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UNFPA GLOBAL POPULATION POLICY UPDATE
Issue 19 - March 29 2004
The 37th session of the Commission on Population and Development (CPD) ended
last week with the adoption of a draft provisional agenda for the 38th session,
a resolution on the work programme in the field of population, and decisions
on the special themes for 2005 and 2006 and on the methods of work of the
Commission. However, the session was adjourned as no agreement was reached
on the main resolution on the “Follow-up to the Programme of Action of the
ICPD, Cairo, 1994”.
As mandated by the General Assembly (GA) resolution 49/128 and subsequent
decisions of the CPD, the primary responsibility for the review and assessment
of the implementation of the Programme of Action (PoA) rests with the three-tiered
intergovernmental mechanism comprising the GA, the Economic and Social Council
and the CPD.
At its 37th session, on 22-26 March 2004 in New York, the CPD reviewed and
appraised the progress made in the implementation of the ICPD PoA, following
a thematic approach focusing on cross-cutting themes: (a) population imperatives
for sustainable development and (b) building partnerships and capacity, and
mobilizing human and financial resources for the implementation of the ICPD
Programme of Action. During the general debate on national experiences, countries
reported on significant progress in the implementation of the ICPD PoA and
of the Key Actions at the country level, indicating that the ICPD agenda
is integrated in national policies and strategies. Yet, much remains
to be done to achieve the ICPD goals, and availability of trained human and
financial resources remain key obstacles.
On the themes, the Commission reaffirmed the theme agreed to last April for
2005, “Population, Development and HIV/AIDS, with particular emphasis
on Poverty” and also decided that it considers in 2005 the contribution of
the implementation of the ICPD PoA to the achievement of the internationally
agreed development goals, including those contained in the Millennium Declaration.
The Commission also decided that the special theme for 2006 will be “International
Migration and Development”. The outcome of discussion in the commission will
be a contribution to the GA high-level dialogue on the same subject that
year.
On the methods of work of the CPD, the Commission decided that it will consider
its methods of work at its 38th session on the basis of GA Res 57/270B and
requested the Secretary General to submit a report to that session, upon
consultation with member states, on the improvement of the Commission’s methods
of work. The Commission will also elect its bureau on the final day
of the previous session, instead of at the beginning of the current session.
The commission also decided to establish a system of regular geographic rotation
for the chairmanship of the bureau.
The draft resolution on the Follow-up of the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development, was the object of intense negotiations
and consultations.
The resolution, which reaffirmed the ICPD PoA, received the strong support
of all delegations except the U.S. and to some extent the Holy See.
The failure to reach consensus was mainly due to the fact that some delegations
in the G77 linked the ICPD PoA with the debate which was taking place in
the Fifth Committee on the extention of UN staff members' family benefits
to "a legally recognized domestic partnership contracted by a staff member
under the law of the country of his or her nationality". This generated
a strong reaction from the EU who submitted a counter-proposal. Unfortunately,
various efforts to come to an agreement failed.
One of the positive outcomes of the 37th session of the CPD was the overwhelming
acknowledgement of the importance of UNFPA and support for it from all regions
of the world and from all countries in the negotiations, including the U.S.
Also, the contribution expected of the Commission to the 2005 summit/high-level
event provides an opportunity for issues of population and reproductive health
to be brought into the center of the global development debate.
http://www.un.org/esa/population/cpd/comm2004.htm
This newsletter is issued by the United Nations
Population Fund (UNFPA) in its capacity as secretariat for the biannual International
Parliamentarians' Conference on the Implementation of the ICPD Programme
of Action (the first conference was held in November 2002, in Ottawa, Canada).
These dispatches are intended to highlight important developments taking
place around the world so that parliamentarians can be kept informed of and
learn from the successes, setbacks and challenges encountered by their fellow
parliamentarians in other countries and regions in their efforts to promote
the implementation of the Programme of Action of the International Conference
on Population and Development (September 1994, Cairo, Egypt). It should be
noted that UNFPA does not necessarily endorse all of the policies described
in this newsletter.
Please send mailing list update information to Ragaa Said at said@unfpa.org. If you have any questions or comments
on the content of this newsletter, please contact Harumi Kodama at kodama@unfpa.org or Richard Snyder at snyder@unfpa.org.
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