Population conference ends with renewed commitment to ICPD<\/p>\n
Tantri Yuliandini, The Jakarta Post, Bangkok, Thailand<\/p>\n
The fifth Asia Pacific Population Conference (APPC) ended here on
\nTuesday with the reaffirmation of all participating countries,
\nexcept the United States, to commitments made in the 1994
\nInternational Conference on Population Development (ICPD) in
\nCairo, Egypt and its five-year review known as ICPD+5.<\/p>\n
The U.S.'s general reservation will be noted in the APPC's
\nPlan of Action document and a statement of its interpretation
\nwould be inserted in part two of the APPC report of proceedings,
\npart one of the proceedings being the Plan of Action document
\nitself.<\/p>\n
"In no case should the footnote in the Plan of Action document
\nindicate a call for action," the rapporteur general of the
\nministerial segment, Siswanto Agus Wilopo from Indonesia, said in
\nthe assembly.<\/p>\n
The Indian delegation also stressed that the reservations
\nshould never be referred to as a Plan of Action.<\/p>\n
Although the Plan of Action adopted at the Bangkok conference
\nwill not be binding, it will be useful as a yardstick to assess
\nthe ICPD implementation in the next population meeting in 2004.<\/p>\n
Deliberations over the draft Plan of Action have been intense
\nduring the seven-day conference due to the U.S.'s claim that the
\ntext was endorsing abortion and under-aged sex despite
\nexplanations from other delegations that the Cairo commitment was
\nclear that "in no case should abortion be promoted as a method of
\nfamily planning."<\/p>\n
Many, including non-governmental organizations (NGOs),
\nexpressed regret that the U.S.'s tough stance on the subjects had
\ntaken away attention from other pressing issues on population and
\npoverty alleviation such as migration and migrant workers.<\/p>\n
As a result, two chapters concerning reproductive rights and
\nreproductive health, and adolescent reproductive health went to a
\nrecorded vote, in which only the U.S. voted "no".<\/p>\n
"The United States has failed in its attempts to water down
\nthe ICPD commitment, in this case it only succeeded in blocking
\nconsensus," councillor at the Permanent Mission of Indonesia to
\nthe United Nations in New York Salman Al-Farisi told The Jakarta
\nPost.<\/p>\n
He said the U.S.'s "no" vote for the two chapters would
\nconsequently mean that the country would have no moral obligation
\nto support programs on reproductive rights and health in terms of
\nfinancial or technical aid.<\/p>\n
The U.S. general reservation stated, among other things, that
\nin regards to "reproductive rights, reproductive health,
\nreproductive health care and services, family planning services,
\nand sexual health should not be interpreted to constitute
\nsupport, endorsement, or promotion of abortion or abortion-
\nrelated services or the use of abortifacients."<\/p>\n
Regardless of the U.S. reservations, the conference was deemed
\nsuccessful by participating countries.<\/p>\n
Among other things, the conference acknowledged that the ESCAP
\nregion was still home to most of the world's poor, that
\npopulation and reproductive health issues were inextricably
\nlinked to development and poverty, and that the twin challenges
\nof population concerns and poverty alleviation required a broad
\napproach, including the fostering of economic growth and social
\ndevelopment, and sustainability as well as the establishment of
\nsafety-nets for the poor.<\/p>\n
The conference also emphasized that people, including
\nadolescents, had the right to make their own choices and
\ndecisions responsibly and on the basis of sound information. It
\nplaced high priority on reproductive health services and rights,
\nnoting that there was a clear link between these aspects and the
\nachievement of the millennium development goals.<\/p>\n
The goals include halving the proportion of the world's
\npopulation whose income is less than US$1 a day by 2015, to
\nreduce maternal mortality by 75 percent by 2015 and under-five
\nchild mortality by 66 percent of their current rates, and by 2015
\nhave halted and begun to reverse the spread of HIV\/AIDS, the
\nscourge of malaria and other major diseases that afflict
\nhumanity.<\/p>\n
Separately, the Indonesian delegation expressed regret that
\nthe UN-ESCAP secretariat was not more prepared for the kind of
\n"sensitive" debate that the chapters on reproductive health had
\nensued, and failed to employ a legal council to sit at
\ndeliberations.<\/p>\n
"The secretariat should have anticipated problems that could
\narise from these sorts of deliberations. It should have learned
\nfrom the experience at Johannesburg where the chapter on
\nreproductive health was the last to be adopted and then only when
\nit was watered down," Salman said, referring to the World Summit
\non Sustainable Development in the South African capital ending
\nSept. 4.<\/p>",
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