BANGKOK--“The vision we set out here together is NOT in where we commit to travel today but where we might bravely travel tomorrow and for the decades ahead.” Today, Kate Gilmore, UNFPA Deputy Executive Director, called on participants at the Ministerial Segment of the Sixth Asian and Pacific Population Conference for their leadership in moving the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) agenda forward on the basis of tolerance, inclusiveness, justice and dignity.
Twenty-five ministers, vice-ministers and deputy ministers from 47 countries in the Asia and Pacific region were listening. They are meeting in Bangkok today and tomorrow to agree on a range of issues critical to human rights and development, including sexual and reproductive health and rights, gender equality and women’s empowerment, HIV and AIDS, gender-based violence, and the rights of young people.
The Ministerial Segment was inaugurated by Shun-ichi Murata, Deputy Executive Secretary of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific; Surapong Tovichakchaikul, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Thailand; President Anote Tong of Kiribati; and Dr. Nafis Sadik, Special Adviser to the UN Secretary-General.
Inspiring statements were made at the opening ceremony. In his remarks, President Tong highlighted the need to guarantee access to sexual and reproductive health services and rights as a prerequisite for sustainable development and poverty eradication.
The floor was also given to Dr. Sadik, UNFPA Executive Director at the time of ICPD, who got a standing ovation. She brought to the room the spirit of 1994 in Cairo, where countries agreed for the first time that population is not about numbers, but about people and that women’s ability to access reproductive health and rights is cornerstone of their empowerment and key to sustainable development. She highlighted the progress that the region has made, but also emphasized the remaining challenges.
“Many Governments have been successful in implementing ICPD goals where progress was already being made by 1994.” Dr. Sadik said. “What remains are the more difficult aspects, the parts of the consensus that call for real changes in attitude and approach, notably a commitment to sexual and reproductive health and rights, including a broader acceptance of alternative sexualities.”
On Friday, 20 September, Member States of the Asia-Pacific region are expected to reach an agreement on these and other key issues that will shape the regional population agenda for years to come. Their agreement will also feed into the 20-year global review of the ICPD Programme of Action in 2014.
During the first day of the Ministerial Segment, the heads of several delegations explained their countries’ progress in implementing the ICPD Programme of Action and their vision on the way forward to guarantee sexual and reproductive health and rights, gender equality and sustainable development in the region. Civil society organizations also presented their statement to the room.
The Conference will conclude tomorrow; it is expected to present a declaration from the Asia and Pacific region to the world, on how Governments see the way forward in the population and development agenda.
