Indonesia hails Cairo declaration on population

Indonesia hails Cairo declaration on population

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia hailed yesterday the 20-year action
plan to curb world population growth contained in the final
declaration of the just ended United Nations International
Conference on Population in Cairo.

Minister of Population/Chairman of the National Family
Planning Board (BKKBN) Haryono Suyono, who led the Indonesian
delegation to Cairo, told reporters on his arrival at the
Soekarno-Hatta Airport that Indonesia could live with the final
declaration.

The Vatican and a number of staunch Moslem and Catholic
countries endorsed the Cairo declaration with some reservations,
particularly over the question of abortion, homosexuality and gay
rights.

Haryono said that overall, the declaration heeded religion,
ethical values and the cultural diversity existing in the world.

The strategy to rein in birthrates adopted by the conference
is similar to Indonesia's family planning program, he said.

"Now that the document has been adopted by all participants,
it seems that our family planning program is approved by the
world. This shows that we are on the right track," Haryono said.
"If you read the document, you might wonder whether it had been
written by BKKBN."

Indonesia was actively involved in the preparation of the
draft documents before they were taken to Cairo. In Cairo,
Indonesia actively lobbied among the various participants.

Haryono said quality health care and the increased
participation of men are two main factors in Indonesia's national
family planning program, and these were duly recognized in the
final document of the Cairo conference.

The nine-day gathering, attended by 182 states, ended on
Tuesday with a partial rejection by the Vatican and reservations
from some countries following heated debates on the issues of
abortion and sex.

Along with the members of the Organization of Islamic
Conference, Indonesia succeeded in persuading the conference to
delete abortion as a means of family planning as stated in the
original draft, Haryono said.

"Even though we are receiving financial assistance from the
West for our family planning program, we would not just follow
the way they carry out their birth control strategy," he said.

Indonesia objected to the use of the term "other unions"
outside traditional marriage, Haryono said, adding that Indonesia
clings to the view that a family should consist of "a father, a
mother and children."

Not explicitly

He acknowledged that relationships outside marital unions were
recognized in the final document "although not explicitly".

Haryono praised the conference, which put its weight behind
the rights of women and girls.

The conference targeted cutting the maternal mortality rate by
50 percent by 2000.

Haryono said Indonesia, which has one of the highest maternal
mortality rates in Asia, has launched a massive campaign to cut
the death rate from 450 in every 100,000 to 225 in 1998.

He said that Indonesia got a lot of attention from the other
participants because it has been so successful in curbing its
population growth to around 1.6 percent a year from nearly two
percent in the early 1980s.

Haryono said that Indonesia, as leader of the Non-Alignment
Movement, also received widespread support when it presented a
resolution on ways of stabilizing population growth.

Seventy-three countries signed the resolution, he said.

The minister said he also used the conference to discuss
bilateral cooperation with other developing countries, including
Iran and Bangladesh. (sim)