Cairo Conference Research Articles

Confronting the United Nations’ Pro-growth Agenda

In this article, we enjoin the United Nations (UN) to forge a path out of our plight of multiple environmental and social crises. With other analysts, we identify ‘overshoot’ – the state in which humanity has substantially outpaced Earth’s capacity to regenerate its natural systems and to absorb our waste output – as the root cause of the existential threats we face. This dangerous condition demands rethinking our relationship with Earth and embarking on scaling down the human enterprise within policy frameworks of equity and rights. We argue that when the UN first articulated its international unity and prosperity mission, it did so within a ‘growth’ paradigm that treats Earth and its nonhuman inhabitants as mere resources at humanity’s disposal. The 1994 Cairo Conference on Population and Development reinforced this agenda, with its sharp turn away from the earlier emphasis on population concerns and their link to environmental protection. Today, it is clear that the UN’s foundational goals of peace, human rights and sustainability flounder within a growth-driven framework of human exceptionalism and nature domination. To correct course and reverse our advanced state of ecological overshoot we urge the UN to lead in contracting the large-scale variables of the human enterprise – population, economy, technosphere – and to resist co-optation by political, ideological and special interest pressures that would derail this mandate.

(210) Breastfeeding: The Blind Spot in Sexuality Education, is it a Gender Bias?

Abstract Introduction Sexuality is fundamental to people's well-being and involves all dimensions of existence: cognitive, emotional, physical and cultural dimensions. Media show conflicting and confusing informations and pictures about sexuality and sexuality education is more necessary than ever to provide accurate knowledge, to rule out false beliefs, to promote gender equality and to eradicate gender-based violence. The concept of sexual health was developed in 1974 and, 20 years later, the Cairo Conference enhanced it with the concept of reproductive health. Is gender equality possible in reproductive health? Gaps seem to persist, especially in sexuality education: the word breastfeeding seems to be absent from sexuality education programms. Objective `-Etablish an inventory of official recommendations and programs about sexuality education, in France, and at the international level -Review especially reproductive health education programs in France -In order to introduce in these programs the question of breastfeeding, physiological function of the breast, and raise awareness of lactational amenorrhea as an economical and ecological method of contraception, according to World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations - In order to teach about breastfeeding in the "International technical guidance on sexuality education" developed by UNESCO Methods Literature review with the key words breastfeeding in sex education for the last five years on PubMed and Google Scholar Study of the 139 pages of the "International technical guidance on sexuality education" developed by UNESCO Study of 26 official french texts about sex education since 11/1992 to 12/2022, Code de l'Education, legal texts, decrees and ciculars in France Results Breastfeeding and lactational amenorrhea as birthcontrol are missing in all the sex education programs examined in France and in the 139 pages of the"International technical guidance on sexuality education" developed by UNESCO No relevant study is found about breastfeeding and lactational amenorrhea birth control in sex education for the last five years on PubMed and Google Scholar These results confirm breastfeeding as the blind spot in sex education and raise the question of gender equality in reproductive health especially in reproductive health education: why ignore this singularity of the female body, while children can see breastfeeding persons, especially in their family? What to think of a person breastfeeding in a public place? What to think of a person who breastfeeds a child over the age of two? What to feel in front of the emission of milk that can occur during female orgasm? What about family ties of two children of different couples, breastfed by the same woman? Conclusions Breastfeeding is a strong WHO recommendation, support measures for breastfeeding women are already numerous in many countries. But when is the decision to breastfeed taken? Persons are most often confronted with breastfeeding when they are already pregnant, lacking time to make a really wanted choice, possibly under pressure from people around them, feeling guilty about the sometimes restrictive reality of breastfeeding. The aim of this work is to build a gender egalitarian sex education, considering all aspects of sexual and reproductive health, including breastfeeding. Disclosure No.

John Paul II, the right to life and abortion

John Paul II formulated the prohibition of killing an innocent person in terms of natural Human Rights. He advocated in favour of the right to life of unborn children, through diplomacy and action at the United Nations. The Polish Pope opposed both the claims and the methods of the pro-abortion lobby. This article examines news of this worldwide battle, analysing both Human Rights Law and the power relations surrounding abortion. Nearly thirty years after the Cairo Conference (1994), unborn children have not been excluded from the protection of the right to life and an international obligation to legalize abortion has never been created. However, the assaults of the pro-abortion lobby are as strong as during the 1990s. The entryism of this lobby has even created dysfunctions in the international institutions themselves, thus affecting and losing their impartiality.

United Kingdom’s Position at the Cairo Conference and Her Influence on Drafting Korea Provision of the Cairo Declaration

United Kingdom’s Position at the Cairo Conference and Her Influence on Drafting Korea Provision of the Cairo Declaration

카이로회담 전후 연합국 군사동맹의 비판적 검토

This paper tried to critically examine the military alliance between the U.S., Britain, and China through China’s role in the Cairo talks and changes in the Allied strategy against Japan before and after the talks. Immediately after the outbreak of the Pacific War, the national government proposed a military alliance to the West, and a military alliance was signed between the United States, Britain, and China. However, each country had a different view of the Allied military alliance. As a result, the difference in strategy between the US, UK, and Chinese military leaders resulted in Burma being occupied by the Japanese military in a short period of time. Since 1943, as the war has developed in favor of the Allies on the battlefields of Europe and the Pacific, the Allies held Cairo talks for the post-war Asian initiative and the Japan-Japan strategy. Chiang Kai-shek’s participation in the Cairo conference led China to become one of the four major powers. But it was a semi-final in justification, not a real one.
 In Tehran, the Allies decided to end the war in Asia after ending the war in Europe first. Of course, the strategy agreed upon by the Allies at the Tehran talks may have been a way to quickly end World War II as a whole. However, this strategy could have a huge negative impact on Eastern Europe and Asia, even if the damage to the Chinese national government was left alone. First of all, in Europe, the Soviet Union advanced to Germany and influenced post-war Eastern Europe, and then in Northeast Asia, the Soviet Union exerted influence over Manchuria rather than other powers, which had a decisive impact on the outcome of the post-war civil war.

On the concept of internationalisation: Towards a socially just research collaboration between the UK and MENA countries

This paper argues for a wider range of critical perspectives to be bought to bear on the phenomenon of internationalisation. We suggest the role of internationalisation research should be to promoting reciprocity and respect for global knowledges. It was developed as a discussion piece for the Re-Knox Conference in Cairo (August 2022). It is based on a process of independent and co-reflexivity regarding three of the authors research projects. It conveys and illustrates three principles regarding theory and method that we found valuable for understanding how research that builds a more sustainable, equitable and cooperative form of higher education could be developed. The goal is to unpick and transform the destructive, exploitative, and negative relationships that are embedded in internationalisation for all parties involved

Charging Complicity in Abuses, Ignoring Beneficial Engagement: How American Conservatives Secured the Blocking of U.S. Funds for the UNFPA by Misrepresenting the UN’s Efforts to Reform China’s One-Child Policy

We describe a key moment during the world’s attempt to come to terms with enormously expanding populations. China was an extreme case, both in the magnitude of its population explosion and in its government’s control of reproduction through the One-Child Policy (OCP). The U.S. had been a founder and the main financial supporter of The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). Starting in 1998, UNFPA’s program in China attempted to move the OCP away from two decades of coercive family planning and toward acceptance of the women’s rights–centered global consensus that emerged from the 1994 Cairo Conference on Population and Development. In 2001, a conservative U.S. organization, the Population Research Institute, claimed to have gathered evidence of UNFPA’s involvement in Chinese coercion. Although several investigations, including one sent by President George W. Bush himself, refuted this evidence, and UNFPA had used no U.S. funds in China, conservative political power was sufficient to cause President George W. Bush to eliminate all U.S. funding for UNFPA’s activities everywhere in the world. Ironically, this period was exactly when the UNFPA project had shown that coercion was unnecessary. China eventually followed the UNFPA’s lead, liberalizing and eventually ending the OCP.

A ‘Uniform’ for All States?

A ‘Uniform’ for All States?

Literature Study of Riba In Banking

The purpose of this article is to understand the history of banks usury and banks usury. From the results of the literature conducted, it seems that there are three opinions on the question of whether a bank's interest is usury. Second, it accepts interest because it is not equivalent to the usury prohibited by Islamic law. Third, bank interest is haram, but it is acceptable because there is no way around it. Muslim scholars and scholars still disagree on the following bank interest laws: Abu Zafra, Abu Ala Al Maudi Abdullah Al Arabi, and Yusuf Kardawa said that interest on traditional banks is included in the nasty Nassia class banned by Islam. Ulama's fatwa on the ban on bank interest was actually established at the Islamic Research Conference, attended by 150 prominent scholars, at the second conference in Cairo, Egypt, in May 1965. Since then, various international and domestic ulama forums have issued fatwas banning bank interest.

Winston Churchill’s Middle Eastern Strategy and the Idea of a Kurdish Buffer State, 1921–1922

This study investigates Churchill’s attitude towards the Kurdish question and explains how and why the idea of a Kurdish buffer state initially formed as part of Churchill's Middle Eastern strategy before ultimately being abandoned. It primarily focuses on the role of behind-the-scene officials in influencing and directing the policy decisions towards the future of Kurdistan. It argues that the contention between the Colonial Office and Baghdad did not reflect as much disagreement between Churchill and the High Commissioner of Baghdad Percy Cox, as previous works have suggested, as between their advisers, particularly Hubert Young, Assistant Secretary in the Middle East Department, and Gertrude Bell, Oriental Secretary at Baghdad. This study argues that behind the scenes, Young and Bell exerted great influence over the views of Churchill and Cox, respectively. Young’s standpoint in favour of Kurdish independence influenced Churchill’s initial advocacy of a Kurdish buffer state to protect British colonial interests in the Middle East. However, Bell was ultimately fundamental in determining the future of Kurdistan, contributing significantly to the absence of Kurdistan from the political map. She was at the core of British imperial policymaking for the Iraqi state through her significant influence over Cox regarding the political situation in Iraq. Facilitated by Churchill’s indecision, Bell was successful in obstructing the implementation of the ethnographic approach advocated by the Cairo Conference, and finally, in preventing the establishment of an independent Kurdistan, instigating the perpetual complexity of the Kurdish question.

(Mis)-Interpretations of the 1943 Cairo Conference: The Cairo Communiqué and Its Legacy among Koreans During and After World War II

In December of 1943, three leaders of the Allied forces gathered in Cairo, Egypt to discuss wartime and postwar issues. The Communiqué that they completed in the last of the four-days of meetings, however, reflected issues related to the postwar fate of the Japanese empire, rather than the wartime issues that had dominated their discussions. The rather obtuse phrase, “in due course,” inserted to qualify the leaders’ promise to deliver Korea its independence would gather significant importance only after the conference. It served as a cornerstone for Allied occupation policy planning and execution for future gatherings, while Koreans used it as a rallying point around which they protested Allied trusteeship policy both during and after the Pacific War. This disagreement contributed to the failure that the U.S. and Soviet experienced in their efforts to reunite the peninsula during their three-year occupations of southern and northern Korea. The legacy of this phrase continues in the divided peninsula to this day.

MOBILIZAÇÃO ANTI-ABORTO NA AMÉRICA LATINA: SINAIS DE UM CAMPO EM TRANSFORMAÇÃO

Abstract Gender and sexuality have become a focal point of the political divide in Latin America. In many countries, religious actors, political leaders, pro-life and pro-family nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), among others, have come together to promote a neoconservative shift in contemporary regional politics. Despite the constant public presence of religious actors and their long-standing influence on public policies in the region, recent challenges to sexual and reproductive rights have come from a field in transformation. The anti-abortion mobilization shows important signs of adaptation and mutation on different fronts – networks, alliances, strategies, and frameworks. Finally, this process of renovation has led to the expansion of this dispute towards a broader anti-gender alliance, and the increasing importance of legal strategies and tools by anti-abortion actors is remarkable. The transformations in the anti-abortion field were globally put into action after the conservatives’ defeat in the UN Conference in Cairo, and they also interacted with different local processes, in response to the relational dynamics between movement and countermovement. However, we can see important convergences among Latin-American cases. Drawing on evidence from case studies of countries in the region, this article analyses the main characteristics of contemporary anti-abortion activism in Latin America. It identifies significant commonalities among the cases and raises the hypotheses that shifts in the composition of the anti-abortion networks, in mobilization strategies and frames are inserted in a trend that has been transnationally diffused and subject to different processes of vernacularization. This article ultimately calls attention to the need for more empirical research to address the regional dynamics of transnational actors, diffusion processes, and local adaptations.

The "Cairo Accord"- Towards the Eradication of RHD: An Update.

Rheumatic heart disease (RHD) is the most common cause of acquired heart disease in children and young adults. It continues to be prevalent in many low- and middle-income countries where it causes significant morbidity and mortality. Following the 2017 Cairo conference “Rheumatic Heart Disease: from Molecules to the Global Community,” experts from 21 countries formulated an approach for addressing the problem of RHD: “The Cairo Accord on Rheumatic Heart Disease.” The Accord attempts to set policy priorities for the eradication of acute rheumatic fever (ARF) and RHD and builds on a recent series of policy initiatives and calls to action. We present an update on the recommendations of the Cairo Accord and discuss recent progress toward the eradication of RHD, including contributions from our own Aswan Rheumatic Heart Disease Registry (ARGI).

REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH STATUS OF MARRIED WOMEN PARTICIPATING IN CERVICAL CANCER SCREENING IN KATHMANDU

Background: Reproductive health of women has been the central agenda of Cairo conference since its inception in 1999. As a signatory country for Cairo Conference, Nepal government is also committed for reproductive rights for Nepalese women. Despite this, reproductive health challenges do exist in Nepal. This prompted us to determine the reproductive health status of married women attending in cervical cancer screening in Kath­mandu.
 Methods: Cross sectional study was designed to include retrospective data of married women, obtained during cervical cancer screening camp conducted by KIST Medical College at Laga Khala Clinic, Lagan, Kathmandu on 12-02- 2017. Among married women (131) attended cervical 100 wom­en’s records with complete set of data for reproductive health variables required for the study were included in this study. Statistical analysis was done descriptively.
 Results: Participant’s age is between 21 years to 61years, 83% are liter­ate and 46% are employed. Adolescence marriage and pregnancy were two main problems noted. Cervical examination in relation showed 3% (3) VIA positive, 33% (33) Cervicitis, 10% (10) cervical polyp, 7% (7) atrophic vaginitis, 4% (4) cervical erosion and 43% (43) healthy cervix. Regarding Knowledge about risk factor majority 92% (92) had either no knowledge or only some extent of knowledge.
 Conclusions: Married women who lives in Kathmandu has significant re­productive health problem. Urban health program should address these issues.

Bevölkerungspolitik als Mittel des Klimaschutzes

The free choice of the number of offspring is a fundamental right, emphasised for instance by the eighth principle of the 1994 UN Cairo Conference. The idea of a population policy advocated „with coercion“ is frowned upon by churches and many NGOs. But does this policy have to be implemented with „coercion“ or are incentives enough? And where are the boundaries between constraints and incentives? The following article addresses these philosophical questions. We are recklessly ignoring the adjusting screw of population policy, should also fight politically for international incentives against an increase in population and must think about population policy in our own country, where the ecological footprints are large.

China in Anglo-American relations: the Cairo Conference, November 22–26 and December 2–7, 1943

China’s participation in the Cairo Conference in late November and early December 1943 served as a highwater mark for China’s diplomatic standing during World War Two. Spurred by President Roosevelt’s wish to elevate China and Chinese leader Chiang Kai-shek’s international standing to one of the “Big Four” allies along with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, Chiang sought to make the most of his first, and only, appearance on the international war-time stage by pressing for China’s interests to be addressed. Assisted by American General Joseph Stilwell, Chiang pushed for the Americans and British to commit to a major military operation in Burma in addition to a long list of requests. However much Roosevelt wished to honor the Chinese requests, he came up against British resistance, and although, by this time, the Americans were contributing far more to the fighting of the war, the relationship between Roosevelt and Churchill, between the Americans and the British, took precedence over any and all Chinese needs. Cairo may have marked the peak of China’s international influence during the war, but it failed to overcome the far greater bond that connected the USA and Great Britain.

Hepatitis C virus infection and global kidney health: the consensus proceedings of the International Federation of Kidney Foundations

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is an important cause of major morbidities including chronic liver disease, liver cancer, and acute kidney injury (AKI) as well as chronic kidney disease (CKD). HCV can affect kidney health; among CKD and AKI patients with HCV infection, the clinical outcomes are worse. The prevalence of HCV infection is exceptionally high among dialysis and kidney transplant patients throughout the globe. It is estimated that 5% to 25% or more of dialysis dependent patients are affected by chronic HCV, based on the region of the world. Almost half of all deaths in CKD patients, including HCV-infected patients, are due to cardiovascular disease, and HCV infected patients have higher mortality. Given the importance and impact of the HCV epidemic on CKD and global kidney health, and the status of Egypt as the nation with highest prevalence of HCV infection in the world along with its leading initiatives to eradicate HCV, the International Federation of Kidney Foundations (IFKF) convened a consensus conference in Cairo in December 2017. This article reflects the opinions and recommendations of the contributing experts and reiterates that with the current availability of highly effective and well tolerated pharmacotherapy; CKD patients should be given priority for treatment of HCV, as an important step towards the elimination of viral hepatitis as a public health problem by 2030 according to World Health Organization and IFKF. Every country should have an action plan with the goal to improve kidney health and CKD patient outcomes.

A CATHOLIC VIEW OF INTERRELIGIOUS DIALOGUE IN THE TIME OF POPE FRANCIS

The Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) drew the attention of Catholics to human dignity of non-Christian believers who have right to their religious identity. After the Council Popes Paul VI, John Paul II and Benedict XVI established and supported the Pontifical Council for Interreligious dialogue with the task to study other religions as they perceive themselves and to organize friendly encounters with their representatives. Pope Francis, elected on 13 March 2013, brought into his ministry the experience of a Church leader in South America. This is why in his teaching documents, encounters and discourses he points out the social role of religion (Evangelii Gaudium, nos 176-258), the need for preserving environment as our common home (Laudato si, 199-245) and special pastoral care of couples in mixed marriages as believers who can practice interreligious dialogue by persevering in their religious affiliation (Amoris Laetitia, 247-248). On his apostolic journeys to Jordan, Palestine, Israel, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Egypt he met representatives of civil authorities and Muslim religious leaders. Sheikh of Al-Azhar Ahmed Al Tayeb gave him the opportunity to address the Muslim participants at the Peace Conference in Cairo on 28 April 2017. Pope Francis’s acts and speeches can inspire Religious Education teachers in Bosnia and Herzegovina to develop respective religious identities in their students by preserving shared values and introducing them to universal ethics.

The Latest Trends in Reproductive Health and the Problem of Abortion in Russia

In 2019, the world celebrates the 25th anniversary of the International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo. The conference launched a demographic policy shift from state interests to human rights, including the right to reproductive health. The article discusses the current situation in the field of birth control in Russia based on the approach developed by the Cairo Conference. We show that the Russian Federation is no longer a global leader in the number of abortions, and in younger ages, reproductive behavior differs little from other developed countries. The accessibility and expansion of the contraceptive market have played a leading role in reducing the number of induced abortions. Despite the position of some pressure groups and attempts to limit reproductive rights, government abortion policies remain liberal. The observed improvement in reproductive health is not a significant demographic reserve in terms of population growth, but it is of great importance for the quality of life of the population.

Positioning AIDS Activism in India: Civil Society Responses Between Development Aid, Global Health and the State, 1989 to 2001

Abstract This article brings histories of medical activism in conversation with studies of international development to understand Ford Foundation-supported AIDS non-governmental organisations in India. While there were organisations with far-reaching visions for change through the voluntary sector, the article argues that the advocacy, caught between political critique and service delivery, was ultimately awkward and ambiguous. It demonstrates this by focusing on the Foundation’s support for Indian civil society after the Emergency, how it ‘learned’ activism from mainstream global and national responses and how AIDS was subsequently subsumed under a resurgent reproductive health movement after the 1994 Cairo Conference on Population and Development. Finally, it argues that AIDS activism declined after the early 2000s because the Indian government absorbed the developmental rhetoric and services of the NGOs. Ultimately, Ford’s career in AIDS activism showcases the limitations of sustained political critique by civil society and non-governmental actors.