Regional Reviews and Conferences

10 years after the 2013 Cairo Declaration, which renewed the commitment of Member States to the 1994 ICPD Programme of Action, tThe United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), UNFPA Arab States Regional Office (ASRO) and the League of Arab States (LAS) launched in October 2022 the Sixth Regional Review of the ICPD, with the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) as a partner.

The review process includes the nomination by Member States of national focal points to lead the preparation of voluntary national review reports, the development of a guiding template and questionnaire to assist countries in producing their national reports, capacity-building workshops for national focal points, multi-stakeholder consultative dialogues including parliamentarians, youth, civil society, academia and the private sector, and a regional review report with recommendations to accelerate the implementation of the ICPD Programme of Action and the 2013 Cairo Declaration.

The regional review process will culminate in a Regional Review Conference in September 2023. More details on the various aspects of the review process are below.

National Consultations

13 countries submitted voluntary national review reports on the status of implementation of the ICPD Programme of Action and the 2013 Cairo Declaration at the time of this writing.

To support national review processes, ESCWA, UNFPA ASRO and LAS in October 2022 and February 2023 organized two capacity-building workshops for national focal points on the regional review of the ICPD. During the workshop held on 26 October 2022, participants discussed the modality of the review process and agreed on the guiding template.

The second workshop on 2 February 2023 assessed the progress made in collecting the necessary information for the preparation of the reports. Participants also discussed challenges and shared good practices to improve the preparation of national reports that will inform the comprehensive regional report to be presented during the Regional Review Conference.

Parliamentarians Dialogue

Members of parliaments across the Arab region took part in an online dialogue, which assessed progress achieved in the implementation of the Cairo Declaration’s objectives. This resulted in key messages from parliamentarians, which will feed into the Regional Review Conference and its outcome document, as well as the global report.

The online dialogue was organised on 11 May 2023, by ESCWA, UNFPA ASRO and the League of Arab States in the context of the Sixth Review of the ICPD in the Arab region and the 10-year implementation review of the 2013 Cairo Declaration.

The participants included national parliamentarians nominated by the Heads of Parliament in different countries of the Arab region as well as parliamentarians in their capacities as regional representatives of the Forum of Arab Parliamentarians on Population and Development, a regional body.

Read more Read less

The Addis Ababa Declaration on Population and Development (AADPD), Africa’s outcome of the ICPD Beyond 2014 review, provides region-specific guidelines for the implementation of the Programme of Action of the ICPD. The 10-year review of AADPD, Africa’s contribution to ICPD30, is being conducted under the leadership of the African Union Commission, with the support of the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and UNFPA. The process includes reviews at the national level by all African Union (AU) Member States and at the continental level.

National Consultations

To assist Member States as they conduct national consultations, AUC, ECA and UNFPA in May 2023 conducted a capacity building session to brief Member States on the review process, particularly the national reporting tools and guidelines. The national review reports are developed based on the AADPD operational guide and monitoring framework, which is also used to monitor progress in implementing the ICPD Programme of Action.

From April to June 2023, UNFPA provided in-country support to Member States towards the preparation of national consultations and development of the national reports. This included input from civil society organizations and a wide range of non-state actors.

Stakeholder Engagement

To create a favourable environment for participation by civil society and youth organizations, a coalition of civil society organizations has been composed to coordinate engagement by non-state actors and amplify their voices throughout the review process.

At national and regional levels, representatives of civil society organizations, young people, women, minority groups, the private sector, academia and the media have been included in consultations to inform the outcomes of the review. It is expected that various forms of national and regional level consultations of CSOs, including youth, will feed into a continental pre-meeting prior to the continental meeting on the AADPD 10-year review.

ICPD30 Regional Review and Conference

To consider and endorse the AADPD 10-year review report, an Extraordinary Session of the Specialized Technical Committee on Health, Population and Drug Control (STC-HPDC), comprising ministers in charge of population and preceded at the technical level by representatives of the African Population Experts Committee (APEC), will be held from 7 to 10 November 2023 in Lusaka, Zambia.

This detailed continental report will provide highlights of progress, strategic analysis and recommendations to accelerate implementation. The report will serve as Africa’s contribution to the global appraisal of the implementation of the ICPD Programme of Action at the 57th Session of the United Nations Commission on Population and Development in 2024 and identify challenges and opportunities to further implement the ICPD Programme of Action in the future.

The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) and UNFPA are currently conducting a review of progress towards the ICPD Programme of Action in the UNECE region. This work will be concluded with the UNECE Regional Conference on ICPD30 with the theme Population and Development: Ensuring Rights and Choices.

Briefing Member States on ICPD30 Regional Review An informal briefing of 10 May 2023 provided Member States with information on the regional review, conference preparations and the composition of Member State delegations, and addressed Member States’ questions.

In September 2023, prior to the conference, another briefing will be held to provide Member States with an update on the regional review, share details on the regional conference programme and inform about modalities for Member State statements during the different conference sessions.

ICPD30 Regional Conference

The UNECE with the support of UNFPA will hold a Regional Conference on ICPD30 under the theme Population and Development: Ensuring Rights and Choices , on 19 to 20 October 2023 in Geneva, Switzerland. The regional conference will acknowledge progress, identify emerging trends and highlight priorities for the way forward. The regional conference will also highlight progress towards priorities outlined in previous reviews, including the ICPD Beyond 2014 Chair’s summary and the conclusions of the previous Regional Conference on the ICPD held in 2018.

The conference will further address the wider policy concerns related to population dynamics and sustainable development; families and sexual and reproductive health over the course of life; and the need to ensure social inclusion and rights and reduce inequalities in line with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The conference will take place on 19 to 20 October 2023 at the Palais des Nations, Salle XVIII, Geneva, Switzerland.

For additional information, refer to the regional conference concept note, the provisional agenda and extracts from the UNECE regional report on implementation of the ICPD Programme of Action.

The 30-year review of the implementation of the Programme of Action of the ICPD and the 10-year commemoration of the Montevideo Consensus on Population and Development present an opportunity to discuss emerging issues, trends and how to translate the vision and values of the ICPD and Montevideo Consensus into reality in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Regional Multi-stakeholder Dialogues

UNFPA Latin America and the Caribbean Regional Office, supported by the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), will facilitate a series of virtual regional dialogues in July and August 2023 with key stakeholders, on specific chapters of the Montevideo Consensus to take stock of progress and challenges and to promote a conducive environment for implementation of the Montevideo Consensus and the ICPD Programme of Action.

The dialogues will gather a diverse variety of stakeholders, including civil society organizations, feminist organizations, women-led organizations, grassroots organizations, young people, business and community leaders, faith-based organizations, indigenous peoples, international financial institutions, people with disabilities, academics, parliamentarians, thought-leaders, technical experts, and others interested in working on population dynamics, sexual and reproductive health and rights, bodily autonomy and related issues.

Key messages from the dialogues will be incorporated into the Second Regional Report on the implementation of the Montevideo Consensus on Population and Development and the ICPD30 review process.

The Caribbean Forum on Population and Development

To spur action that addresses key population issues in the sub-region, the Caribbean Forum on Population and Development will review progress, discuss emerging issues, challenges, lessons learned and best practices for accelerating implementation of the Montevideo Consensus in the context of Caribbean countries. The forum organized by ECLAC, UNFPA and the Government of Antigua and Barbuda will take place in St. Johns, Antigua and Barbuda on 4th and 5th September 2023

This subregional review forms parts of the regional review of the Montevideo Consensus, which links to the global 30-year review of implementation of the ICPD Programme of Action.