Population. The new challenge: translating Cairo success into meaningful activities

The newly named Commission on Population and Development, at its 1995 session in New York, stated it should have the primary responsibility for reviewing the implementation of the Program of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development, held in Cairo in September 1994. The Population Commission was renamed the Commission on Population and Development by the General Assembly. In debate, some countries reviewed their national experiences in population matters, stressing how the Program of Action would influence their policies. At mid-1994, world population stood at 5.63 billion persons, a report on world population trends and policies revealed. During the preceding 12 months, population had grown by 86 million and was expected to grow by an additional 87 million during the next 12 months. While China's representative described a near-crisis situation marked by a net increase in population of 14 million per year in her country, the representative of the Russian Federation expressed concern over the decrease in Russia's population. Between 1990 and 1994, world population had grown at 1.57% per annum. UN medium-fertility-variant projections indicated that the population growth rate would continue declining to 1.33% per annum between 2000 and 2010; 1.15% in 2010-2020; 0.95% in 2020-2030; 0.72% in 2030-2040; and 0.54% in 2040-2050. Consequently, the world population was projected to reach 7.5 billion by 2015 and 9.8 billion by 2050. Assistance for population programs had increased from $220 million in 1988 to $305 million in 1992, the bulk of which came from UNFPA. Family planning, integrated with reproductive health and carried out through a primary health care system, continued to receive the bulk of multilateral resources. Projects to improve the status of women, such as education for girls, leadership training, literacy programs, and projects designed to increase the income of women and their families were being supported by multilateral agencies. An update on global contraceptive requirements from 1994 to 2005 estimated that the total cost of contraceptive commodities would be $7.7 billion.     

Declines in fertility levels evident in Africa,notes UN Population Fund

This article reports on the UN Population Fund's (UNFPA) African regional meeting that was held in November 1997. The meeting was attended by an assortment of UNFPA representatives and program staff. This meeting followed up the 1994 Cairo International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) and 1995 regional meetings on the 1994 Plan of Action. These prior meetings emphasized the link between population and development and the urgency of meeting the needs of individual women and men in a people-centered approach to development, rather than a target oriented one. The 1997 meeting reviewed the progress made toward achieving the goals of the 1994 plan of action by the UNFPA. UNFPA aims to decentralize operations, to play a role in emergency situations, to encourage South-to-South cooperation, to advocate for reproductive rights, and to promote gender equity and women's empowerment. The meeting discussed UNFPA's role in reproductive health, population and development strategies, and advocacy in detail. Participants agreed that there were signs of fertility decline in Africa. Countries are beginning to adopt a reproductive health and rights approach and to address female genital mutilation as a human and reproductive right's issue. Population policies are being changed to include ICPD goals. 32 countries adopted new programs in 1996 and 1997, that integrated the 1994 strategies and selectively focused on issues of concern. Partnerships confirm that population issues are becoming an agenda for all. The major challenge ahead is the mobilization of resources, while dealing with civil strife and political instability.     

Contesting ‘Global Sisterhood’: The Global Women's Health Movement,the United Nations and the Different Meanings of Reproductive Rights (1970s–80s)

The article contributes to a genealogy of the global articulation of reproductive rights principles, as established at the 1994 United Nations (UN) Conference on Population and Development held in Cairo and the UN Women's Conference held in Beijing the following year. It highlights the key role played by an emerging global women's health movement in the 1970s–80s, in shaping UN debates on family planning, women's rights in procreative choice and women's roles in socio-economic development. The article focuses on the International Campaign for Abortion, Sterilisation and Contraception (est. London 1978) and the Women's Global Network for Reproductive Rights (Amsterdam and Manila 1984; ECOSOC consultative status in 1992). Adopting an intersectional perspective, the paper highlights the local embeddedness of feminist positions, the shortcomings of Western feminism and the ways in which conflicts between women's organisations allowed for an original and evolving concept of reproductive rights to emerge. It is based on UN papers and the archives of the above organisations and family planning movements.     

Choices and responsibilities: finding the balance

Rapid population growth means the addition of a billion more people in 11 years. The International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), scheduled for September 5-13, 1994, will address the issue of population growth and design strategies for slower growth with economic development and environmental protection. This article summarizes Dr. Nafis Sadik's special preparatory message about the conference. The ICPD will address the issues of reproductive health, affordable family planning (FP), and informed choice. There will be an emphasis on better health care, housing, education, and other poverty alleviation measures. Empowerment of women through educational and economic opportunity and increased foreign aid are also themes. Improvements in the quality of life as well as demographic and social change are required. The key to slowing population growth is to meet the need for FP services to reduce fertility. Reexamination of the life-styles of the more affluent is also required. Needs and resources must be balanced. Sustainable development and resource use will depend upon slower population growth, more rational population distribution, alleviation of poverty, environmentally safer consumption patterns, and other measures. The 1994 draft plan of action has a broad mandate which recognizes the linkages between population and development. Target dates and reproductive rights language are bracketed and will be discussed during the conference. Quantitative goals are set for education, child and maternal mortality reduction, and universal access to FP and reproductive health services. The public should be made aware of the development and population links. Developing countries are asked to devote 20% of their government budget to social development. Countries by their action or inaction will choose a world population size in 2015 ranging from 7.27 to 7.92 billion. The difference of 660 million in 20 years is equal to the current population in Africa. The high projection for 2050 is 12.5 billion people. The ICPD will be the last global opportunity before the turn of the century to address the challenges of shared responsibility for the future of life on earth.     

"To change the world." Cairo conference reaches consensus on plan to stabilize world growth by 2015

After 6 days of debate and 200 speakers during September 5-13, 1994, participants from 180 countries at the Cairo International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) agreed on a strategy for curbing global population growth over the next 20 years. The objective was sustained economic growth and sustainable development. In his opening remarks, UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali said that the objective was to balance humanity and the environment with the means to sustain life, and that the efficacy of the world economic order depended to some extent on the ICPD. Participants were urged to use rigor, tolerance, and conscience in conference deliberations. Men and women should have the right and the means to choose their families' futures. The preamble stated that the ICPD would probably be the last opportunity in the twentieth century to address globally the issues relating to population and development. UN Population Fund Executive Director Nafis Sadik remarked that the ICPD had the potential to change the world. Egyptian President Mohamed Hosni Mubarak was elected president of the ICPD. Mubarak stated that solutions to population problems must go beyond demographic accounting and incorporate change in social, economic, and cultural conditions. Norway's Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland stated that development in many countries never reached many women. She called it a hypocritical morality that allowed women to suffer and die from unwanted pregnancies, illegal abortions, and miserable living conditions. US Vice President Albert Gore called for comprehensive and holistic solutions. The essential features of social change would involve democracy, economic reform, low rates of inflation, low levels of corruption, sound environmental management, free and open markets, and access to developed country markets. Pakistan's Prime Minister Benazir urged the empowerment of women. Many expressed the concern about unsustainable consumption in industrialized countries. Prior world population conferences had been held in Rome (1954), Belgrade (1965), Bucharest (1974), and Mexico City (1984). The first World Plan of Action was adopted in 1974 and changed at the 1984 conference.     

Population,progress, and peanuts

Population and development, more specifically on matters relating to family planning, contraceptives and abortion, have always been key issues at the UN. These were the challenges faced by the Member States of the UN during the General Assembly held in New York from June 30 to July 2, 1999. The 1999 session covered a wide range of questions, which reflected universal consensus on concerns including adolescent reproduction and sexual health, as well as gender-related issues. The special meeting lasted for 3 days of visionary hopes and politics for the future of the world, and also took into account the crucial issue of resources and fundraising. The 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in Cairo was the starting point for such an international understanding and consensus. In the years following 1994, the challenge to carry out lessons learned from the Cairo Conference and ICPD has now led to a final document, which guides nations across the globe on where to concentrate key future actions.     

Women endangered,says world population report

This report highlights key points from the UN Population Fund's "State of World Population 1997," which focused on women's right to choose in matters relating to reproductive health. The report documents global progress toward achieving reproductive rights for women and recommends more funding for reproductive health care and family planning and increased efforts to promote gender equality and individual rights. International agreements protect: the right to reproductive and sexual health throughout the life cycle; voluntary choice in marriage and childbearing and the means to determine when to have children; equality and equity in all spheres for men and women; and freedom from sexual violence and coercion. When these rights are denied, the result is maternal mortality (a death every minute). There is a lack of access to contraceptive services that affect 350 million women. Unsafe abortions are performed on 20 million women, of whom 70,000 die. There is a lack of access to sex education and services for teenagers that results in HIV infections and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). 1.5 million die from HIV/AIDS related causes, and another 1 million die from reproductive tract infections and STDs. Teenagers represent about 50% of the 333 million new cases of HIV and STDs that occur each year. Female genital mutilation is performed on 120 million girls and women, and 2 million are at risk each year. 2 million girls aged 5-15 years enter the commercial sex trade each year. The report documents the suffering from anemia and malnutrition and complications from pregnancy.     

Supporting women's empowerment in Djibouti

This article reports on the work carried out by the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) in the small island of Djibouti, Africa. The republic's population has been plagued with problems of high levels of unemployment, poverty, malnutrition, an almost non-existent family reproductive health care service, 100% prevalence rate of female genital mutilation and low literacy rate, especially for women. In addition, refugees from Ethiopia and Eritrea have settled in the country increasing the risks of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), HIV/AIDS, prostitution, and other social ills. In 1983, UNFPA started funding family planning and later reproductive health projects aimed at assuring access to services for a majority of Djiboutan women. The first country population program of assistance was started in 1992. This would help the government with health care for its population and to conduct a population census. In addition, the Fund has paid for training of doctors, midwives, and traditional birth assistants in the country and for rehabilitating maternity clinics and information centers. Moreover, it has supported agencies concerned with educating people on STDs, HIV/AIDS, safe motherhood and reproductive health for men and women, and other important issues.     

Programme of Action: raising resources

The International Conference on Population Development (ICPD) Program of Action comprehensively covers a wide range of demographic and social issues by setting goals to be achieved over a period of 20 years. Since its initial implementation, population issues have been fundamentally linked with the countries' prospects for sustainable development. In the ICPD+5 review it was concluded that countries are committed to the Cairo agenda and to the idea that population and development go hand in hand. This commitment involves spending on population and related programs, which totals $17 billion by the year 2000 and $22 billion by 2015. Funding would come from countries (0.7% of gross domestic product to overall development assistance and 4% to population activities). However, the trend shows that countries have not achieved these targets and are decreasing rather than increasing spending on population issues, particularly from the developed countries. Findings of a survey indicated that the lack of resources is the greatest obstacle in attaining desired goals of developing countries. In addition, serious economic stagnation and an unfavorable international economic environment makes it difficult for many developing countries to resolve the problem of lack of resources, and technical capabilities are badly needed to achieve the goals of the ICPD.     

Population: action for a new decade

This 48-page supplement reports on the world popultion situation and on the International Conference on Population held in Mexico City in 1984. Included are summaries of Conference recommendations, the text of the Mexico City Declaration on Population and Development, a World Population Chart, and reports on population studies. The main task of the 1984 Population Conference was to review the 1974 World Population Plan of Action and approve steps to update some of its goals in line with new issues that have emerged in recent years. The preamble to the 1984 recommendations states that the basis for an effective solution to population problems is socioeconomic transformation. It is noted, however, that even in the absence of socioeconomic development, family planning programs can have an impact on fertility levels. This report futher describes the debate on disarmament, abortion, economic policy, and occupied territories that took place in Mexico City. Also included is a glossary of terms used in population studies and a discussion on how the United Nations determines its demographic projections.     

Reproductive rights,family planning: a cornerstone of control

The main objective of the action plan for the International Conference on Population and Development is to assure access to high quality information and reproductive health care services in a manner that is affordable, acceptable, and convenient. Informed choice should be voluntary for childbearing and fertility control decisions. Services must be sensitive to the cultural, economic, and demographic diversity of local communities. The target date for countries to implement family planning (FP) and reproductive health programs that are available to all is 2015. Programs must involve women in all phases of planning, management, and delivery of services; outreach programs must be developed to involve men. Public and private FP programs should be directed to removing all obstacles to method use by the year 2005 by redesigning and expanding information and services. IEC (information, education, and communication) should also focus on sexually transmitted diseases, including AIDS. Programs should provide high quality condoms from stock on hand. About 55% of couples in developing countries use some form of contraception. The increase in contraceptive use has contributed to the decline in total fertility from 6.1 children per woman in the 1950s to 3.7 in the 1990s. At least 350 million couples still lack access to modern FP methods. The draft plan emphasizes that couples must be given the freedom and responsibility to decide on the number and spacing of their children.     

Gains by women reversed in economic downturn

The impact of globalization on women was discussed by the Women in Development Section of the Social Development Division of the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP). Feminization of work in much of the Asian region occurred in the context of overall economic growth in the 1980s and the first half of the 1990s. However, the recent economic crisis has led to a downturn in the positive aspects of this change in women's position, although gender gaps will be reduced through the worsening conditions of male workers. The current deflationary adjustment policies of reducing government expenditures will adversely affect women in the workplace and the household. Since women have been forced to earn additional income outside the home, the girl-children are expected to perform household and child care duties that would otherwise be performed by their mothers. Incidence of child labor and dropout rates among girls has increased. Many social and cultural norms also allow cuts in the food supply for women and girl-children when household per-capita access to food declines. These circumstances invite domestic violence against women. Hence, institutions such as ESCAP should assume a more active advocacy role with the governments as they confront the economic crisis and its repercussions.     

Non-crisis economies must make adjustments too. World Economy survey

This article presents ?The World Economy in 1999,? a report prepared by the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA). It was noted in the report that 39 developing countries had gross domestic product (GDP) per capita growth exceeding 3% in 1996, compared to just 13 countries in 1999. This indicates that 32 developing countries would suffer a decline in GDP per capita by the year 2000 as compared to 14 in 1996. In addition, slow growth has been recorded at just 2% in 1998 and 1999, with only continued growth in North America and Europe keeping the world economy going. Continued slow growth was expected for the year 2000. In terms of income, commodity prices have fallen in developing countries. Net transfer of financial resources from developing countries was almost $60 billion in 1998, compared to positive flows of about $35 billion in the first half of the 1990s. Overall, the brunt of world economic slow-down had been borne by the developing and transition economies. Thus, according to Mr. Nitin Desai, it is important that there is a coordinated policy response to crisis situations, rather than expecting the crisis economies to undertake the bulk of adjustment actions. There are advantages in coordination, which should include developing countries and the Group of Seven.     

The environment becomes a political issue. Highlights of the Brundtland Commission Report

The Report of the Brundtland Commission (World Commission on Environment and Development) has been released by the UN. The Report points out that environmental survival requires development and development is only possible if the resources of the global environment are conserved. Although the UN and the World Bank must make commitments to development, each nation must devise its own strategy because development is inextricably linked to political, economic, and social factors such as poverty, overpopulation and the status of women. The Report makes 3 specific recommendations: 1) An independent body should be set up to assess global risks; 2) A universal declaration on environment and development should be made and followed by a convention; and 3) The UN General Assembly should set up a UN Program on Sustainable Development. The highest priority should be given to finding alternatives to nuclear energy as well as making the use of nuclear energy safer. Other major environmental problems include desertification, acid rain, the "greenhouse effect" and its impact on global climate and sea levels, and the destruction of the ozone layer with concomitant increase in cancer.     

South Korea’s North Korean Image Problem: Human Rights under the Spotlight

ABSTRACT

The 2014 United Nations Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in North Korea (UN COI) had a decisive impact on South Korea’s approach to North Korea’s human rights abuses in the several years following its release. This article interprets moves within South Korea to support the UN COI’s recommendations as taken in the interests of ontological security, or a stable sense of identity, which has also driven the state’s broader initiatives on image management and nation branding. It extends the boundaries of nation-branding research by considering why and how a state may adopt policies that enhance its moral visibility and reputation in world affairs. It considers how a positive reputation is enhanced by demonstrating good international citizenship, promoting the visibility of state identity parameters beyond its culture and core industries. This article interprets the South Korean government’s efforts to act on North Korean human rights following the UN COI, as well as the significance of being seen to be doing so at home and abroad as security-giving behaviour asserting its moral authority in relation to North Korea. It explores how a longstanding policy of relative silence on North Korea’s human rights record acceded to identity-driven pressures arising from the UN COI and influencing South Korea’s international image-management strategy between 2014 and 2017.     

To help our planet survive

The "Environmental Perspective to the Year 2000 and Beyond," a document which resulted from 4 years' work of the Intergovernmental Inter-Sessional Preparatory Committee of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), was approved by the UN General Assembly on Dec. 11, 1987. The purpose of the "Environmental Perspective" is to guide governments in achieving environmentally sound development. Major input into the document was the Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development, headed by Norwegian Prime Minister, Mrs. Gro Harlem Brundtland. The "Environmental Perspective" sets out 14 "shared perceptions" on the nature of environmental issues and recommended actions in 6 major areas -- population, food and agriculture, energy, industry, health and human settlements, and international relations. It addresses questions of pollution, peaceful uses of outer space, endangered species, and the relation of security and environment. Finally, the "Environmental Perspective" calls for the collection of information upon which unified environmental policies may be based. In other environmental actions the General Assembly proclaimed the 1990s as the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction, reviewed the progress of the 1977 Plan of Action to Combat Desertification, and urged member states to become parties to the 1985 Convention for Protection of the Ozone Layer and the Montreal Protocol restricting the use of substances that damage the ozone layer.     

One 6 and nine 0's

This article reports the proceedings of two population meetings: the UN meeting in New York and the Youth Forum. Representatives of UN Member States and 24 accredited nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) attended the 5-year review and appraisal of the Cairo Conference of 1994. A consensus on sex education was reached in the Special Summit. However, not all participants agreed on the relevance of the consensus in the summit for reasons that it is time-consuming and that there are more meaningful matters to be attended to. Meanwhile, in the Youth Forum held just before The Hague Forum of Governments, young people from all over the world were given the opportunity to express their opinions and say what they considered important to create a sustainable population and development. Their views were presented in a report to their national delegations and NGOs who will attend in The Hague. In the report, the youth stated that they hope their needs would be translated into practical national policies and legislation supporting young people's development and rights.     

In Uganda,elders work with the UN to safeguard women's health

This article reports on the 1998 UN population award that was given to Uganda's Sabiny Elders Association (SEA) for its work in combatting female circumcision (FC) among the Sabiny people in Eastern Uganda's Kapchorwa district. The elders aimed at documenting local history and preserving the rich cultural heritage of Sabiny society while promoting changes in various cultural traditions that were inconsistent with modern ways of living. They also aimed to promote education especially among girls, to protect the region's environment and wildlife, and to develop its traditional medicine. Helping the victims of HIV/AIDS was a part of their goals. The UN Population Fund (UNFPA) launched its REACH program in Kapchorwa to assist the Sabiny community in bringing about its own social change and to join with them in eliminating FC, in 1996. A more appropriate ritual for ushering a girl into womanhood is being contemplated.     

What contribution can International Relations make to the evolving global health agenda?

This article presents two approaches that have dominated International Relations in their approach to the international politics of health. The statist approach, which is primarily security-focused, seeks to link health initiatives to a foreign or defence policy remit. The globalist approach, in contrast, seeks to advance health not because of its intrinsic security value but because it advances the well-being and rights of individuals. This article charts the evolution of these approaches and demonstrates why both have the potential to shape our understanding of the evolving global health agenda. It examines how the statist and globalist perspectives have helped shape contemporary initiatives in global health governance and suggests that there is evidence of an emerging convergence between the two perspectives. This convergence is particularly clear in the articulation of a number of UN initiatives in this area - especially the One World, One Health Strategic Framework and the Oslo Ministerial Declaration (2007) which inspired the first UN General Assembly resolution on global health and foreign policy in 2009 and the UN Secretary-General's note "Global health and foreign policy: strategic opportunities and challenges". What remains to be seen is whether this convergence will deliver on securing states' interest long enough to promote the interests of the individuals who require global efforts to deliver local health improvements.     

Comparing Projection Assumptions of Fertility in Six Advanced Asian Economies; or ‘Thinking Beyond the Medium Variant’

The United Nations' (UN) World Population Prospects are perhaps the most widely used population projections in both academic and policy discourses. In this short research note, we examine six advanced Asian economies, and compare the fertility assumptions used by the UN with those derived from local statistical offices (LSOs). We identify a significant divergence between them. When translated into total projected population size of younger age groups (0–14 years), the use of the UN rather than the LSO ‘medium’ projection can increase the total projected population size by up to 50% by 2040.