 Photo by Thomas Eidsvold The yearly Commission on Population and Development (CPD) suffered from the consequences of the lockdown measures in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Having been postponed and changed into virtual gatherings did help to not bring member-states closer to a joint recognition of the outstanding challenges.
 Adolescent girls. Copyright IPPF EN “Belgium is determined to build a world in which no one, not a single child, not a single young person, not a single woman nor a single girl is left behind.” These were the closing words with which Belgium reconfirmed its strong commitment to the full implementaton of the International Cairo Programme of Action (ICPD) at the 52nd CPD, 1-5 April 2019.
On April 1st the UN Commission on Population and Development unanimously adopted a political declaration reaffirming the importance of the ICPD Program of Action. 2019 marks the 25th anniversary of the adoption of the Program of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development by 179 UN Member States in Cairo, Egypt in 1994.
 IPPF/Georgina Goodwin/Burundi, copyright: IPPF UN Member States failed to reach a consensus on a resolution on Sustainable Cities, Human Mobility and International Migration, the main theme of the 51st Commission on Population and Development, April 9th-13th. It is the third time in the past four years that the CPD remains without agreed conclusions.
 The 62nd session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) concluded March 23rd after a long week of negotiations. The CSW is the principal global intergovernmental body dedicated to the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women. Observers claim it was one of the most successful commissions in recent years, in terms of process and outcome. This session focused on the challenges and opportunities in achieving gender equality and the empowerment of rural women and girls, a population all too often disregarded and amongst those most left behind.
 UN Headquarters in NY. Copyright: Getty Images At the Commission’s 50th session, the UN Member States failed to reach an agreement. The Commission for Population and Development is the most important UN Commission for the promotion of sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR). The theme of the Commission’s 50th session was ‘Changing population age structures and sustainable development’. Special attention was thus going to the needs of over 1.8 billion young people in the world.
Member states spent more than 10 days negotiating. The final version of the draft resolution contained important references to the sexual and reproductive health needs of young people and comprehensive sexuality education. The final version was rejected though when the US and a number of African countries, more particularly Egypt, Cameroon and Djibouti wanted to have sections on SRHR deleted. |
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