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Advancing the Goals of the ICPD and the Millennium Summit
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In October 2007, the 62nd General Assembly of the United Nations adopted a new MDG Framework. The new Framework became a reality when the General Assembly adopted four additional targets and related indicators and other indicator improvements as set forth in the report of the Secretary-General on the work of the Organization.
The addition of the new targets in the MDGs is a crucial achievement for the ICPD agenda because two of them: "Achieve, by 2015, universal access to reproductive health" (Goal 5) and "Achieve, by 2010, universal access to HIV treatment for all those who need it" (Goal 6), recognize the importance of reproductive health and rights for poverty reduction and human development.
At the 2005 World Summit, the largest-ever gathering of world leaders reaffirmed the need to keep gender equality, HIV/AIDS and reproductive health at the top of the development agenda. The World Summit followed up on and added to the Millennium Summit, an historic convocation of world leaders in 2000 (see below).
The high-level commitment to achieve universal access to reproductive health by 2015, promote gender equality and end discrimination against women represents the culmination of more than a decade of advocacy since the 1994 Cairo Consensus. The references to reproductive health in paragraphs 57 g and 58 c of the Summit Outcome serve as an endorsement for the critical importance of UNFPA's mandate for achieving the Millennium Development Goals. UNFPA is now working to ensure that the goals of gender equality and universal access to reproductive health by 2015 are included in national development plans.
 Key documents, publications and links
In 2000, 189 Member States agreed to help the world's poorest countries significantly progress towards a better life for their people by the year 2015. A framework for progress consisting of eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) was derived from the Millennium Declaration adopted by these world leaders. These eight interlinked goals and 18 associated targets are the result of decades of experience and discussions at all levels, including a series of international conferences in the 1990s on children, population and development, human rights, women, social development, HIV/AIDS and financing for development.
The MDGs serve as a time-bound, achievable blueprint for reducing poverty and improving lives agreed to by all countries and all leading development institutions. They guide development priorities for governments, donors and practitioner agencies worldwide. Achievement of the MDGs would represent enormous progress towards UNFPA's vision that, worldwide, 'every pregnancy is wanted, every birth is safe, every young person is free of HIV/AIDS, and every girl and woman is treated with dignity and respect.'
Key documents, publications and links
The 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) articulated a bold new vision about the relationships between population, development and individual well-being. At the ICPD, 179 governments adopted a forward-looking, 20-year Programme of Action (PoA) that built on the success of the population, maternal health and family planning programmes of the previous decades while addressing, with a new perspective, the needs of the early years of the twenty-first century.
The ICPD Programme of Action, sometimes referred to as the Cairo Consensus, was remarkable in its recognition that reproductive health and rights, as well as women's empowerment and gender equality, are cornerstones of population and development programmes. The Consensus is rooted in principles of human rights and respect for national sovereignty and various religious and cultural backgrounds.
Key documents, publications and links
In 1999, the UN General Assembly convened a special session, ICPD+5, to review progress towards meeting the ICPD goals. The review revealed that greater urgency was needed to achieve the Programme of Action, especially in the areas of education and literacy, reproductive health care and unmet need for contraception, maternal mortality reduction and HIV/AIDS. The Key Actions that emerged from ICPD+5 affirm the ICPD goals and set benchmarks for achieving them.
In 2004, as the ICPD reached the midpoint of its 20-year plan, UNFPA appraised progress at the country level. In regional meetings, governments reiterated their commitment to the Cairo Consensus. Overwhelming government support was also displayed at a special meeting of the UN General Assembly, where Member States stressed the importance of the ICPD PoA to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.
Key documents, publications and links
The 1995 Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing reinforced the importance of women's rights and empowerment, as established a year earlier in Cairo. These two development platforms, and the MDGs as well, converge in their affirmation of women's human rights and the recognition that solving the world's most pressing problems demands the full participation and empowerment of the world's women.
The Beijing conference emphasized the rights of all women and the Beijing Platform for Action that emerged from it established the twelve critical areas of concern for women's equality. The Fund works in each of these critical areas.
Key documents, publications and links
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