Report on the Conclusion of the 39th session of the CPD

ISSUE 63 - 17 May 2006

The 39th session of the Commission on Population and Development (CPD) ended last week with the adoption of resolutions on International Migration and Development and the methods of work of the Commission. The one-day meeting on 10 May 2006 officially ended the session, which had been suspended since April when no agreement was reached on the above-mentioned resolutions.  

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Commission on Population and Development

The 39th session of the CPD was held on 3-7 April 2006 to discuss the implementation of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) Programme of Action (PoA). The 47-member organ of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) met on the theme of International Migration and Development, whose outcome will be conveyed to the General Assembly High-Level Dialogue on the same topic, to be held in New York on 14-15 September 2006.

The Commission adopted the resolutions on "International migration and development" and "Methods of work of the Commission on Population and Development" as well as a decision on the special theme for the 41st session of the Commission in 2008 which will be "Population distribution, organization, internal migration and development".

The Commission among other things recognized the impact of migration on the effectiveness of public services, as well as the need to address worker shortages, including among health and education workers.

It also identified the need to develop and implement national, regional and international strategies that facilitate access for migrants and mobile workers to HIV/AIDS prevention programmes including the provision of information on health and social services.

The Commission invited governments to set up or strengthen institutions and mechanisms for data collection, analysis and subsequent collaboration on policies, programmes and projects. The issues of gender and feminization of international migration were also recognized in the outcome of the Commission.

The Commission urged the relevant United Nations bodies, funds and programmes working on international migration to enhance the coordination of their activities and to strengthen their cooperation.

For the first time in three years, the Commission reaffirmed without qualification the ICPD PoA and the Key Actions which was adopted in 1999 during the five-year review of the ICPD. The U.S.  nonetheless made a statement explaining its position based on its understanding of the ICPD and abortion.

The main outcome of the methods of work resolution was that the Commission requested the Secretary-General to take appropriate measures to ensure strengthened cooperation and coordination within the UN System in the technical preparation of future sessions of the Commission. This will require that the Population Division and UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund work closely in the preparation of future sessions of the CPD.

The 39th session was followed immediately by the first meeting of the 40th session of the CPD, which elected its bureau for the coming year, beginning immediately on their election.  Mr. Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury (Bangladesh) was elected as Chairperson. Ambassador Alvaro Portillo (Uruguay), Mr. Abdellah Benmellouk (Morocco), Mr. Andriy Nikitov (Ukraine) and Mr. Thomas Gass (Switzerland) were elected as Vice-Chairpersons.

To get a copy of the resolution on international migration and development, visit: http://documents.un.org/simple.asp and key in the resolution number (E/CN.9/2006/L.5)

For further information on the 39th session of the CPD, visit: http://www.un.org/esa/population/cpd/comm2006.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 secretariat for the biannual 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 and the second in October 2004 in Strasbourg, France. 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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