ACTION IN SUPPORT OF THE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON POPULATION AND DEVELOPMENT (Cairo, 5-13 September 1994)

Resolution adopted without a vote by the Inter-Parliamentary Council at its 154th session
(Paris, 21 March 1994)

The Inter-Parliamentary Council,

Noting with satisfaction that, by decision of the United Nations Economic and Social Council, a third international conference on population questions will be held in Cairo from 5 to 13 September 1994,

Recalling that, since its creation, the Inter-Parliamentary Union has considered population questions with sustained interest and has regularly included these issues in its debates, and stressing that it has supported the United Nations Population Fund by enriching the elaboration of intergovernmental consensus by contributing the thinking of the inter-parliamentary community,

Concerned by the growth of demographic and socio-economic trends likely to strengthen the intra-national and international imbalances relating to the standard and quality of life of individuals,

Aware of the importance of guaranteeing exercise of reproductive rights in the context of respect for human rights, and recognizing that there is a close relationship between the implementation of adequate information and reproductive health care policies and success in the world-wide struggle against AIDS,

Convinced that the International Conference on Population and Development will be an essential step in the series of United Nations Conferences aiming to strengthen political resolve and to combat poverty and the inequalities and imbalances prevailing in many spheres of the lives of individuals and communities, as advocated by the world-wide parliamentary community in the final document of the Conference on "North-South Dialogue for Global Prosperity" held in Ottawa in October 1993,

Noting also that the establishment of conditions for sustainable development at the planetary level call for profound changes in all societies, particularly as regards attitudes, economic organization, political relations and the choice of technologies, and that these changes must take account of and go hand in hand with a fundamental revision of the management of the demographic characteristics of the various populations,

1. Welcomes the fact that the International Conference on Population and Development is adopting an overall and pluridisciplinary approach through which population policies are a key element of human and sustainable development, of which equality for women, health and education are fundamental components that are also among the priority concerns of the Union;

2. Supports the preparation of the Conference on Population and Development, hoping it will contribute to strengthening concerted action by the international community based on:

• The importance of considering demographic changes of populations as a key parameter for sustainable development;
• The urgent need to define the modalities for implementing and following up population programmes;
• The need to mobilize the essential financial resources for making that commitment a reality;

3. Requests parliaments and MPs to keep themselves informed about the state of preparation of the Conference and to participate actively in the work and discussions underway in that respect;

4. Calls on parliaments to ensure that MPs are included in national delegations to the Conference;

5. Requests the Secretary General of the Union to prepare a document reflecting the work of IPU and the state of the thinking and consensus within the Organization on population issues and to present it as the Union's contribution to the Cairo Conference in September 1994;

6. Invites the Secretary-General of the Conference to provide the Union with a summary of the results of the Cairo Conference including a synopsis of the programme of action and modalities for implementation which are of particular interest to MPs;

7. Requests the Union's Executive Committee to consider the results of the Conference in order to envisage appropriate action by which the Union and its members can contribute to the implementation and follow-up of the Plan of Action on Population.