Geneva, 12 January
2004 - More than 350 population and
reproductive health experts started a discussion
here today on demographic, health and social
issues critical to Europe, North America
and the former Soviet republics. Participants
in the three-day European Population Forum
will examine policies and trends in migration,
ageing, fertility and mortality; and sexual
and reproductive health and rights, particularly
in European countries in transition.
The Forum leads off a
year of regional and global activities commemorating
the tenth anniversary of the Cairo International
Conference for Population and Development
(ICPD), where 179 governments affirmed the
centrality of population and reproductive
health concerns to the development agenda.
The event, hosted by the Swiss Government,
is co-organized by the United Nations Economic
Commission for Europe (UNECE) and UNFPA,
the United Nations Population Fund.
Speaking at the Forum's
opening session, UNFPA Executive Director
Thoraya Ahmed Obaid said the Cairo Programme
of Action '"changed the international debate
about population from human numbers to human
beings" and helped governments "move away
from a narrow focus on family planning to
a new concept of sexual and reproductive
health throughout the life cycle".
"In many ways, the Cairo
agreement anticipated the Millennium Development
Goals adopted six years later," she added.
"Enabling people to choose their family
size will slow the rapid population growth
that undermines poverty reduction efforts
in the world's poorest countries. Better
reproductive health information and services
are critical to reducing maternal and child
mortality and halting HIV/AIDS. Preventing
unwanted pregnancies helps keep girls in
school, advancing women's empowerment."
Declaring "Europe is currently
in a unique epoch in its population history,"
Brigita Schmögnerová, UNECE
Executive Secretary, added, "Europe is moving
into a new demographic regime." Key policy
challenges, she noted, are posed by a decrease
in working-age populations and acceleration
of ageing in many European countries due
to low fertility and declining mortality.
Ambassador Walter Fust,
Director-General of the Swiss Agency for
Development and Cooperation, said he hoped
the Forum's deliberations would "be used
to turn ideas into policies, strategies
and action plans susceptible to improve
the lot of poor populations in all countries
of the UNECE region."
Poul Nielson, the European
Union's Development Commissioner, said that
sexual and reproductive health services
are key to decreasing maternal mortality
rates and HIV infections, and that without
these services, "poverty reduction will
not be possible". He also noted that the
low level of donor assistance, the prevalence
of HIV and an insufficient global political
commitment "are hampering the achievement
of the Cairo goals, and costing thousand
of lives".
The Forum's first-day
panels focused on:
- Population and development in Europe
during the last decade;
- Global population and development trends:
the European view.
Sessions on the second
and third days will deal with:
- Childbearing and parenting in low-fertility
countries: enabling choices;
- Morbidity, mortality and reproductive
health: facing challenges in transition
countries;
- International migration: promoting management
and integration;
- Policy challenges of Europe's demographic
changes: cross-cutting issues.
Participants in the Forum
include international professionals and
practitioners from the social, demographic
and economic fields, as well as from executive
and legislative branches of governments,
non-governmental organizations and the private
sector in Europe and North America.
- - -
UNFPA is the world's largest
multilateral source of population assistance,
providing support to developing countries,
at their request, to meet reproductive health
needs, collect and analyse population data
and to integrate population and development
strategies into national, regional and global
planning.
- - -
UNFPA's Ms. Obaid and others
will take part in an audio press conference
on 13 January, at 1700 hours GMT (1200 hours
EST). To register to participate, contact
Sharon Lewis, at [email protected]
or call +1 (914) 833-7093.
More information about
the Forum, including the agenda and
background papers, is available at www.unece.org/ead/pau/epf
Further information about population
issues, reproductive health and the
ICPD can be found at www.unfpa.org
For yet more information, contact:
William A. Ryan, [email protected]
Mobile: +1 646 226 6104; or
Omar Gharzeddine, [email protected]
Phone: +41 (0) 22 917 73 21; or
Miroslav Macura, [email protected]
Phone: +41 (0) 22 917 27 64
Ref: ECE/GEN/04/02