The 20-year Programme of Action.

• Position: Cairo Programme of Action on population and development

The 16-Chapter Cairo Programme of Action reaffirms the connection among population growth, poverty, patterns of production and consumption and the environment. it states: "Progress in any component can catalyse improvement in others." The Programme emphasizes the need for harmonizing population trends and patterns of development in order to increase the standard of living of current populations, while at the same time not jeopardizing the needs of future generations.

It also emphasizes the imperatives of empowering women and guaranteeing choice in regard to family planning, and stresses that advancing gender equality and ensuring women's ability to control their own fertility are "cornerstones" of population and development programmes. The principle of "sovereignty", which guarantees that each country would decide for itself which programme recommendations are relevant to its conditions and needs, is also enshrined in the Programme.

Following a structure similar to that of "Agenda 21"--the action strategy adopted by the 1992 UN Conference on Environment and Development--the chapters and subchapters of the document are divided into sections called "Basis for action", "Objectives" and "Actions".

Preamble

The Preamble (Chapter I), which provides an overview of the issues, states that there is an emerging global consensus on the need for increased international cooperation concerning population in the context of sustainable development. The world's basic resources are being "depleted and environmental degradation is intensifying, driven by unsustainable patterns of production and consumption, unprecedented growth in population, widespread and persistent poverty and social and economic inequality", it says. The world population is currently estimated at 5.6 billion. During the remaining six years of this decade, nations "by their actions or inactions" will choose from among a range of alternative demographic futures. The low, medium and high variants of the UN population projections for the next 20 years range from 7.1 billion to 7.8 billion. implementation of the Programme goals would result in world population growth at levels below the UN medium projection of 7.5 billion.

It points to encouraging signs such as major shifts in attitude among the world's people and their leaders in regard to reproductive health, family planning and population growth. In this connection, sustained economic growth in the context of sustainable development would enhance the ability of countries to meet pressures of expected population growth: facilitate the demographic transition in countries where there is an imbalance between demographic rates and social, economic and environmental goals; and permit the balance and integration of the population dimension into other development-related policies. The Programme points to the shift of rural populations and the continued high levels of migration between countries as presenting serious new challenges.

The Programme recommends to the international community a set of objectives and goals, including: sustained economic growth in the context of sustainable development; education, especially for girls; gender equity and equality; infant, child and maternal mortality reduction; and the provision of universal access to reproductive health services, including family planning and sexual health.

Basic Principles

Chapter II of the Programme puts forward 15 basic principles guiding Conference participants, many of which relate to the basic human rights to which every man, woman and child is...