PRESS BRIEFING ON COMMISSION ON POPULATION AND DEVELOPMENT

PRESS BRIEFING ON COMMISSION ON POPULATION AND DEVELOPMENT

At a Headquarters press briefing this morning correspondents were told about developments in the thirty-fifth session of the Commission on Population and Development, which is taking place all of this week and scheduled for completion on Friday.

Updating the press and responding to questions were Joseph Chamie, Director Population Division, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Antonio Golini (Italy), Chairman of the Commission on Population and Development, and Makoto Atoh (Japan), Vice Chairman of the Commission.

Mr. Chamie said the developments in this session of the Commission could be grouped into three categories.  The first was the substance of the special themes -- reproductive health and reproductive rights, with special reference to the HIV/AIDS epidemic. 

The second category was related to past population conferences and concerned the nature of follow-up activities.  The United Nations had organized five such conferences in the past.  The first in 1954 and the second in 1965 were both technical scientific gatherings.  In 1974, the conference held in Bucharest, Romania, was the first global inter-governmental forum dealing with population and development.  Next came the Mexico City Conference (1984), another inter-governmental global conference, followed by the most recent global meeting in Cairo, Egypt, in 1994.  The question before the Commission during its session this week was what should take place in 2004.

The third area, continued Mr. Chamie, concerned the syntax of resolutions and decisions being drafted by the Commission.  Specifically, what was being looked at was the way they related to the special theme; to the review and implementation of the Cairo Programme of Action; and also to the issue of additional events and options to mark the tenth anniversary of the Cairo Conference. 

Mr. Gorini said the Commission had the responsibility to look at population issues and problems for the coming decades.  Since its genesis in 1946, the Commission, one of the first created by the United Nations, had done very good work.  While the problems of the future might be different from those of the last 50 years, they would not be any less relevant.  One issue, for example, would be control of the HIV/AIDS epidemic.  A very important question would be population ageing.  Another issue related to completing the transition from high to low fertility.  Relations between North and South should also be on the agenda. 

Mr. Atoh said that as Vice-Chair of the Commission it was his responsibility to take charge of the informal meetings of the current session.  So far, two draft resolutions had been discussed, which had been prepared by the previous Bureau and the Secretariat.  One of those drafts dealt with reproductive rights and health, including HIV/AIDS.  As far as that text was concerned, consensus was very close.  The resolution would ask the Population Division to continue research on reproductive health.  It would also request the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) to continue programmes on reproductive health and rights in

collaboration with the Division.  The Population Division would further be asked to strengthen the work on the demographic impact of HIV/AIDS in collaboration with the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and other relevant organizations.  The text would also request the Division to incorporate the findings on reproductive health and rights in the next review and appraisal of the implementation of the Cairo Programme of Action.

Mr. Atoh said the second draft resolution being discussed in the informals dealt directly with the review and appraisal of progress made in achieving the goals and objectives of the Cairo Programme of Action.  That resolution had been aborted in two previous sessions of the Commission, and while consensus was being sought for the current session, there was still a major gap between and among countries.  Some countries did not want a big event to commemorate the 10-year anniversary of Cairo in 2004, while others stressed the importance of having such an event. 

To a correspondent who wanted more clarification about the gap between countries over the second resolution, Mr. Atoh said one side was of the view that scant resources should be utilized for the implementation of the programme itself, and not for an event.  The other side, however, was underscoring that a specific event for the tenth anniversary was necessary to raise awareness of population issues.  Hopefully consensus would be reached today by 6 p.m., but he was not sure since negotiations were currently taking place in an informal working group.

Mr. Chamie said there would not be a vote as such on the text, but what was currently being discussed was syntax and wording, and hopefully a conclusion would be reached today since the previous two attempts on the same issue had been unsuccessful.

When asked which countries were against the holding of a big event to mark the 10-year anniversary, Mr. Atoh said it was the European Union Group.

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