PRESS
RELEASE
The ICPD+5 review
process
Kampala Round Table to
Examine Progress
by Nations in Reproductive Rights and
Reproductive Health Care
UNITED NATIONS, NY, JUNE 17 - - The United Nations Population
Fund (UNFPA) will convene an international round-table meeting on
22-25 June in Kampala, Uganda, to discuss progress made since the
1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD)
in Cairo in ensuring reproductive rights, especially for women, and
in implementing sexual and reproductive health programmes.
The round-table meeting at the Nile Hotel, Kampala, is being
hosted by the Ugandan Government and was organized by UNFPA.
Entitled the " Expert Round-table Meeting on Ensuring Reproductive
Rights, and Implementing Sexual and Reproductive Health Programmes,
Including Women’s Empowerment, Male Involvement and Human Rights",
the meeting will review the progress, programme experiences and
policy changes made by countries in achieving the goals of ICPD,
identify successes and constraints, and plan future actions to
accelerate progress at the national level.
The ICPD Platform of Action identified reproductive rights and
sexual and reproductive health as a way to contribute to human and
social development. It called for civil society, including
non-government organizations (NGOs), to have prominent roles, rights
and responsibilities in designing and implementing reproductive
health policies. It also called for national governments, bilateral
and multilateral donors to make substantial budget reallocation to
make this possible.
The round-table meeting will be attended by government
representatives and NGOs from developing and developed countries,
experts on reproductive rights and health, academic and research
institutions and UN agencies.
After opening ceremonies and addresses by Dr. Specioza
Wandira-Kazibwe, Vice-President of Uganda, and by Dr. Nafis Sadik,
Executive Director, UNFPA, the four-day meeting will be broken into
sessions devoted to particular topics: Policies for Sexual and
Reproductive Health (Monday, 22 June) Designing Quality Sexual and
Reproductive Health Services (Tuesday 23 June); Accessibility
(Wednesday 24 June); and Creating Necessary Conditions for
Implementing Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (Thursday 25
June).
The meeting will also feature panel presentations on a wide array
of related subjects, among them: ICPD, five years later; developing
a sexual and reproductive health policy; implementing and monitoring
feasible standards of care; broadening the constellation of services
within existing systems; reducing maternal mortality; female genital
mutilation; violence against women: the role of the health and
education sectors; key issues in improving access to sexual and
reproductive health services; reproductive health as a human right;
legislating and implementing reproductive rights. On Thursday, June
25, a final plenary session will discuss "Key Future Actions".
The round table on reproductive rights and implementing sexual
and reproductive health programmes, is the second in a series of
international events that are part of the ICPD+5 process which
consist of activities connected with a five-year review of progress
made in implementing the 1994 ICPD Programme of Action and to make
recommendations for the future.
As part of the ICPD+5 process, UNFPA is sponsoring a series of
events including technical meetings and round-table discussions on
selected subjects as well as an International Forum on ICPD
implementation to be held in February 1999 in the Netherlands. The
first round-table meeting on adolescent reproductive and sexual
health needs and in reducing levels of teenage pregnancy, was held
on 14-17 April in New York.
The ICPD+5 process will conclude with a Special Session of the UN
General Assembly on 30 June-2 July, 1999, which will review and
appraise the implementation of the ICPD Programme of Action.
The report of the round-table meeting on reproductive rights and
sexual and reproductive health programmes will be consolidated,
along with reports from other round tables and technical meetings,
into a report for review by the International Forum and as
background document for the Secretary-General’s report to the
Special Session of the General Assembly.
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