HIGH-LEVEL UNITED NATIONS MEETING ON POPULATION TO BE HELD IN BANGKOK, 24-27 MARCH
Press Release
POP/665
REC/22
HIGH-LEVEL UNITED NATIONS MEETING ON POPULATION TO BE HELD IN BANGKOK, 24-27 MARCH
19980323 (Reissued as received.)BANGKOK, 20 March (UN Information Service) -- A high-level United Nations meeting on population is scheduled to take place in Bangkok at the United Nations Conference Centre from 24 to 27 March. It will review progress on the implementation of the Programme of Action adopted at the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), held at Cairo in September 1994.
The high-level meeting is being jointly organized by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). The meeting will also review progress in implementing the Bali Declaration on Population and Sustainable Development, adopted by the Fourth Asian and Pacific Population Conference, held in Bali in August 1992.
The Bali Declaration identified the Asia-Pacific region's priority issues and proposed strategies to address them, constituting a major input for the ICPD. Recommendations adopted at the Fourth Asian and Pacific Conference as well as other regional conferences and expert group meetings led to the adoption of the Programme of Action at the ICPD, which has far-reaching implications for population programmes globally. It has also significant implications for national population programmes in the Asia-Pacific region.
The ICPD Programme of Action has brought about a radical shift in the thinking of population in relation to development. Among the most important changes is the broadening of the scope of the programmes to include, in an integrated fashion, those elements of reproductive health that had previously been treated separately.
The shifts have also placed greater emphasis on the rights of individuals and couples to decide freely and responsibly on the timing and number of children they want, free from any form of coercion. Targets for family planning, which formed the basis of many programmes prior to the ICPD, thus are not considered appropriate and should be reconsidered.
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The Programme of Action also calls for improved quality of care and the protection of reproductive and sexual rights and the promotion of gender equity and empowerment of women. Moreover, it calls for an integrated and holistic approach that views development strategies, particularly the promotion of girls' education, environmental protection and poverty alleviation, as contributing to the attainment of population goals and an improved quality of life for people in general.
Discussions at the high-level meeting will include the following topics: population and development policies and strategies in the context of the rapidly changing macroeconomic environment; gender equality and equity, including the empowerment of women; issues concerning the integration of reproductive health components; quality of care and target-free approach for family planning programmes; adolescent reproductive health; gender issues in reproductive health and promoting male responsibility; monitoring, evaluation and impact assessment: development and utilization of indicators; and role of civil society.
The meeting will be inaugurated at 9:30 a.m., local time, by Pichai Ratakul, Deputy Prime Minister of the Government of Thailand. The Keynote Address will be delivered by Dr. Nafis Sadik, Executive Director of the UNFPA.
Over 150 participants from both governments and non-governmental organizations from more than 30 countries of the Asia-Pacific region are expected to attend.
The deliberations and recommendations emanating from the meeting will be submitted to the April session of ESCAP and will comprise a regional input to the preparations for the global-level "Cairo + 5" meeting scheduled for 1999.
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