1.1 The 1994 International Conference
on Population and Development occurs
at a defining moment in the
history of international cooperation.
With the growing recognition of global
population, development and
environmental interdependence,
the opportunity to adopt suitable
macro- and socio-economic policies
to promote sustained economic
growth in the context of sustainable
development in all countries and to
mobilize human and financial resources
for global problem- solving
has never been greater.
Never before has the world community
had so many resources, so much
knowledge and such powerful technologies
at its disposal which, if suitably
redirected, could foster sustained
economic growth and sustainable
development. Nonetheless, the
effective use of resources, knowledge
and technologies is conditioned by
political and economic obstacles at
the national and international levels.
Therefore, although ample resources
have been available for some time,
their use for socially equitable and
environmentally sound development
has been seriously limited.
1.2. The world has undergone far-reaching
changes in the past two decades.
Significant progress in many fields
important for human welfare has
been made through national and international
efforts. However, the developing
countries are still facing serious
economic difficulties and an
unfavourable international economic
environment, and the
number of people living in absolute
poverty has increased in many countries.
Around the world many of the
basic resources on which future generations
will depend for their survival
and well-being are being depleted
and environmental degradation
is intensifying, driven by unsustainable
patterns of production and
consumption, unprecedented
growth in population, widespread
and persistent poverty, and social
and economic inequality. Ecological
problems, such as global climate
change, largely driven by unsustainable
patterns of production and consumption,
are adding to the threats
to the well-being of future generations.
There is an emerging global
consensus on the need for increased
international cooperation in regard
to population in the context of sustainable
development, for which
Agenda 21 1/provides a framework.
Much has been achieved in this respect,
but more needs to be done.
1.3. The world population is currently estimated
at 5.6 billion. While the rate
of growth is on the decline, absolute
increments have been increasing,
currently exceeding 86 million persons
per annum. Annual population
increments are likely to remain
above 86 million until the year 2015.
1.4. During the remaining six years of
this critical decade, the world's nations
by their actions or inactions
will choose from among a range of
alternative demographic futures.
The low, medium and high variants
of the United Nations population
projections for the coming 20 years
range from a low of 7.1 billion people
to the medium variant of 7.5
billion and a high of 7.8 billion. The
difference of 720 million people in
the short span of 20 years exceeds
the current population of the African
continent. Further into the future,
the projections diverge even
more significantly.
By the year 2050, the United Nations
projections range from 7.9 billion
to the medium variant of 9.8
billion and a high of 11.9 billion.
Implementation of the goals and
objectives contained in the present
20-year Programme of Action,
which address many of the fundamental
population, health, education
and development challenges
facing the entire human community,
would result in world population
growth during this period and beyond
at levels below the United
Nations medium projection.
1.5. The International Conference on
Population and Development is not
an isolated event. Its Programme
of Action builds on the considerable
international consensus that has developed
since the World Population
Conference at Bucharest in 1974
and the International Conference on
Population at Mexico City in 1984,
to consider the broad issues of and
interrelationships between population,
sustained economic growth
and sustainable development, and
advances in the education, economic
status and empowerment of
women. The 1994 Conference was
explicitly given a broader mandate
on development issues than previous
population conferences, reflecting
the growing awareness that
population, poverty, patterns of
production and consumption and
the environment are so closely interconnected
that none of them can
be considered in isolation.
1.6. The International Conference on
Population and Development follows
and builds on other important
recent international activities, and
its recommendations should be supportive
of, consistent with and
based on the agreements reached
at the following:
-
The World Conference to Review
and Appraise the Achievements
of the United Nations Decade for
Women: Equality, Development
and Peace, held in Nairobi in
1985;
-
The World Summit for Children,
held in New York in 1990;
-
The United Nations Conference on
Environment and Development,
held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992;
-
The International Conference on
Nutrition, held in Rome in 1992;
-
The World Conference on Human
Rights, held in Vienna in 1993;
-
The International Year of the
World's Indigenous People,
1993, which would lead to the
International Decade of the World's Indigenous People;
-
The Global Conference on the
Sustainable Development of Island
Developing States, held in
Barbados in 1994;
-
The International Year of the
Family, 1994.
1.7. The Conference outcomes are
closely related to and will make significant
contributions to other major
conferences in 1995 and 1996,
such as the World Summit for Social
Development, the Fourth World
Conference on Women: Action for
Equality, Development and Peace,
the Second United Nations Conference
on Human Settlements (Habitat
II), the elaboration of the Agenda
for Development, as well as the celebration
of the fiftieth anniversary
of the United Nations. These events
are expected to highlight further the
call of the 1994 Conference for
greater investment in people, and
for a new action agenda for the empowerment
of women to ensure
their full participation at all levels
in the social, economic and political
lives of their communities.
1.8. Over the past 20 years, many parts
of the world have undergone remarkable
demographic, social, economic,
environmental and political
change. Many countries have made
substantial progress in expanding
access to reproductive health care
and lowering birth rates, as well as
in lowering death rates and raising
education and income levels, including
the educational and economic
status of women. While the advances
of the past two decades in
areas such as increased use of contraception, decreased maternal mortality,
implemented sustainable development
plans and projects and
enhanced educational programmes
provide a basis for optimism about
successful implementation of the
present Programme of Action, much
remains to be accomplished. The
world as a whole has changed in
ways that create important new opportunities
for addressing population
and development issues.
Among the most significant are the
major shifts in attitude among the
world's people and their leaders in
regard to reproductive health, family
planning and population growth,
resulting, inter alia, in the new comprehensive
concept of reproductive
health, including family planning
and sexual health, as defined in the
present Programme of Action. A
particularly encouraging trend has
been the strengthening of political
commitment to population-related
policies and family-planning programmes
by many Governments. In
this regard, sustained economic
growth in the context of sustainable
development will enhance the ability
of countries to meet the pressures
of expected population growth; will
facilitate the demographic transition
in countries where there is an imbalance
between demographic rates
and social, economic and environmental
goals; and will permit the
balance and integration of the population
dimension into other development-related policies.
1.9. The population and development
objectives and actions of the present
Programme of Action will collectively
address the critical challenges
and interrelationships between
population and sustained economic
growth in the context of sustainable
development. In order to do so,
adequate mobilization of resources
at the national and international
levels will be required as well as new
and additional resources to the developing
countries from all available
funding mechanisms, including multilateral,
bilateral and private
sources. Financial resources are also
required to strengthen the capacity
of national, regional, sub regional
and international institutions to implement
this Programme of Action.
1.10. The two decades ahead are likely to
produce a further shift of rural
populations to urban areas as well
as continued high levels of migration
between countries. These migrations
are an important part of the economic
transformations occurring
around the world, and they present
serious new challenges. Therefore,
these issues must be addressed with
more emphasis within population
and development policies. By the
year 2015, nearly 56 per cent of the
global population is expected to live
in urban areas, compared to under
45 per cent in 1994. The most rapid
rates of urbanization will occur in the
developing countries. The urban
population of the developing regions
was just 26 per cent in 1975, but is
projected to rise to 50 per cent by
2015. This change will place enormous
strain on existing social services
and infrastructure, much of which
will not be able to expand at the
same rate as that of urbanization.
1.11. Intensified efforts are needed in the coming 5, 10 and 20 years, in a
range of population and development
activities, bearing in mind the
crucial contribution that early
stabilization of the world population
would make towards the achievement
of sustainable development.
The present Programme of Action
addresses all those issues, and more,
in a comprehensive and integrated
framework designed to improve the
quality of life of the current world
population and its future generations.
The recommendations for action
are made in a spirit of consensus
and international cooperation,
recognizing that the formulation and
implementation of population-related
policies is the responsibility of
each country and should take into
account the economic, social and environmental diversity of conditions
in each country, with full respect for
the various religious and ethical values,
cultural backgrounds and philosophical
convictions of its people, as
well as the shared but differentiated
responsibilities of all the world's
people for a common future.
1.12. The present Programme of Action
recommends to the international
community a set of important population
and development objectives,
as well as qualitative and quantitative
goals that are mutually supportive
and of critical importance to
these objectives. Among these objectives
and goals are:
-
sustained economic growth in the
context of sustainable development;
-
education, especially for girls;
-
gender equity and equality;
-
infant, child and maternal mortality
reduction; and the provision
of universal access to reproductive
health services, including family
planning and sexual health.
1.13. Many of the quantitative and qualitative
goals of the present Programme
of Action clearly require
additional resources, some of which
could become available from a reordering
of priorities at the individual,
national and international levels.
However, none of the actions required
- nor all of them combined -
is expensive in the context of either
current global development or military
expenditures. A few would require
little or no additional financial
resources, in that they involve
changes in lifestyles, social norms
or government policies that can be
largely brought about and sustained
through greater citizen action and
political leadership. But to meet the
resource needs of those actions that
do require increased expenditures
over the next two decades, additional
commitments will be required
on the part of both developing and
developed countries. This will be
particularly difficult in the case of
some developing countries and
some countries with economies in
transition that are experiencing extreme
resource constraints.
1.14. The present Programme of Action
recognizes that over the next 20
years Governments are not expected
to meet the goals and objectives of
the International Conference on
Population and Development single-handedly. All members of and
groups in society have the right, and
indeed the responsibility, to play an
active part in efforts to reach those
goals. The increased level of interest
manifested by non-governmental
organizations, first in the context
of the United Nations Conference
on Environment and Development
and the World Conference on Human
Rights, and now in these deliberations,
reflects an important
and in many places rapid change in
the relationship between Governments
and a variety of non-governmental
institutions. In nearly all
countries new partnerships are
emerging between government,
business, non-governmental organizations
and community groups,
which will have a direct and positive
bearing on the implementation
of the present Programme of Action.
1.15. While the International Conference
on Population and Development
does not create any new international
human rights, it affirms the
application of universally recognized
human rights standards to all
aspects of population programmes.
It also represents the last opportunity
in the twentieth century for the
international community to collectively
address the critical challenges
and interrelationships between
population and development. The
Programme of Action will require
the establishment of common
ground, with full respect for the various
religious and ethical values and
cultural backgrounds. The impact of
this Conference will be measured by
the strength of the specific commitments
made here and the consequent actions to fulfill them, as part
of a new global partnership among
all the world's countries and peoples,
based on a sense of shared but
differentiated responsibility for each
other and for our planetary home.
PRINCIPLES
The implementation of the recommendations
contained in the Programme of Action
is the sovereign right of each country,
consistent with national laws and development
priorities, with full respect for the
various religious and ethical values and
cultural backgrounds of its people, and in
conformity with universally recognized international
human rights.
International cooperation and universal
solidarity, guided by the principles of the
Charter of the United Nations, and in a
spirit of partnership, are crucial in order
to improve the quality of life of the peoples
of the world.
In addressing the mandate of the International
Conference on Population and Development
and its overall theme, the interrelationships
between population, sustained
economic growth and sustainable
development, and in their deliberations, the
participants were and will continue to be
guided by the following set of principles:
Principle 1
All human beings are born free and equal
in dignity and rights. Everyone is entitled
to all the rights and freedoms set forth in
the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,
without distinction of any kind, such as
race, colour, sex, language, religion, political
or other opinion, national or social
origin, property, birth or other status. Everyone
has the right to life, liberty and security
of person.
Principle 2
Human beings are at the centre of concerns
for sustainable development. They
are entitled to a healthy and productive
life in harmony with nature. People are
the most important and valuable resource
of any nation. Countries should ensure that
all individuals are given the opportunity
to make the most of their potential. They
have the right to an adequate standard of
living for themselves and their families, including
adequate food, clothing, housing,
water and sanitation.
Principle 3
The right to development is a universal and
inalienable right and an integral part of
fundamental human rights, and the human
person is the central subject of development.
While developmentfacilitates
the enjoyment of all human rights, the lack
of development may not be invoked to
justify the abridgement of internationally
recognized human rights. The right to development
must be fulfilled so as to equitably
meet the population, development
and environment needs of present and
future generations.
Principle 4
Advancing gender equality and equity and
the empowerment of women, and the
elimination of all kinds of violence against
women, and ensuring women's ability to
control their own fertility, are cornerstones
of population and development-related programmes.
The human rights of women and the girl
child are an inalienable, integral and indivisible
part of universal human rights. The
full and equal participation of women in
civil, cultural, economic, political and social
life, at the national, regional and international
levels, and the eradication of
all forms of discrimination on grounds of
sex, are priority objectives of the international
community.
Principle 5
Population-related goals and policies are
integral parts of cultural, economic and
social development, the principal aim of
which is to improve the quality of life of
all people.
Principle 6
Sustainable development as a means to
ensure human well-being, equitably shared
by all people today and in the future, requires
that the interrelationships between
population, resources, the environment
and development should be fully recognized,
properly managed and brought into
harmonious, dynamic balance. To achieve
sustainable development and a higher
quality of life for all people, States should
reduce and eliminate unsustainable patterns
of production and consumption and
promote appropriate policies, including
population-related policies, in order to
meet the needs of current generations without
compromising the ability of future generations
to meet their own needs.
Principle 7
All States and all people shall cooperate
in the essential task of eradicating poverty
as an indispensable requirement for sustainable
development, in order to decrease
the disparities in standards of living and
better meet the needs of the majority of
the people of the world. The special situation
and needs of developing countries,
particularly the least developed, shall be
given special priority. Countries with
economies in transition, as well as all other
countries, need to be fully integrated into
the world economy.
Principle 8
Everyone has the right to the enjoyment
of the highest attainable standard of physical
and mental health. States should take
all appropriate measures to ensure, on a
basis of equality of men and women, universal
access to health-care services, including
those related to reproductive health
care, which includes family planning and
sexual health. Reproductive health-care
programmes should provide the widest
range of services without any form of coercion.
All couples and individuals have
the basic right to decide freely and responsibly
the number and spacing of their children
and to have the information, education
and means to do so.
Principle 9
The family is the basic unit of society and
as such should be strengthened. It is entitled
to receive comprehensive protection
and support. In different cultural, political
and social systems, various forms of
the family exist. Marriage must be entered
into with the free consent of the intending
spouses, and husband and wife
should be equal partners.
Principle 10
Everyone has the right to education, which
shall be directed to the full development
of human resources, and human dignity
and potential, with particular attention to
women and the girl child. Education
should be designed to strengthen respect
for human rights and fundamental
freedoms, including those relating to population
and development. The best interests
of the child shall be the guiding principle
of those responsible for his or her
education and guidance; that responsibility
lies in the first place with the parents.
Principle 11
All States and families should give the highest
possible priority to children. The child
has the right to standards of living adequate
for its well-being and the right to
the highest attainable standards of health,
and the right to education. The child has
the right to be cared for, guided and supported
by parents, families and society and
to be protected by appropriate legislative,
administrative, social and educational
measures from all forms of physical or
mental violence, injury or abuse, neglect
or negligent treatment, maltreatment or
exploitation, including sale, trafficking,
sexual abuse, and trafficking in its organs.
Principle 12
Countries receiving documented migrants
should provide proper treatment and adequate
social welfare services for them and
their families, and should ensure their
physical safety and security, bearing in
mind the special circumstances and needs
of countries, in particular developing countries,
attempting to meet these objectives
or requirements with regard to undocumented
migrants, in conformity with the
provisions of relevant conventions and international
instruments and documents.
Countries should guarantee to all migrants
all basic human rights as included in the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights.
Principle 13
Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy
in other countries asylum from persecution.
States have responsibilities with
respect to refugees as set forth in the Geneva
Convention on the Status of Refugees
and its 1967 Protocol.
Principle 14
In considering the population and development
needs of indigenous people, States
should recognize and support their identity,
culture and interests, and enable them
to participate fully in the economic, political
and social life of the country, particularly
where their health, education and
well-being are affected.
Principle 15
Sustained economic growth, in the context
of sustainable development, and social
progress require that growth be broadly
based, offering equal opportunities to all
people. All countries should recognize
their common but differentiated responsibilities.
The developed countries acknowledge
the responsibility that they bear
in the international pursuit of sustainable
development, and should continue to improve
their efforts to promote sustained
economic growth and to narrow imbalances
in a manner that canbenefit all countries,
particularly the developing countries.
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