Abstract
This article reviews the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) Program of Action. A quick glance at the ICPD shows that issues on population and development were extensively examined as an integrated whole and the Program of Action was created as a guide for population work for the next 20 years. The overall goal of the Program of Action is to slow down population growth and to achieve stability by the year 2015 to a level that is in harmony with the use and availability of resources. The ICPD Program of Action covers a number of issues ranging from the interrelationships between population sustained economic growth and sustainable development gender equality and equity and empowerment of women reproductive rights and health health and morbidity and mortality population growth and structure population distribution urbanization and migration. The active support and involvement of all countries are needed to fully accomplish the goals of the ICPD Program of Action. This was started in the Beijing Womens Conference wherein notions of reproductive and sexual rights were expanded. In addition the UN Population Fund is committed to fully implement the ICPD agenda along with the entire international community.
Highlights
It is a special pleasure for me to participate in this seminar in Helsinki
I will start by taking a few minutes to look back to the year 1994 and at what happened at the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), held in Cairo
This is important because the ICPD really changed the manner in which we who work in the population and development field look at these issues, and this landmark conference gave us an excellent road map to guide all future action
Summary
It is a special pleasure for me to participate in this seminar in Helsinki. It is very gratify ing to see that there is strong interest in Finland in issues related to population growth and all other aspects o f population as well. The ICPD Programme of Action was not based on theoretical constructs or on ideological orientations, but rather on lessons learned from years o f practical work in development and population, and from the participation in these discussions o f a very wide spectrum of interest groups and stakehold ers These included experts in population issues and people from all walks o f life, politi cians, parliamentarians, programme managers, women’s activists, religious leaders, youth groups, environmental groups, business and private sector representatives, and so on. The Programme o f Action gave a very solid basis for the other major international confer ences that followed, including the Copenhagen Social Summit (1995) and the Beijing Women’s Conference (1995) It was important vis-à-vis the other conferences which have fol lowed later on, and taken together, all these conferences have provided a comprehen sive set o f goals for all nations to achieve sustainable human development. Some donor countries, such as Finland, are providing a good example for others to follow in that they channel a relatively significant share o f their ODA into population assistance
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