Population, progress ... and "peanuts".

• Author: Lie, Joakim

Population and development have always been key issues at the United Nations. The 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in Cairo recognized that if you want to limit population growth, you must provide the need of the people on a broad scale. The ICPD turned the questions on their head, taking people as a startingpoint instead of numbers. The 1999 session covered a broad range of questions; adolescent reproduction and sexual health was a major concern, as was the issue of gender, occurring in many different parts of the discussion and in the consensus text, reflecting universal concern on these issues.

The final document identified demographic and social goals to be achieved over a 20-year period, showing how countries could further their population policies, since early stabilization of world population would be crucial to sustainable development. Evident was the will of all Member States to see population issues on a broader scale, reflected by Japan's State Secretary for Foreign Affairs, Nobutaka Machimura, who argued for "a comprehensive approach that promotes basic health care, education and the advancement of women, fully recognizing the interdependent relationship between development, population, food security and environment."

Preparations for the special session in New York had been under way for several months. The process included a forum meeting in The Hague, and then the work of the preparatory committees, organized by the UNFPA. As the session ended with the adoption of the consensus text, many were relieved that all the hard work had paid off. "The process of arriving at a consensus was extraordinarily difficult, but the result was gratifying," said Ambassador Anwarul Karim Chowdhury of Bangladesh, Chairman of the Ad Hoc Committee of the Whole, who observed that it enabled the nations of the world to go one step further than the Cairo Conference had five years earlier. While there were attempts by some delegations to reopen negotiations on the Cairo text, he added that the text was a hard-earned consensus to be respected by countries, and that their focus should be instead in the further implementation of the Cairo agenda.

In five years, significant advances have been made as a result of the Cairo Conference. Reproductive health is being understood in a rights-based approach, such as family planning and sexual health, including the rights of migrants, refugees and displaced persons, and adolescent reproductive health. Gender-based violence is being included within the health package. And many countries recognized the rights of women as fundamental human rights.

But, as the review process concluded, ideological, cultural and traditional differences are preventing progress in discussions towards universal ethical standards. There is still a lack of commitment to the right of adolescents to reproductive health information and services. Other issues that made significant advances, but are still far from meeting Programme of Action targets, include the needs of women and adolescent girls in emergency situations, standards of quality of care, male responsibility and services for men, HIV/AIDS maternal health and mortality reduction.

An additional constraint cited was the "lack of accurate, timely and internationally comparable data to provide the basis for a reliable monitoring" of the implementation of the Programme of Action. Lack of information on age structures, for instance, hinders the creation of policies and programmes addressing the particular needs of the elderly, as well as affordable, accessible and appropriate health care services, and support systems to enhance the ability of families to care for their elders. According to UNFPA's Field Inquiry, in Africa where monitoring would be most beneficial, only 13 countries, or 30 per cent, have taken substantial steps in establishing monitoring programmes. In contrast, 16 Asian countries, or 55 per cent of the continent, were reported to have taken substantial measures in establishing monitoring mechanisms.

Crisis-hit countries expressed their difficulties in coping with global economic trends; economic and financial crises were referred to as the strongest hindrance in Asia, as well as internal wars in Africa. Other obstacles include linking population and environment and development, migration and the population age structure. The ICPD+5 concluded that there is a need for increasing network among organizations, particularly non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and greater collaboration with the private sector and decision-makers. In the meetings, the presence of NGOs was found to be crucial to the monitoring and implementation of the Cairo agenda. United States First Lady Hillary Clinton said at The Hague that: "No longer are the discussions about global challenges or their solutions decided upon solely by government officials and policy makers. Non-governmental organizations have finally taken their...