Report on the Conclusion of the 41st session of the CPD

ISSUE 79 - 16 April 2008

The 41st session of the Commission on Population and Development (CPD) concluded last week with the adoption of a resolution on "Population distribution, urbanization, internal migration and development", in which the importance of the full implementation of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), particularly access to reproductive health and family planning, was underlined.

The 47-member organ of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), which held its annual session at the United Nations headquarters from 7 to 11 April, also took a decision on the special theme of the 43rd session in 2010, which will be "Health, morbidity, mortality and development". The special theme for the 42nd session in 2009 will be, "The contribution of the ICPD Programme of Action to the Internationally Agreed Development Goals, including the MDGs", which will mark the 15th anniversary of the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD).  

Opening the session, the head of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Mr. Sha Zukang, emphasized the importance of effective population distribution policies and access to infrastructure and services for sustainable development. UNFPA Executive Director Thoraya Ahmed Obaid focused her opening address on the role of urbanization in social and economic development and the need for governments to develop capacities for sustainable management of urban growth, stressing in this context the importance of health and education, including reproductive health and family planning.

Ms. Obaid highlighted the insufficient level of funding for the implementation of the ICPD Programme of Action (PoA), particularly for family planning, and called on countries to increase investments in all areas of the ICPD in order to promote economic growth, poverty reduction and gender equality, and to reduce human suffering.

During the subsequent debate, the Commission addressed both the benefits and challenges of urbanization and underscored the links between the implementation of ICPD PoA and the achievement of internationally agreed development goals, particularly on health, HIV/AIDS, gender, and poverty. The Commission acknowledged UNFPA's continued support to building the capacity of developing countries for population planning, including in the areas of national policy formulation, data collection, research and advocacy.

In the final resolution, the Commission recalled the commitment to achieve universal access to reproductive health by 2015; acknowledged the lack of funding for ICPD and urged the international community to mobilize the required resources. It also:

• Reaffirmed the ICPD PoA without any qualification;
• Urged governments to promote healthy living in all spheres of health, including sexual and reproductive health;
• Recognized that the effective implementation of the ICPD PoA required an increased commitment of financial resources and called upon developed countries to intensify their efforts to transfer resources;
• Noted that the recent increases in financial flows on population assistance have been primarily a result of the increased funding for HIV/AIDS, and expressed concern that funding for family planning is far below the agreed targets; and,
• Stressed the need for technical and financial support to the 2010 round of censuses.

Following the conclusion of the 41st session, the Commission convened the first meeting of the 42nd session to elect members of the new Bureau of the CPD for its new session. Ms. Elena Zuniga Herrera (Mexico) was elected as Chairwoman, while Bulgaria, Zambia, Spain and Malaysia will be part of the Bureau of the 42nd session.

For further information on the 41st session of the CPD and a copy of the report on the flow of financial resources for assisting in the implementation of the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development, visit: http://www.un.org/esa/population/cpd/cpd2008/comm2008.htm

All previous issues of the UNFPA Global Population Policy Update can now be found on UNFPA's website at: http://www.unfpa.org/parliamentarians/news/newsletters.htm .

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This newsletter is issued by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in its capacity as the secretariat for the biennial International Parliamentarians' Conference on the Implementation of the ICPD Programme of Action (IPCI/ICPD). The first IPCI/ICPD was held in November 2002 in Ottawa, Canada, the second in October 2004 in Strasbourg, France and the third in November 2006 in Bangkok, Thailand. 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 Ragaa Said at said@unfpa.org  or Safiye Cagar at cagar@unfpa.org.