2012 International Parliamentarians' Conference on the Implementation of the ICPD Programme of Action
Istanbul, Turkey, 24-25 May 2012
The Fifth International Parliamentarians’ Conference on the Implementation of the ICPD Programme of Action (IPCI/ICPD) will take place in Istanbul, Turkey, on 24-25 May 2012. The event will be organized by the European Parliamentary Forum on Population and Development (EPF) and UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, under the auspices of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey.
IPCI Istanbul comes at a very significant time for the ICPD mandate. With only two years until the Cairo agenda was expected to be complete, the conference will provide an excellent opportunity for parliamentarians to recommit themselves to this unfinished agenda.
While the international community undertakes the mandated United Nations General Assembly operational review at the national, regional and global levels, IPCI Istanbul will allow parliamentarians to make their strategic contributions to this exercise, which will set forth the path for the ICPD agenda beyond 2014. They will consider strategic actions needed to significantly reduce the gap between commitment to the ICPD and actual results.
To this end, parliamentarians have the achievements of Ottawa, Strasbourg, Bangkok and Addis Ababa to build upon, as well as the 15-year review of the ICPD in 2009. Through this exercise, parliamentarians would be able to chart the way forward to speeding up the achievement of both the ICPD goals and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
The 2012 IPCI conference is expected to produce a forward-looking and action-oriented declaration that would build on the previous IPCI Commitments and chart the way forward for the ICPD beyond 2014.
The first IPCI/ICPD took place in Ottawa, Canada, on 21-22 November 2002. Held at the Canadian Parliament, the conference brought together 103 elected representatives from 72 countries and territories, and established, for the first time, a global system of regular monitoring and follow-up for parliamentarians on the implementation of the ICPD PoA.
The second IPCI/ICPD was held on 18-19 October 2004, in Strasbourg, France, under the auspices of the Council of Europe—Europe’s oldest and most representative political institution. It was attended by 119 elected representatives from 82 countries and territories, including ministers and speakers of parliaments from both developed and developing countries.
The third IPCI/ICPD was held on 21-22 November 2006, in Bangkok, Thailand, at the United Nations Conference Centre. The conference brought together over 300 parliamentarians, governments, non-governmental organizations and other participants from 100 countries. Participants took stock of the progress made so far by parliamentarians in advancing the ICPD agenda and came up with regional action plans to take their collective efforts to a next level.
The Fourth IPCI/ICPD took place in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia at the United Nations Conference Centre on 27-28 October 2009. It brought together over 400 delegates, including parliamentarians and ministers from around 115 countries. The conference, which marked the 15th anniversary of the ICPD Programme of Action, saw parliamentarians reaffirm their support to the principles and goals ICPD and underlined the indispensable role of its Programme of Action in achieving the MDGs. They also committed to supporting accessible and affordable health services that promote family planning, HIV prevention and the health and well-being of women and girls.
All four conferences generated critical results, with parliamentarians around the world making the Ottawa, Strasbourg, Bangkok and Addis Ababa Commitments a point of reference for their work in supporting the ICPD Programme of Action. Numerous parliamentary declarations and reports have been adopted at the national, regional and global levels in the past six years, which refer to or build on the four Commitments and their calls to action.
The purpose of these biennial conferences is to promote dialogue among parliamentarians from all regions of the world on the issues of population and development. Their two main themes remain constant: resource mobilization and the creation of an enabling policy environment for the implementation of the ICPD PoA.
