a new initiative that is dedicated to assessing the progress and mapping the future for the key goals established at the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development. With ten years left until 2015, this initiative is about identifying future directions, recruiting new allies and recognizing the critical role of young people in the next decade of efforts to both fulfill the commitments made at ICPD and bring real change to people's lives. A series of national, regional and international activities and events will be held throughout the remainder of 2004 and into 2005. The first event scheduled is a Global Roundtable.
Global Roundtable to Assess and Advance Progress Toward Achieving ICPD Goals
Key thinkers and visionaries from nongovernmental organizations and civil society will convene in London from 31 August to 2 September to evaluate 10 years of work toward the implementation of the ICPD Programme of Action and debate next steps. Plenary sessions, working groups, exhibitions and celebratory events are planned for the roundtable, including:
Launch of the Countdown 2015 Magazine
Through a collection of interviews, articles, case studies and graphics, the magazine provides a full picture of the state of sexual and reproductive health in 2004 – as well as recommendations for moving the ICPD agenda forward, toward 2015.Release of a new report card and index, “ICPD at 10: Where Are We Now?”
More than 130 countries are ranked according to how far they have progressed toward achieving ICPD goals in the past decade. The report card illustrates that some progress has been made, but also shows where there is room for improvement.Preview of PAI’s new study, Progress and Promises: Trends in International Assistance for Reproductive Health and Population.
Progress and Promises takes an in-depth look at the progress the donor community has made in financing family planning and reproductive health services for all since the 1994 conference, and what is needed to fulfill the promises made as we count down to 2015.
Population Action International (PAI) works to improve individual well-being and preserve global resources by mobilizing political and financial support for population, family planning and reproductive health policies and programs.
