SECRETARY-GENERAL STRESSES NEED TO USE NATURAL RESOURCES MORE WISELY AND TO STABILIZE WORLD POPULATION
Press Release
SG/SM/7059
POP/735
SECRETARY-GENERAL STRESSES NEED TO USE NATURAL RESOURCES MORE WISELY AND TO STABILIZE WORLD POPULATION
19990706 Following is the text of the message of Secretary-General Kofi Annan for the occasion of World Population day, which will be observed on 11 July:In this last year of the millennium, World Population Day starts the countdown to the Day of 6 Billion -- 12 October 1999 -- the date chosen to symbolize the moment when the world population passes the 6 billion mark. Impressive as this number is, it must be, more than anything else, a reminder that population is not only about numbers. It is about human beings, about individuals, about every one of us.
It is about every woman and every man being able to make free, informed and equal choices, including the size of their family and the spacing of their children. It is about every man and every woman being able to provide for the children they have chosen to have, ensure their well-being and give them a life of dignity. It is about individual freedom, about human rights, about sustainable development for all.
Population is also about the planet we inhabit. As a global community, we know we will have to find ways to use natural resources more wisely and share them more equitably. But we also realize that no matter what we do, those resources cannot be stretched indefinitely. For the Earth to continue to sustain us all in the future, we must stabilize the world population. In Cairo, in 1994, we made a commitment to do so.
Encouraging progress has been made towards achieving the goals agreed on then, at the International Conference on Population and Development. If we remain committed, continue to cooperate and give the right message to the young people of today, who will shape tomorrow's world population, we will contribute to a better future for all. On this World Population Day, I reaffirm that the United Nations will not flag in its efforts towards this end.
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