Publication

Sustainable Development and Population Program: 1993-1999 Report

Description

PGA's Population and Sustainable Development Program worked to advance gender equality and to ensure women's ability to control their own fertility, which it sees as the cornerstones of population and development-related programs.

The International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), held in Cairo in September 1994, was a watershed for global population and development initiatives. In an unprecedented move, government officials from 179 countries unanimously adopted a Program of Action.

Pledging to reduce the consumption of resources, governments worldwide redefined the connections between sustainable development and population. Moving beyond focusing solely on fertility rates and demographics, the ICPD clearly articulated the necessity of recognizing that smaller families and slower population growths depend not on 'control' but on recognizing the value of women as an integral element of true development. It means access to reproductive health care, including a range of family planning information and services Women and men must feel that the services available and the quality of care meet their reproductive health needs.

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Additional Details

• Publication Type: Report
• Publication Date: 14 June, 1999
• Author(s): Parliamentarians for Global Action

Active Participation in ICPD Prepcoms II and III

Parliamentarians for Global Action became an active participant in the development of the ICPD in its earliest stages. Prior to the conference, PGA organized two parliamentary workshops in conjunction with PrepComs II and Ill to enable legislators to attend and actively participate in negotiations concerning the document. In many cases, the parliamentarians who participated in the PrepComs subsequently attended the Cairo conference as members of their 'countries' official delegations. The recognized role of parliamentarians in Chapter XIII of the Program of Action directly resulted from PGA's work during Prepcom Ill. The document states:

Members of National Legislatures can have a major role to play, especially in enacting appropriate domestic legislation for implementing the present Program of Action, allocating appropriate financial resources, ensuring accountability or expenditure and raising public awareness of population issues. (Program of Action, Chapter XIII, 13.3)

Direct Parliamentary Input into the Program of Action

Jn 1993, PGA members presented two documents to the ICPD Secretariat suggesting specific language for inclusion in the Draft Program of Action. More than 80% of the language offered by PGA members in their submissions was reflected in the final document.

Consensus on Abortion Language

Anticipating that abortion would be a controversial, divisive issue, Dr. Fred Sai, former President of the International Planned Parenthood Association and a leading figure at the Conference, urged PGA to focus its political network on achieving an acceptable consensus at the Second PrepCom (May 1993) in order to address the pressing health and mortality concerns which attend the abortion controversy. PGA brought together a diverse group of members -including Christian Democrats, Republicans, Socialists and Communists as well as representatives from all major religions-to devise consensus language on abortion.

PGA first achieved consensus language within a small working group, then offered the language to a wider group of PGA members. Finally, the agreed upon language was taken to the ICPD through individual PGA members as their countries' official delegations.

At Cairo, the inter-governmental working group on abortion was led by.Pakistan's Health Minister and Parliamentarian Julius Salik, a Catholic. Backed by language addressing maternal health and mortality, agreed upon by all three major parties in Pakistan through their PGA representatives, Minister Salik was able to lead the working group to a consensus on abortion.

Strong Parliamentary Presence in the ICPD and ICPD +5

Immediately prior to the ICPD in 1994, PGA co-sponsored an International Conference of Parliamentarians on Population and Development with four other parliamentary groups in Cairo. Approximately 300 parliamentarians participated in the gathering, and 30 PGA members remained to participate in the ICPD as part of their national delegations.

In similar fashion, in February 1999 PGA hosted a delegation of parliamentarians at the International Forum of Parliamentarians (IFP) at the International· Forum for the Operational Review and Appraisal of the Implementation of the Program of Action of the ICPD (ICPD +5), including the only two US legislators who attended the ICPD Review at the Hague. Approximately 184 parliamentarians from 104 countries participated at the IFP to discuss implementation strategies. Mr. Alhaji Abdullah Salifu of Ghana reported on PGA's Pilot Population Program in west Africa as a model promoting collaboration between government and civil society, mutually enhancing the resources of both sectors. PGA's delegation to the IFP included Representative Carolyn Maloney (U.S.), Representative Cynthia McKinney (U.S.), Dep. Ibrahima Fall (Senegal), Ms. Theresa Ameley-Tagoe, MP (Ghana), Mr. Alhaj Salifu, MP (Ghana), Dep. Houda Kanoun (Tunisia), and Dep. Momar Lo (Senegal).

Mobilization and Coordination of Donor Countries

As a follow-up activity in support of the ICPD, in 1995, PGA organized an international meeting of foreign aid committees at the United States Senate. Sixty members of parliament, representing thirty countries, discussed their role in implementing the Cairo Program of Action and the process of allocating development assistance for population programs.

Five years later, for the ICPD +5 in March 1999, in collaboration with PAI, PGA organized a workshop on "Mobilizing Financial Resources for the Implementation of the ICPD Program of Action. Members of parliaments from developing and donor countries discussed their progress in resource mobilization and the need for increased compliance with ICPD"s resource allocation goals.

World Summit for Social Development

Reproductive health is not an isolated issue, but is critically connected to promoting sustainable development and advancing women's equality and political participation. With this approach, PGA was actively involved in the World summit (Copenhagen, March 1995). PGA organized parliamentary workshops for Prepcom Ill and during the conference in Copenhagen, focusing on the 20/20 Initiative and the political participation of women.

Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing

PGA sent its own delegation to the Beijing Conference where its members functioned as both official governmental representatives for their countries and qh behalf of PGA as an NGO. Thus, PGA was able to serve as a critical link between NGOs, whose participation was confined to the NGO Forum, and official government sessions. During the conference, PGA organized its largest parliamentary workshop with 65 participating members.