Population Commission recommends action by governments and United Nations system.

• Position: Contains related article on International Planned Parenthood winning population award

The Population Commission has called for measures to improve the role and status of women, in line with priorities identified by the 1984 International Conference on Population in Mexico City last August. Those recommendations were contained in one of four resolutions approved by consensus at the Commission's twenty-third session, held in New York (19-28 February).

Texts covering all aspects of United Nations population activities were forwarded to its parent body, the Economic and Social Council, for consideration at its spring session in May.

Much of the Commission's discussion during its 10-day session focused on the implications of the 88 recommendations formulated in Mexico City to further implement the World Population Plan of Action adopted at Bucharest in 1974. Addressing the Commission on its opening day, Shuaib Uthman Yolah, Under-Secretary-General for International Economic and Social Affairs, recalled that the 1984 Population Conference had made clear that concern for the status and role of women must be one of the "fundamental constituent elements" of any innovative actions in the population field.

In that regard, the Commission recommended that the Economic and Social Council urge all Governments participating in the World Conference to Review and Appraise the Achievements of the United Nations Decade for Women, scheduled for July 1985 in Nairobi, to incorporate into their strategies for the advancement of women relevant recommendations of the 1984 International Population Conference. In addition, the Secretary-General would be asked to strengthen studies on the interrelationship between the sttus of women and demographic trends and policies, following guidelines set up at the Mexico City Conference, and to monitor progress in implementing the recommendations made there regarding the role and status of women in the field of population (E/CN.9/1985/L.8).

Another resolution approved by the Commission also deals with follow-up to last year's Population Conference (E/CN.9/1985/L.6). By that text, the Economic and Social Council would recommend increased efforts by the international community to mobilize resources to assist developing countries in population activities. It would also request the Secretary-General to prepare an overview of population activities...