Upcoming Parliamentary Events For ICPD at 10

ISSUE 26 - 09 June 2004

As we continue to mark the 10th Anniversary of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD, Cairo, 1994), this issue of the UNFPA Global Population Policy Update highlights upcoming events being organized by the regional and global parliamentary groups on population and development.

Global Event

The second International Parliamentarians' Conference on the Implementation of the ICPD Programme of Action (IPCI/ICPD), jointly organized by the Inter-European Parliamentarian Forum on Population and Development (IEPFPD) and UNFPA in collaboration with the Council of Europe, will be held on 18-19 October 2004 at the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, France. The conference will be a follow-up to the first IPCI/ICPD, which was held in November 2002 in Ottawa, Canada.

Regional Events

Asia and the Pacific: The Asian Forum of Parliamentarians on Population and Development (AFPPD) is organizing three major events in 2004 to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the ICPD: the Asian Women Parliamentarians and Ministers Conference to be held on 29-30 June in Canberra, Australia; the Asian Medical Parliamentarians Conference on 19-21 June in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; and the Southeast Asian Meeting of Professional Parliamentarians on ICPD Implementation on 16-17 November in Bangkok, Thailand.

In addition, AFPPD is set to organize a parliamentarians seminar in conjunction with the Asian Population and Development Association (APDA) in Kazakhstan on 14-15 September. AFPPD will also provide parliamentary input in the IPPF regional roundtables. It is also supporting national level parliamentarians conferences on ICPD at 10 in India, Laos/PDR, Malaysia, the Philippines and Indonesia.

Other meetings in the pipeline are two regional parliamentarian meetings, the South Asian Parliamentarians Workshop on Trafficking, being organized in collaboration UNFPA/Country Support Team Katmandu; and the Pacific Parliamentarians Meeting on Policies for HIV/AIDS Prevention, being organized in collaboration with UNFPA Fiji and the Fiji Commission (dates to be announced later). Parliamentarians for Global Action (PGA), under its Population and Sustainable Development Programme, will present a Seminar on HIV/AIDS Policy, to be held in the fall of 2004 at the National Assembly of Pakistan.

Europe: The Inter-European Parliamentary Forum on Population and Development (IEPFPD) is planning a Young Decision-Makers Meeting for young parliamentarians and young members of political parties (date and venue to be determined). IEPFPD will also host the Central and East European Initiative in Vilnius, Lithuania, in late June or early July.

Africa and the Arab Region: The Forum of African and Arab Parliamentarians on Population and Development (FAAPPD) will highlight the 10th anniversary of the ICPD by holding a 3-4 day seminar/workshop on the subject. The organization will also devote one of the three days of its Third General Conference to the matter. With financial support from the Population Action International, FAAPPD held, on 6 June 2004, the Parliamentarians Roundtable on ICPD + 10 Review as a pre-conference side event to the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) Ministerial High-Level Conference in Dakar, Senegal, 7-11 June 2004.

Latin America and the Caribbean: The Inter-American Parliamentary Group on Population and Development (IAPG), the Government of Trinidad and Tobago and UNFPA Caribbean are organizing a meeting of Caribbean Parliamentarians entitled “Leadership as a Vital Tool Against HIV/AIDS on 14-15 June in Trinidad and Tobago.

IAPG also is in the process of organizing a subregional parliamentary meeting on ICPD at 10 and the Millennium Development Goals, expected to take place towards the end of November in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (still to be confirmed). Parliamentarians from five southern cone countries (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Uruguay and Paraguay) are expected to attend this meeting. IAPG is discussing with a Peruvian NGO (Flora Tristán) the possibility of organizing a similar event to the one in Rio de Janeiro for the Andean community towards the end of the year. The meeting would take place in Lima.

For more information on the 10th anniversary events for the ICPD, please visit: http://www.unfpa.org/icpd/10/index.htm#parliamentarian

This newsletter is issued by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in its capacity as secretariat for the International Parliamentarians' Conference on the Implementation of the ICPD Programme of Action (November 2002, 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.

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