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Doc. 8806
10 July 2000
Demographic change and sustainable development
Report
Committee on Migration, Refugees and Demography
Rapporteur: Mr Dumitru Paslaru, Romania, Socialist Group
Summary
Throughout the world some 600 000 women die each year in pregnancy or childbirth. Such horrifying figures show the urgent need to speed up implementation of the Programme of Action adopted by the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) held in Cairo in September 1994, in accordance with the findings of the Cairo + 5 review process. Key points in the Programme of Action are the improvement of sexual and reproductive health and rights, the empowerment of women and stepping up the fight against poverty, all of which will tend to slow world population growth.
But this will require governments to live up to their financial commitments made in Cairo. Many Council of Europe member states are still not meeting the target level for official development assistance (ODA) of 0.7 per cent of gross national product. Nor have they generally lived up to their promise to earmark 4 per cent of ODA for population programmes and improving reproductive health.
Parliamentarians are urged to promote awareness of population and development issues in the national Parliaments, initiate legislative reform where necessary, and call on their governments to fulfil their financial commitments. For this purpose they are invited to propose the setting up of all-party groups on population and development where these do not yet exist and to support the establishment of regional parliamentary networks and exchanges, notably the Inter-European Parliamentary Forum on Population and Development.
I. Draft recommendation
1. Throughout the world some 600 000 women die each year in pregnancy or childbirth, according to the conclusions of the Inter-parliamentary Conference on Demographic Change and Sustainable Development organised in Bucharest on 21-22 October 1999 by the Parliamentary Assembly's Committee on Migration, Refugees and Demography. Moreover, within the space of one hour, an estimated 250 young women will be infected by the human immuno-deficiency virus (HIV) and 228 will undergo genital mutilation.
2. Appalled by the suffering behind these figures, and recalling its Recommendations 1243 (1994) and 1260 (1995), the Parliamentary Assembly strongly reaffirms its support for the Programme of Action adopted by the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) held in Cairo in September 1994.
3. The Assembly also endorses the Key actions for the further implementation of the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development adopted by the United Nations General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS) in New York in June-July 1999.
4. The Assembly considers, in line with the findings of UNGASS, that although some progress has been made in the implementation of the ICPD Programme of Action, many challenges still remain, particularly in meeting donor commitments and ensuring sexual and reproductive health and rights. In particular, many Council of Europe member states are still not meeting the internationally agreed target level for official development assistance (ODA) of 0.7 per cent of gross national product. Nor have they generally lived up to their commitment made in Cairo to earmark 4 per cent of ODA for population programmes and improving reproductive health.
5. The Assembly also considers that legislative reform designed to improve access to sexual and reproductive health and rights information and services is proceeding too slowly.
6. The Assembly emphasises that Council of Europe member states must take urgent and vigorous action – financial, legislative and institutional - to speed up further progress. It considers that the necessary resources could be found through the more generous distribution of the wealth created by the globalisation of the economy. Raising living standards in the poorest countries would undoubtedly contribute to the stabilisation of the world's population.
7. The Assembly also considers that when it comes to the next periodic review at "Cairo + 10", greater attention should be paid to the interrelationship between population growth, sustained development and ecological sustainability.
8. The Assembly therefore recommends that the Committee of Ministers:
i. give high priority to population as well as sexual and reproductive health and rights issues in its intergovernmental work programme;
ii. speed up the work of the Steering Committee for Equality between Women and Men towards the adoption of a recommendation to governments on the right to free choice in matters of sexuality and reproduction;
iii. instruct the appropriate intergovernmental committee in due time to review progress by the Council of Europe member states in implementing the ICPD Programme of Action as a contribution to the "Cairo + 10" review process;
iv. call on the governments of the member states to reaffirm their support for the ICPD Programme of Action and the key actions identified for its further implementation by the United Nations General Assembly Special Session of June-July 1999, and in particular to act on the following recommendations:
a. take urgent action on the financial, legislative and institutional levels to speed up the implementation of the ICPD Programme of Action;
b. take the necessary measures, by reviewing development and co-operation policies and funding priorities, to meet the ICPD commitment to allocate 0.7% of GNP to official development assistance and 4% of the ODA budget to population and reproductive health programmes;
c. systematically include the population dimension in development policies and programmes;
d. redefine development assistance policies in all sectors which have an impact on demographic behaviour, including education, culture, health, and family policy, with a view to promoting the objectives of the ICPD Programme of Action;
e. provide the resources to enable developing countries and countries in transition to create suitable mechanisms (databases, census, surveys and administrative records) for the monitoring and evaluation of the implementation of the ICPD Programme of Action;
f. develop joint projects with the non-governmental and private sectors, both domestically and internationally, in the field of population, reproductive health and gender issues within the framework of the ICPD commitments;
g. initiate legislation where necessary to guarantee freedom of choice in matters of sexuality and reproduction;
h. guarantee universal access to sexual and reproductive health and rights information and services and to a full range of modern means of contraception, including those specifically adapted to the needs of young people;
i. promote greater awareness among men of their role and responsibilities in regard to sexual and reproductive health and rights and as partners for women's empowerment;
j. take steps where necessary to establish a national structure on population and development to co-ordinate, monitor and initiate action on these issues at national and international levels.
9. The Parliamentary Assembly urges its members to promote awareness of population and development issues in the national parliaments, initiate legislative reform where necessary, and call on their governments to fulfil their financial commitments made in Cairo to the implementation of the Programme of Action. For this purpose members are invited to propose the setting up of all-party groups on population and development where these do not yet exist and to support the establishment of regional parliamentary networks and exchanges. In this context, the Assembly strongly supports the setting up of an inter-European parliamentary forum on population and development.
II. Explanatory memorandum by Mr Paslaru
1. Introduction
1. Recognising the major impact of demographic factors on sustainable economic and social development and on the environment throughout the world, and in particular the need to bring about the stabilisation of the world's population, the Parliamentary Assembly paid close attention to the preparation and results of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) held in Cairo in September 1994.
2. Thus in June 1994 the Assembly took position in advance of the Cairo Conference, as it turned out very much in line with the Conference conclusions, in its Recommendation 1243 on demographic change and sustainable development. At the same time, in Order No. 498, the Assembly called on the Committee on Migration, Refugees and Demography to monitor the issues in co-operation with other Assembly committees concerned and to organise an interparliamentary conference on the subject.
3. In February 1995 the Assembly adopted Recommendation 1260 on the International Conference on Population and Development (Cairo, 5-13 September 1994): follow-up by the Council of Europe and its member states, notably calling on the latter to make a significant contribution to the financing of the twenty-year Programme of Action adopted in Cairo.
4. The first major international review of progress made in the implementation of the Cairo Programme of Action was undertaken on 8-12 February 1999 at The Hague International Forum (a Forum of Parliamentarians was organised in parallel), and key measures to be taken for its further implementation were adopted at a special session of the United Nations General Assembly on 30 June-2 July 1999.
5. For its part, the Parliamentary Assembly's Committee on Migration, Refugees and Demography acted on Order No. 498 by organising, at the invitation of the Romanian Parliament and in co-operation with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the International Planned Parenthood Federation – European Network (IPPF-EN), an Interparliamentary Conference on Population and Sustainable Development in Bucharest on 21-23 October 1999.1
6. The objectives of the Bucharest Interparliamentary Conference were to review the measures taken to achieve the objectives of the Cairo programme of action, particularly at parliamentary level in the Council of Europe’s member states; to develop recommendations for taking forward the implementation of the Cairo programme of action; to assess the role of the Parliamentary Assembly in the "network of parliamentarians on population and development" proposed at the The Hague International Forum; and, finally, to contribute to the Council of Europe’s Campaign on Global Interdependence and Solidarity: Europe Against Poverty and Social Exclusion.
7. This report is based on the results of the Bucharest Conference, and is also inspired by the Motion for a Recommendation on drawing up a European strategy in the field of demography presented by Mr Birraux and others (Doc. 8471).
2. Cairo + 5: an assessment
8. As characterised by Mrs Leni Robert, the Committee's former Rapporteur on this subject, in her report to the Assembly in January 1995 on the results of the Cairo Conference,2 the Programme of Action then adopted does not revolve around precise demographic targets, but sets out to guarantee the dignity and freedom of every individual, particularly by improving all aspects of women's situation and by meeting health and education needs. The text particularly stresses the importance of combating poverty, which is both a cause and a consequence of rapid population growth.
9. The essential aims of emancipating women and giving individuals and couples freedom of choice in respect of reproduction are central to the policies proposed in the Programme of Action as means of achieving rapid stabilisation of the world population. The document confirms the international recognition of the right to decide freely and responsibly the number, spacing and timing of children.
10. In her keynote speech to the Bucharest Interparliamentary Conference Dr Nafis Sadik, Executive Director of UNFPA, said that the Cairo + 5 review undertaken by the United Nations in 1999 showed that many countries have incorporated population concerns in their development policies. Nearly half of all developing countries have reviewed their policies on population and development; more than a third have updated policies to be consistent with ICPD goals; and two-thirds have introduced policy or legislative measures to promote gender equality and the empowerment of women.
11. However, as Dr Sadik also pointed out, having reached 6 billion in 1999 (from 4 billion in 1974) the world's population is still growing at the rate of 78 million a year, nearly all in the developing countries, a rate that will not begin to decline until after 2010. Half the world's population is under 25, and over a billion are between 15 and 24, the parents of the next generation. Between and within countries, the gaps between richest and poorest are growing wider. In times of economic hardship, the poor are hardest hit, and women hardest of all.
12. The hardship and tragedies that women still have to endure five years after Cairo were highlighted at the Bucharest Conference by statistics revealing that throughout the world nearly 600 000 women die every year during pregnancy or childbirth. These deaths are largely preventable. However, women will keep dying until high quality maternity services are universally available and accessible. Empowering women and ensuring the possibility of making rational choices are also more than ever essential factors in preventing unsafe pregnancies.
13. Attention was drawn during the Bucharest Conference to the appalling reproductive health situation in certain countries of central and eastern Europe, with a high number of unwanted pregnancies, abortion rates among the highest in the world (abortion being widely used as a method of fertility regulation), and an increase in the incidence of sexually transmitted diseases3. Thus although population growth has come to an end in most European countries, and has even fallen to below replacement levels in some, many central and eastern European countries still face problems relevant to the Cairo Programme of Action. There is no doubt, for example, that many of the countries in transition require major investment in their health and education services.
14. As the Bucharest Conference showed, the specific needs of young people in relation to their sexuality and reproductive health and rights are as acute as ever. They need preventive measures against unwanted pregnancies, unsafe abortion, disease and sexual abuse. They have a right to expect education and information about sexuality, contraception and sexually transmitted diseases; access to reproductive health services that are affordable and confidential; access to counselling about contraception, safe abortion and safe motherhood; and laws and policies for avoiding early marriage and child bearing.
15. A somewhat neglected issue in the whole Cairo discussion was that of population in relation to economic growth and the preservation of the world's natural resources and environment. In his speech to the Bucharest Interparliamentary Conference, Professor Robert Cliquet, Chairman of the European Population Committee (CDPO) in the Council of Europe, regretted that the Cairo Programme of Action, although a "particularly robust charter, ethically well founded", had been deflected from the essential issues, namely "the interrelationships between rapid population growth, sustained development and ecological sustainability" and thus underestimated the seriousness and urgency of the need to address the effects of rapid population growth in under-developed and environmentally vulnerable regions".
16. It was thus also regrettable, according to Professor Cliquet, that the document adopted by the United Nations General Assembly at its Special Session in June-July 1999, Key Actions for the Further Implementation of the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development, which dealt extensively with issues relating to reproductive rights and reproductive health, gender equality, equity and empowerment of women, likewise paid little attention to the interrelationship between population growth, sustained development and ecological sustainability. Your Rapporteur shares the view that greater attention should be paid to this aspect of the question in preparing the assessment due at Cairo + 10.
Financial requirements
17. The aspect of the Cairo + 5 evaluation which causes most concern, however, is the shortfall in the financial resources necessary for the implementation of the Programme of Action. At Cairo, participating governments undertook (not for the first time) to make 0.7 per cent of their Gross National Product (GNP) available for Official Development Assistance (ODA), adding the commitment that 4 per cent of that amount would be earmarked for population and reproductive health programmes.4 It was estimated that implementation of the Programme of Action would require US$ 17 billion in the period Cairo + 5 (1995-1999 inclusive), of which the international donor community (industrialised countries together with international organisations, financial institutions and foundations) would provide US$ 5.7 billion (one-third) and the recipient countries US$ 11.3 billion (two-thirds). Of these amounts, the international donor community met only 35 per cent of its target, while the recipient countries met 70 per cent of theirs. Moreover, the international donor community's overall contribution has declined since 1997.
18. These financial requirements cover only the "costed population package" specified in paragraph 13.14 of the Programme of Action, ie. family planning services; basic reproductive health services; prevention of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs)/human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS); and basic research, data and population and development policy analysis. Additional resources would be needed to finance activities designed to improve the status of women, generate employment, address environmental concerns, provide basic social services and tackle poverty eradication.
19. It is estimated that implementation of the Cairo Programme of Action will require a further US$ 18.5 billion by 2005, US$ 20.5 billion by 2010 and US$21.7 by 2015. By way of comparison, it has been estimated that military expenditure around the world amounts to US$ 800 billion annually, while US$ 600 billion are spent on alcoholic beverages and US$ 400 billion on tobacco products.5
20. One way to generate the necessary resources would be to share more generously the wealth created by the controversial process of globalisation of the economy, as Mr John Connor outlined at the Bucharest Conference, speaking on behalf of the Parliamentary Assembly's Committee on Economic Affairs and Development. Thus globalisation could benefit the poorest countries and people and, by raising living standards, help slow population growth.
3. Role of Parliamentarians
21. Clearly, what is needed is renewed and sustained political impetus and will to mobilise the resources required to maintain the Cairo commitments, and this is where parliamentarians have a key role to play: not only in increasing awareness and a sense of urgency in public and parliamentary opinion but also in urging governments to deliver on their promises.
22. On this point the Key actions for the further implementation of the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly Special Session in June-July 1999, is explicit: "Parliamentarians/members of national legislatures are invited to ensure legislative reform and expanded awareness-raising necessary for implementing the Programme of Action. They are encouraged to be advocates for the implementation of the Programme of Action, including through the allocation, as appropriate, of financial resources. There should be regular exchanges of experiences among parliamentarians at the sub-regional, regional, inter-regional and international levels, where appropriate." (Paragraph 87).
23. This issue was thoroughly discussed during the Interparliamentary Conference on Population and Development in Bucharest, where it was agreed that all-party groups on population and development should be set up in the national Parliaments, where they do not yet exist; that these groups should have the support, and benefit from the expertise, of non-governmental organisations; and that these groups should constitute themselves into cross-frontier networks.
24. Some networks already exist at the regional level: the Asian Forum of Parliamentarians on Population and Development; the Inter-American Parliamentary Group on Population and Development; and the African and Arab Forum of Parliamentarians. However, despite the existence of a Working Group on Population, Sustainable Development and Reproductive Health in the European Parliament, and conferences of European Parliamentarians organised in 1984, 1992 and 1995, there is as yet no formal parliamentary network for Europe as a whole.
25. This is why, at the International Forum of Parliamentarians held in The Hague in February 1999 to review progress at Cairo + 5, a small working group was set up to take this idea further, with the administrative support of the International Planned Parenthood Federation - European Network. The time is now ripe for the formal launch of the "Inter-European Parliamentary Forum on Population and Development". Following the recommendations of the Bucharest Interparliamentary Conference, your Rapporteur urges colleagues in the Parliamentary Assembly to strongly support this important and promising initiative.
4. Council of Europe's work
26. Of particular relevance in the context of this report is the Council of Europe's current Campaign on Global Interdependence and Solidarity – Europe against poverty and social exclusion. In its Resolution 1181 (1999), the Parliamentary Assembly counted on the Campaign "not only to render the public more aware of the growing inequalities in wealth between rich and poor in the world and in Europe, but also to permit a search for better strategies to combat them." To these ends, a number of major events have been organised, including a Global Forum for Poverty Eradication (Strasbourg, 15-16 October 1999), and an International Conference on "The dual challenge of globalisation and transition: the role of civil society in fostering social cohesion in central and eastern Europe" (Geneva, 23-24 June 2000), as well as many activities and meetings organised by the Campaign National Organising Committees.
27. The Campaign has accomplished much with few resources, but sad to say, it appears that these efforts may founder on the rising tide of world poverty. The World Bank predicts that while perhaps 1.5 billion people are under the absolute poverty line at present, the figures will jump to 2.5 billion by the year 2015. As we have seen, the eradication of poverty, apart from being a moral imperative, is important as a means of stabilising the world's population. Of course greater financial sacrifices will be called for on the part of the rich countries, and here we must recognise once again that it is not the availability of financial resources per se that is the fundamental obstacle but lack of political commitment.
28. Your Rapporteur would also like to draw attention to the conclusions of the International Forum "Guaranteeing freedom of choice in matters of reproduction, sexuality and lifestyles in Europe: trends and developments, organised by the Council of Europe's Steering Committee for Equality between Women and Men in Tallinn (Estonia) on 27-29 November 1997. This important Forum covered many of the issues, in a more specifically European context, raised in Cairo and also at the 1995 Beijing international conference on women's rights.
29. Among other things, the Forum recommended that the Council of Europe should step up its work aiming at the adoption of a recommendation to its member states on the right to free choice in matters of reproduction and sexuality, and, as a fundamental principle, that the right to free choice in these matters should be regarded as an integral part of human rights. Your Rapporteur supports these recommendations.
5. Conclusions
30. In appealing to members of the Assembly to adopt the draft recommendation contained in this report, your rapporteur would like to emphasise, in line with the Cairo conclusions and "Cairo + 5", that we must focus not so much on limited measures to reduce fertility rates as such, but much more on fundamental ways to improve health and education, particularly of women and young people, and to combat poverty. Much more still needs to be done in these areas, and if we are successful in mobilising opinion and the necessary resources, the world's population will stabilise quite naturally.
APPENDIX
COUNCIL OF EUROPE Member countries: Official Development Assistance (ODA) and Assistance to Population and Reproductive Health | ||||
A |
Donor countries |
ODA as % of GNP6 |
% of ODA for population assistance7 | |
Meeting the target ODA-level of 0.7 % of the GNP |
target-level: 4% of the ODA | |||
1997 |
1998 |
1997 | ||
1 |
Denmark |
0.97 |
0.99 |
2.87 |
2 |
Norway |
0.86 |
0.91 |
4.16 |
3 |
Netherlands |
0.81 |
0.80 |
4.97 |
4 |
Sweden |
0.79 |
0.72 |
3.07 |
Not yet meeting the target ODA-level |
||||
5 |
Luxemburg |
0.55 |
0.65 |
1.24 |
6 |
France |
0.45 |
0.40 |
0.26 |
7 |
Belgium |
0.31 |
0.35 |
|
8 |
Finland |
0.33 |
0.32 |
4.57 |
9 |
Switzerland |
0.34 |
0.32 |
1.83 |
10 |
Ireland |
0.31 |
0.30 |
|
11 |
United Kingdom |
0.26 |
0.27 |
3.42 |
12 |
Germany |
0.28 |
0.26 |
2.09 |
13 |
Portugal |
0.25 |
0.24 |
0.17 |
14 |
Spain |
0.24 |
0.24 |
0.60 |
15 |
Austria |
0.26 |
0.22 |
0.11 |
16 |
Italy |
0.11 |
0.20 |
0.17 |
B |
ODA-Recipient countries |
|||
17 |
Albania |
8.9 |
||
18 |
"The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia" |
3.5 |
||
19 |
Georgia |
3.2 |
||
20 |
Bulgaria |
2.3 |
||
21 |
Moldova |
1.9 |
||
22 |
Estonia |
1.7 |
||
23 |
Latvia |
1.6 |
||
24 |
Lithuania |
1.2 |
||
25 |
Romania |
1.1 |
||
26 |
Czech Republic |
0.9 |
||
27 |
Ukraine |
0.9 |
||
28 |
Slovakia |
0.8 |
||
29 |
Malta |
0.6 |
||
30 |
Poland |
0.6 |
||
31 |
Hungary |
0.5 |
||
32 |
Cyprus |
0.4 |
||
33 |
Russia |
0.3 |
||
34 |
Croatia |
0.2 |
||
35 |
Slovenia |
0.2 |
||
No data for: |
||||
36 |
Andorra |
|||
37 |
Greece |
|||
38 |
Iceland |
|||
39 |
Liechtenstein |
|||
40 |
San Marino |
|||
41 |
Turkey |
|||
Reporting committee: Committee on Migration, Refugees and Demography.
Budgetary implications for the Assembly: none.
Reference to committee: Order No. 498; Doc. 8471 and Reference No. 2416 of 20 September 1999.
Draft recommendation unanimously adopted by the committee on 28 June 2000.
Members of the committee: Mr Díaz de Mera (Chairman), Mr Iwiński (1st Vice-Chairman), Mrs Vermot-Mangold (2nd Vice-Chairman), Mr Christodoulides (3rd Vice-Chairman), Mrs Aguiar, MM. Aliev, Amoruso, Mrs Arnold, Mrs Björnemalm, MM. Brancati, Branger, Mrs Bušić, MM. Chiliman, Chyzh, Cilevičs, Connor, Debarge, Mrs Dumont (alternate: Mr Legendre), Mr Einarsson, Mrs Err, Mrs Fehr, Mrs Frimannsdóttir, MM. Ghiletchi, Hrebenciuc (alternate: Paslaru), Ivanov, Jakic, Lord Judd, MM. Koulouris (alternate: Mrs Kanelli), Kozlowski, Laakso, Lauricella, Liapis (alternate: Mrs Katseli), Lippelt, Mrs Lopez Gonsalez, Luís, Mrs Markovska, MM. Mateju, Melo, Minkov, Moreels, Mularoni, Mutman, Mrs Ninoshvili, MM. Norvoll, Ouzky, Pullicino Orlando, Rakhansky, Rogozin, von Schmude, Schweitzer, Slutsky, Mrs Stoisits, MM. Szinyei, Tabajdi, Tahir, Telek, Thönnes, Tkác, Vanoost, Verhagen, Wilkinson (alternate: Hancock), Wray (alternate: Prosser), Mrs Zwerver, N… (Lithuania) (alternate: Mrs Sadeikiené).
N.B. The names of those members present at the meeting are printed in italics.
Secretaries of the committee: Mr Newman, Mrs Nachilo, Mr Adelsbach.
1 Proceedings published under reference AS/Mig (2000) 24.
3 See also in this connection the report presented on behalf of the Committee on Migration, Refugees and Demography by Mr Chyzh, Demographic trends and human potential in the countries of central and eastern Europe (Doc. 8463).
4 See Appendix for figures in relation to Council of Europe member States.
5 Speech by the Indian Vice-President at the Asian Parliamentarians' Meeting on Population and Development, 1998.
6 UNDP (United Nations Development Programme)
Human Development Report 2000.
7 UNFPA (United Nations Population Fund)
Global Population Assistance Report 1997
Prepared by UNFPA Geneva