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     'IDIOSYNCRATIC FIXATION' ON ABORTION OVERSHADOWING MORAL 
     TRIUMPHS OF POPULATION CONFERENCE, SAYS CHURCH LEADER

 
     11 Non-Governmental Organizations, Among Others, 
     Present Their Views on Population and Development Issues




     "Sadly, due to the Vatican's idiosyncratic fixation on contraception and 
abortion, the moral triumphs of the draft programme of action have been 
overshadowed, and religions have once again been made to look like obstructive 
icebergs in the shipping lanes of progress", said Daniel C. Maguire, President 
of the Religious Consultation on Population, Reproductive Health and Ethics, 
addressing this afternoon's session of the International Conference on 
Population and Development (ICPD).  


     In a meeting that featured statements by 11 non-governmental 
organizations, Mr. Maguire went on to say that the plan of action calls for 
nothing less than major cultural revolutions. It calls for men to share power 
with women, for rich nations to build up the poor, and for developers to put 
nature before some of their profit. Without help from the religions of the 
world, those necessary moral revolutions would not take place.


     Joining in support of the draft programme of action, Jan Pronk, Minister 
for Development Cooperation of the Netherlands, said that the draft emphasized 
the right to live, as a human being, a life of enjoyment and quality, not a 
life in pain, fear and misery. Such a life required that children should have 
the right to enter a family and community that wanted and valued them. The 
counterpart was the woman's right to have only the children she wanted in a 
community that would support and cherish them.




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     Speaking on behalf of the World Council of Churches, another non-
governmental organization, the Reverend Wilfried Steen noted that the Council 
did not recognize abortion as a method of family planning, but that "a growing 
number of our churches recognize that the unjust treatment and systematic 
exploitation of women make recourse to safe, voluntary abortion a moral 
necessity". "Dogmatic assertions which affirm the sanctity of life but ignore 
the context in which conception takes place fail to bring that assertion to 
bear on the realities of life."


     Sasbam Sabiran, Minister for Home Affairs of Suriname, added that "all 
individuals, especially the poorest strata, have the right to information on 
and access to family planning, and social and medicial services".  "The 
enjoyment of this right could be best guaranteed by a policy which 
increasingly makes safe, effective and affordable methods of contraception 
available and which promotes responsible parenthood, including the prevention 
of unwanted pregnancies."   
     Focusing on the crisis in Africa, Semere Russom, Head of American and 
International Organiztions in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Eritrea, said 
"the appalling poverty and deprivation that stalks the continent is not 
certainly due to overpopulation, and it will not be eradicated if family 
planning were to be introduced through attractive palliatives and public 
education programmes".   What was required was a much bolder and holistic 
approach that addressed and tackled the real causes of underdevelopment. 


     Representatives of the Council of Europe and the Economic and Social 
Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) presented specific population 
concerns and policies for their respective regions.  The representative of 
ESCAP pointed to the economic success of the newly industrialized nations of 
the region and the subsequent reduction in population growth.   
     Summing up the overall importance of the work of the Conference, Peter 
A.A. Berle, President of the National Audubon Society, stated that it must 
build on the principles which were hard won at the 1992 Rio Conference.  
"Otherwise, we will be little more than a globe-trotting bunch of 
conventioneers momentarily mesmerized by the issues of the day only to rush 
off to the next global conference when this one is over."


     The Minister for Economic Affairs, Finances and Planning of Senegal; 
Under-Secretary of State for Development and Economic Planning of Sierra 
Leone; Deputy of the Council of Ministers of Tajikistan; Minister of Internal 
Affairs of Suriname; Vice Minister of Health of Mongolia; Minister for Foreign 
Affairs of Mozambique; Minister of Justice of the Cook Islands; Minister for 
Foreign Affairs of Eritrea; and the representatives of the Democratic People's 
Republic of Korea and Guatemala made statements this afternoon.   
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     Speaking for intergovernmental organizations were the following: the 
Executive Secretary of the Economic Commision for Europe; President of the 
African Development Bank; and a representataive of the Islamic Educational, 
Scientific and Cultural Organization.


     The representatives of the following non-governmental organizations also 
spoke:  Federation of Settlements and Neighbourhood Centres; International 
Union for the Scientific Study of Population; The Population Institute; Union 
of Concerned Scientists; American Association for Retired Persons; 
International Panel of Academies on Population and Development; Asian Forum of 
Parliamentarians on Population and Development; Centro de Investigaciones 
Sociales y Estudios de la Mujer; Sasakawa Peace Foundation; and IPAS-Women's 
Initiatives in Health.


     The Conference will meet again at 10 a.m. tomorrow,        9 September, 
to continue is discussions on population issues.


     
     
     
     
       












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     Conference Work Programme


     The International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) met 
this afternoon to continue its discussion of national experiences with 
population issues.  Thirty-three speakers are scheduled to participate.


     Statements  


     SABAH BAKJAJI, Executive Secretary of the Economic and Social Commission 
for Western Asia (ESCWA): In the past 10 years, the Arab region has been 
undergoing fundamental crises and developments.  Some Arab countries have been 
exposed to economic losses and the need to accommodate waves of returnees, 
which put pressure on their social, health, educational and housing services. 
 Returnees to some of the labour-exporting countries have also had an impact 
on the structure of the labour force in host countries, which resulted in the 
exacerbation of the economic crises and led most countries of the region to 
find solutions through market economies and privatization, through the 
adjustment of the structural imbalance of their economy and the adoption of 
reform and adjustment programmes.  


     Member countries of ESCWA are facing many challenges relating to 
population.  Despite the decreasing trend in population growth rates from the 
present 29 per thousand, the present population of the Arab world of 240 
million is expected to increase, under current growth rates, to 300 million by 
the beginning of the next century and to half a billion in 2030.  


     The main features of population structure and distribution in the Arab 
States, in general, and in the ESCWA region, in particular, still need to be 
considered with more attention in view of their implications for development, 
the quality of life and the standard of living. In addition to a high 
percentage of youth in the population, there is an uneven distribution of the 
population which is concentrated mainly in cities and limited geographical 
areas.  The problem of the concentration of the population in cities caused by 
internal migration and  displacement from rural areas constitutes one of the 
reasons behind the depletion of available resources; service and environmental 
deterioration; and the emergence of "misery belts" which are spreading in a 
number of Arab capitals.  Higher internal migration rates also result in the 
depletion of rural human resources and in a lower rural contribution to 
production and development.  


     For economic and social reasons, the region is one of the most 
susceptible to influences by other kinds of migration, including the external 
migration of Arab skills, the migration and forced migration of Arab citizens 
from Palestine and the immigration of Asian labour.


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     DANIEL C. MAGUIRE, President of the Religious Consultation on Population, 
Reproductive Health and Ethics: "I am a Catholic theologian, trained at a 
Roman university accredited by the Vatican. In me, you will hear the voice of 
those Catholics whose views have not been presented by the Vatican at this 
Conference." At the Conference, broad consensus has been reached on the 
following points: population problems will not be solved until women are 
educated and empowered; parents must have hope that their children will live; 
development must be geared to the elimination of poverty and not left to 
vacuous and self-serving trickle-down economics; the richer nations must 
control their rapacious consumption patterns; the power to destroy the earth 
must be controlled; and contraception and safe abortion should be available to 
those who need them. Underlying all those six points is the insight that hope 
is the best contraceptive. 


     "Sadly, due to the Vatican's idiosyncratic fixation on the sixth point -- 
contraception and abortion -- the moral triumphs of the draft programme of 
action has been overshadowed, and religions have once again been made to look 
like obstructive icebergs in the shipping lanes of progress." The Vatican's 
high-profile lobbying and systematic opposition force a disproportionate 
amount of attention to these issues and prevents development of other serious 

issues. "By taking rigid positions on debatable questions, on which good 
people may respectfully disagree, the Vatican has departed from the Catholic 
tradition of tolerance (called Probabilism) and insulted the other world 
religions that disagree with them on contraception and on abortion." 


     Religious experts presenting the views of Buddhists, Muslims, Jews, 
Protestants and Catholics who met yesterday all disagreed with the Vatican's 
unhelpful position on contraception as always being evil and most disagreed 
with them on abortion. "No one supported the Vatican's position on unsafe 
abortion -- that the only moral way to avoid them is abstinence -- since it 
seems to imply that women who die from unsafe abortions deserve to do so." 
      
     The plan of action calls for nothing less than major cultural 
revolutions. It calls for men to share power with women, for rich nations to 
build up the poor, and for developers to put nature before some of their 
profit. Without help from the religions of the world, those necessary moral 
revolutions will not take place. "It has been said that people will die for a 
dogma who will not stir for a conclusion."


     PAPA OUSMANE SAKHO, Minister for Economic Affairs, Finances and Planning 
of Senegal: Population issues in Africa can be dealt with only by an 
integrated approach with other primary issues.  Success depends on the ability 
to invest in existing manpower and improving the overall living standard.  The 
successful performance of population policies calls for a dynamic approach.


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     To control high fertility rates, women must be given a central role in 
the development programmes.  Besides implementation of a national family-
planning programme, more effective action is required to improve the position 
of women in various socio-economic sectors. Health care is important for the 
poorer segments of society, particularly for women who are often responsible 
for family health.  Women must be a part of health care management to utilize 
their expertise. It is also desirable to strengthen advisory services for 
women and adolescent girls.  "African women pay the heaviest burden of 
underdevelopment."  It is proper, therefore, to give those women the means to 
develop.


     Senegal's population policy declaration is based on the responsibility of 

families and individuals for the number of children and the right of 
individuals to information about family planning.  Senegal advocates an 
approach that involves the advancement of women and the support of the family 
unit.   Codes to protect the family unit have been strengthened.  As for 
protection for the family, the Constitution of Senegal states that marriage 
and family are the natural and moral basis for human society, and they, 
therefore, shall enjoy the protection of the State.


     The African countries can be successful in implementing the programme of 
action only if the proposals come with substantial international assistance.  
Support will have to be demonstrated on a regional basis.


     JULIO MARTINI HERRERA (Guatemala): All issues dealt with in the draft 
programme of action are of great importance to the people of Guatemala. 
Guatemala is a multi-ethnic country. For many years, it was embroiled in an 
armed conflict, but has embarked on a process of reconciliation. That has led 
to a renewed commitment to the protection of life and strengthened the great 
importance it has always attached to the family, based on the union of a man 
and a woman. The family is the core of society. The State cannot supplant the 
decisions which are private to the individual.  The Constitution of Guatemala 
protects human life from conception onwards and states that the family is the 
genesis of spiritual and moral values which are essential for society.   
     Guatemala's policy regarding population is based on its conditions of a 
multi-ethnic and pluricultural society, and it is not coercive.  The 
Guatemalan population has access to means to plan their families. The role of 
the State is to strive for the common good and the common will and, in that 
regard, it aims to eradicate poverty.  Studies have shown that poverty leads 
to larger families. Also a lack of education leads to people starting a family 
at an early age. Development was never attained through contraceptive family 
planning; however, human beings who have available to them basic resources to 
guarantee their livelihoods are able to decide freely about the size of their 
families. 
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     BASSIE G. BANGURA, Under-Secretary of State for Development and Economic 
Planning of Sierra Leone: Efforts have been made in Sierra Leone to implement 
global population plans. A policy and plan of action focusing on safe 
motherhood and reproductive health, especially for girls, have been adopted. 
Efforts are being made to provide girls with more opportunities.


     His Government fully endorses the plan of action relating to population 
distribution and redistribution. Sierra Leone is under great pressure due to 
the displacement of persons caused by the war in Liberia. Hosting Liberian 
refugees and displaced persons has placed pressure on the social and economic 
infrastructure. Economic activity in large sections of the country has been 
interrupted. 


     A number of actions have been taken to include population polices into 
programmes addressing such issues as health, education and youth. Programmes 
to promote the integration of women into the development process are under 
way. Efforts to enhance the status of women are crucial for the development of 
Sierra Leone. 


     The financial requirement of African countries to implement the measures 
to be recommended by the Conference has been underestimated. The donor 
community must supplement the meagre resources of African countries.      
     DODKHUDOEVA BOZGUL, Deputy of the Council of Ministers of Tajikistan:  
The newly independent country has a population of 5.6 million people. It is a 
mountainous country making the distribution of the population very uneven.  A 
serious refugee situation was created by the problems on the Afghan-Tajik 
border.  The Government is faced with overcoming those problems and other 
difficulties that it inherited from its past. The problems of population were, 
in the past, mitigated by being a part of the former Soviet Union.  With 
independence, Tajikistan saw the emergence of serious new problems, 
particularly a high population growth rate.  The ongoing violence, however, 
caused a migratory outflow and loss of life, which had a negative effect on 
population.  The population in the cities has gone down significantly, and the 
ratio of city and country dwellers has changed.  The subsequent high ratio of 
rural labour has affected the supply of skilled labour.  


     The birth rate is very high, but the indicators seem to show a downward 
trend.  The life expectancy rate is 70, but there is high infant mortality.  
Low levels of resources and limited means of contraception give rise to a high 
rural birth rate. The population of Tajikistan is characterized normally by a 
low level of internal migration, but since the civil war this migration has 
intensified.  This has created a broad range of social problems.  Tajikistan 
sorely needs support from the international community


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 to confront the many problems facing the newly independent country.  A number 
of United Nations and other agencies and institutions have given important 
assistance to the country.


     SASBAN SABIRAN, Minister for Home Affairs of Suriname:  Despite the 
changes since the last world conference on population, "we still live in a 
world beset by inequality and great imbalances in the distribution of wealth 
and resources, and experience a continuous degradation of the environment".  
The lives of more than half the world's population are dominated by 
unemployment and the impossibility of attaining decent levels of nutrition, 
housing, education and health.  Suriname subscribes to the principle that the 
formulation and implementation of population and development policies and 
programmes are the sovereign right and responsibility of each individual 
country. In establishing sexual and reproductive health-care programmes, due 
account should be taken of the cultural heritage, traditions and national laws 
of each country.  


     There is a growing commitment of the developing countries to the 
importance of the human dimension in development. "It is regrettable, 
therefore, that in the present world economic circumstances these countries 
face serious obstacles in fulfilling these commitments, because they cannot 
fully control their economies."  Suriname, in particular, experiences a high 
level of emigration of young and skilled people.  Suriname is aware of the 
global dimension of migration problems.  The increase of migration from the 
developing countries to the more prosperous countries is unprecedented.  This 
"brain drain" causes unfavourable conditions for a sustained social, economic 
and cultural development and has a negative impact on the distribution of 
knowledge, skills, standard of living and development.  Concerted action on 
all levels must be taken to cope with migratory tendencies.


     The Government believes "that all individuals, especially the poorest 
strata, have the right to information on and access to family planning, and 
social and medical services.  The enjoyment of this right could be best 
guaranteed by a policy which increasingly makes safe, effective and affordable 
methods of contraception available and which promotes responsible parenthood, 
including the prevention of unwanted pregnancies".


     YVES BERTHELOT, Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Europe 
(ECE):  Slow growth has been the norm in Europe and North America over the 
past few decades, but more recently it has been superseded by a sharp 
population decline in a number of central and east European countries -- the 
so-called countries with economies in transition.  That new trend, which could 
not be anticipated only a few years ago, is a consequence of steep drops in 
fertility and, in some instances, associated increases in mortality. 


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     Partly in response to slow growth and ageing of the labour force, western 
countries of the region have attracted foreign workers and their family 
members of diverse cultural backgrounds, bringing about, in many instances, 
multicultural societies with immigrant populations living alongside, but not 
necessarily mixing with, host populations.  Although less daunting than those 
confronted by developing nations, the population issues and challenges in the 
region are more acute than many believe and command the focused attention of 
policy makers.


     Until the beginning of the decade, the present-day countries with 
economies in transition remained outside the modern family- planning movement. 
 Hence, the transition from outdated methods of fertility regulation to modern 
methods is one of the biggest challenges these countries face in the near 
future. Making modern family-planning services widely available in that part 
of Europe is of the highest priority so that excessive rates of contraceptive 
failure and induced abortion can be quickly reduced along with the associated 
excess of maternal mortality, and poor reproductive health. Induced abortion 
should cease to be a primary method of fertility regulation, a status it 
should never have attained in the first place. 


     "I, therefore, call on this Conference to rise to the occasion and send a 
clear and strong signal to the international community, particularly to donor 
Governments in Europe and North America, to substantially increase population 
assistance to central and east European nations.  Let me be very clear that 
this assistance should not be extended at the cost of developing countries, 
especially those with highly complex population problems."    
     JAN PRONK, Minister for Development Cooperation of the Netherlands: The 
basic principles of the Conference are that all couples and individual should 
have the basic right to decide freely and responsibly the number and spacing 
of their children and to have the information, education and means to do so.


     "We understand the fears concerning loss of family values, too much 
emphasis on individualism and a proliferation of Western consumption 
lifestyles." But the draft programme of action addresses those concerns and is 
well balanced. It defends values such as solidarity with the unborn, the 
protection of life and the sustainability of society. In discussing these 
values, the right to life must be emphasized; the right to live as a human 
being.  Not a life that one lives only to survive; but a life of enjoyment and 
quality -- not a life in pain, fear and misery. Such a life requires at least 
that children should have the right to be wanted and to enter a family and 
community that values them. The counterpart of such a children's right is that 
women only have the children they want in a community that will support and 
cherish them. If not, human development and human values are at risk. 
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     The draft programme of action is in accordance with such principles. It 
introduces the new, broad concept of sexual and reproductive health and 
rights. The new concept includes family planning, but it is broader and of an 
integrated nature. It takes the needs of people more seriously by not solely 
focusing on them as contributors to population growth, but as persons seeking 
a healthy and dignified life. "We consider it of the utmost importance that 
unsafe abortion is addressed as a grave health problem. It is an indictment of 
indifference and neglect. Unsafe abortion is not necessary. It can be avoided, 
by providing women with full access to all means of sexual and reproductive 
health: information as well as safe contraceptives. And if, by chance, that 
access fails, there should be access to safe abortion as an 'ultimum 
remedium', as part of an overall reproductive health package on the basis of a 
commitment to women's well-being." 


     In the Netherlands, safe abortion, as an emergency solution, is legal 
within certain specific restrictions. The result of that policy is one of the 
lowest abortion rates in the world.  


     GALSANGIIN DASHZEVEG, Vice-Minister for Health of Mongolia: Mongolia, 
with a population of 2.2 million, is one of the most sparsely populated 
countries. The social and cultural progress in the past 20 years has resulted 
in intensive urbanization, high female literacy and employment of women, which 
has assisted in the decline of the birth rate. The population flow from rural 
areas to cities is continuing, and at present 56 per cent of the country's 
population lives in cities and settlements, while only one fifth are still 
nomadic herders.


     Mongolia's population policy promotes close coordination between 
reproduction and social production. It strives to create the most favourable 
socio-economic, ecological and psychological environment for human development 
while maintaining appropriate levels of population growth. The Government is 
committed to improving maternal and child health, expanding social protection 
measures, providing all children with basic education and promoting women's 
status. It also strives to support the family, ensure living standards of the 
elderly and disabled and provide them with opportunities to be involved in 
society. 


     Mongolia supports the right of the family to make its own decisions on 
their reproductive lives. While the current population policy supports the 
increase of births, the Government pays attention to birth spacing, child-
bearing age, the health of the mother and child, and the maternal and infant 
mortality rate. As the result of the legalization of abortion in Mongolia, 
illegal abortion rates and related ill-effects have decreased substantially.  
However, the abortion rate has increased and the trend is continuing. 
Therefore, the Government is putting more effort towards preventing unwanted 
pregnancies and assisting women and men in using effective methods of birth 
control. 


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     ROBIN GUTHRIE, Director of Social and Economic Affairs of the Council of 
Europe:  The Council of Europe is the guardian of human rights in the region. 
 The Council of Europe and the United Nations organized the European 
population conference in Geneva last year.  Out of that conference came a 
programme of action to address the problems of the region which has undergone 
such a profound change with the joining of East and West.  High living 
standards for many countries in Europe bring their own problems, such as 
wasteful consumption practices and threats to the environment. An ageing 
population brings problems of pension and health services. Grave social 
inequalities exist within and between States.  Migration is taking place 
within the continent and beyond the continent, accompanied by persistent and 
sometimes increasing xenophobia.


       The right to choose freely whether and when to bear children is a basic 
human right. This Conference is not about abortion; it is about the future of 
the planet and the future of the human race. The problems of women are a 
particular concern of the Council of Europe. If the world is to rise to the 
challenges identified in Cairo, it is surely true that we need less of the 
masculine qualities in the human psyche that have dominated the world for so 
long and more of the feminine qualities.


     BABACAR NDIAYE, President of the African Development Bank: African 
couples generally do not employ modern family-planning practices, but many 
countries on the continent have clear-cut policy goals.  There is a gap 
between national plans and their execution.  The high population growth rate 
in Africa could be attenuated through family planning and development 
measures.  Health, education, employment and housing programmes must all 
accompany efforts in the field of population.


     Men and women should have the capacity to choose the size of their 
families through modern means.  Women should be able to exercise their choices 
without coercion.  The African Development Bank intends to mobilize the 
resources needed to make modern family-planning services available to all.  
The Bank will also help countries to develop population policies that would 
enjoy broad support.


     He went on to call attention to the plight facing Africa, especially its 
acute economic problems brought on by the debt crisis and slow growth.  Such 
factors would make fertility decline more difficult, but African countries 
must renew their commitment to stabilizing the population.  Countries where 
family planning was advancing were doing better economically than those where 
it was not.        
     PASCOAL MANUEL MOCUMBI, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Mozambique: The 
population of Mozambique is estimated at 16


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million and is growing at a rate of 2.7 per cent a year. This rate is well 
above the rate of increase of the gross domestic product (GDP) and is mainly 
concentrated in the poorer strata of society. The population growth is likely 
to increase rapidly in the post-war period, as life normalizes and infant and 
child mortality decreases. 


     With the population increase, the Government faces the challenge of job 
creation and to meet increasing demand for resources. The Government is 
incorporating demographic variables into national development policies. It is 
focusing its efforts on mother and child health care; family planning; the 
introduction of population issues to the education system; and the improvement 
of the status of women.


     The war in Mozambique prevented the Government from implementing social 
and economic programmes, and the economic infrastructure was virtually 
destroyed. The cease-fire is holding and the Government is now able to launch 
a major repatriation programme for more that 1.5 million Mozambican refugees. 
More than half of the refugees have already been resettled. 


     Population policy should not be limited to mechanisms of birth control; 
it must also embrace development efforts. Population must fit into the overall 
efforts to rid countries of poverty and to promote social and economic 
progress. The draft programme of action is a good basis for consensus, and it 
will serve as a global reference for the countries in their efforts to 
establish national population policies.


     JANG SUNG GIL (Democratic People's Republic of Korea): The basis of the 
population policy of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea is the idea 
that "man is the master of the world and decides everything". "Population 
indicates the human collective and, therefore, it is the question to be solved 
by man."  The Government has maintained the policy of keeping education and 
public health ahead of all sectors while adhering to the principle of people-
centred development in the solution of population issues. Giving priority to 
education means that human development is being placed at the centre of all 
development.


     The Government has also increased its investment in improving the quality 
of education and public health.  Universal free medical care has been 
available for a long time, and from 1975 universal 11-year compulsory 
education has enabled all children to attend school.  The Government also 
adopted the "Law of Child Care" that provides nurseries and kindergartens for 
children at State expense.  Positive policies also exist eliminating all kinds 
of discrimination against women and providing them with opportunities to 
participate in socio-economic activities.  The Government is also encouraging 
women's involvement in policy formulation and implementation.  


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     The Government has taken steps to prevent the concentration of population 
in the cities and provide its equal distribution.  Since the concentration of 
people in cities results from the backwardness of rural areas, the Government 
is developing medium- and small-scale industry to make effective use of the 
local labour force and materials.


     The Democratic People's Republic of Korea believes that it is important 
in the solution of population problems to adhere to an independent attitude 
which enables a country to solve the problem in accordance with the interests 
of its own people and its own realities.  Common efforts are necessary for 
establishing a new international economic order for the promotion of national 
economic development in the developing countries.  


     TIKI MATAPO, Minister of Justice of the Cook Islands: The Cook Islands 
Government has been very active in the area of population and sustainable 
development and has met the needs of its indigenous people. Strategies and 
plans are in place to assist women's well-being at the household and national 
levels.  A task force has been established to examine the areas which can be 
improved through the participation of women. In that regard, preparations in 
the Cook Islands are well under way for the Fourth United Nations Conference 
on Women (Beijing, 1995).


     Measures are being taken to address the question of rural-urban 
migration, a factor that small island nations cannot ignore.  Among other 
measures, rural development in the area of marine resources is being 
encouraged, particularly the black pearl industry.  Although overseas 
migration might appear to be a threat to human resource development, it has, 
however, contributed to investment by way of remittances, employment, 
specialized training and capital.  That issue must be addressed  by the 
Conference. The Cook Islands Government attaches great importance to family-
planning education and to the availability of family-planning methods and 
services.  It does not consider that abortion is a mechanism for population 
control.  The Conference's decisions will be included in the Cook Islands 
Population and Sustainable Development Plan.


     SEMERE RUSSOM, Head of American and International Organizations in the 
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Eritrea: Spiralling population growth will 
remain a grave concern as long as it continues to outstrip economic growth.  
Family planning and the plethora of supportive measures that the draft 
programme of action recommends will not, however, furnish a real and lasting 
panacea to the problem.  "The fact of the matter is that this approach is 
skewed, focusing as it does on the various symptoms rather than the 
fundamental malaise of underdevelopment."


     In the case of Africa, in particular, it is debatable whether reduced 
population growth will mitigate its growing


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 marginalization in the global economic order and accelerate its development. 
 "The appalling poverty and deprivation that stalks the continent is not 
certainly due to overpopulation, and it will not be eradicated if family 
planning were to be introduced through attractive palliatives and public 
education programmes and practised by 60-65 per cent of the population (the 
target figure), instead of the current rate of 10-15 per cent.  The scourge of 
ethnic conflicts, massive internal and external population displacement and 
widespread deprivation will not be healed by the most prudent and 
comprehensive demographic policy."


     What is required is a much bolder and holistic approach that addresses 
and tackles the real causes of underdevelopment.  Existing imbalances in the 
terms of international trade must be adjusted, technological transfer must be 
encouraged, particularly in the critical productive sectors, rather than In a 
few areas alone.  The effectiveness and scale of external assistance must be 
increased substantially to extricate those countries from perennial dependence 
and help them stand on their feet.  In brief, the answer does not lie in a 
compartmentalized and piecemeal approach, but on a comprehensive and 
innovative approach to the crucial issue of development in the third world.


     SEIKO TAKAHASHI, Deputy Executive Secretary of the Economic and Social 
Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP): Countries of the ESCAP region 
have led the way in formulating population policies and establishing and 
implementing population programmes.  Just two years ago, ESCAP joined forces 
with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in convening the Fourth Asian 
and Pacific Population Conference in Bali, Indonesia. That gathering produced 
a landmark blueprint for countries of the region to follow entitled the Bali 
Declaration on Population and Sustainable Development.  With the adoption of 
the document, the countries of the region constituted the first developing 
region of the world to have set realistic population goals and targets for 
their Governments to implement during the next decade.  For, example, the 
Declaration urges countries to adopt strategies to attain replacement-level 
fertility equivalent to around 2.2 children per woman and to strive to reduce 
the infant mortality to 40 per 1,000 live births or lower.  All of the goals 
and targets are to be reached by the year 2010.  


     The Declaration also contains 67 recommendations aimed at improving the 
quality of life of the people in a way that will not jeopardize the 
environment and the resource base for future generations.  The recommendations 
range from helping to halt the spread of HIV/AIDS to preventing urbanization 
and internal and international migration.  Means are also spelled out to carry 
out the recommendations.  For example, it calls for family-planning programmes 
to be integrated into a package of health, education and welfare services and 
for the promotion of birth-spacing and breast-feeding.  It also calls for 
resource mobilization with the


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 allocation of 4 per cent of official development assistance (ODA) to 
population programmes.  


     Every effort is being made to incorporate many of the concerns voiced in 
the Declaration in the final document of the Conference. The course of 
development, as visualized in the Declaration, has already been achieved in 
certain parts of the region with the result that fertility rates have tumbled 
in the newly industrialized countries like Singapore.  Mortality rates have 
also dropped, and contraceptive use is much higher than in other parts of the 
region.  


     AHMADOU ALI DIAW, Deputy Director-General of the Islamic Educational, 
Scientific and Cultural Organization:  The Conference brings with it many 
problems on moral and ethical grounds very often at odds with each other. The 
question as to whether population growth is truly explosive and whether 
population growth has a negative impact on development must be addressed.


     The desire to universalize means standardization along the lines of a 
specific culture. Birth control must be based on an acceptable spiritual and 
cultural basis. Islam prevented any promiscuity in the area of reproduction. 
In Islam, life begins when the soul enters the body, and no one has the 
ethical right to destroy that life. The family must be the basic unit between 
men and women. Education must be focused as it will increase the social 
standing of women. Education of women is the best contraceptive. 


     Humankind has not found the solutions to the problems being addressed at 
the Conference. The Conference should conclude with an awareness that allows 
all people to live in these different times. The teachings of Islam show that, 
on the human level, truth is never in the extreme; it is usually the third 
position were opposing views can be reconciled. The Conference should conclude 
with consensus, "so that all are eating from the same table for the greatest 
good of humankind".


     CAROL R. LUBIN, International Federation of Settlements and 
Neighbourhoods:  The issue of migration should receive more attention from the 
Conference than it currently does.  There are more than 4,000 community 
organizations in the Federation, helping the youth, the poor and migrants with 
health and other services.  It was originally formed to assist refugees and 
migrants.  The provisions of the programme of action should be improved to 
strengthen the language on migration.  


     The programme should call for particular services for migrants rather 
than making vague calls for assistance to be provided to them.  There should 
be a provision for appropriate and suitable housing and other social services 
for migrants and


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 their families.  The role of non-governmental organizations should be further 
stressed in the programme of action. It should stress the roles those 
organizations played in implementation of policies for migrants and the 
disabled.  It should also call for Governments to institute follow-up 
mechanisms on the implementation of their programmes and services for 
migrants.    Representatives of migrants should be involved in the work of the 
bodies that provide services to migrants.  


     There should be a provision in the draft programme of action that calls 
attention to the human side of migrations.  Migrants should be allowed to take 
part in decisions on whether they should return to their country, remain in a 
host country or move on to other destinations. The provisions on how to deal 
with refugees should be strengthened by mentioning specific services that 
should be provided to them.  The role of non-governmental organizations should 
be widened to allow them to take part in more decision-making processes.  
Unions should be empowered to play bigger roles in business decisions.  There 
should be a specific subparagraph in the draft programme to define the role of 
non-governmental organizations in the work of the United Nations and its work 
in population and development.


     JOHN C. CALDWELL, President of the International Union for the Scientific 
Study of Population: The Union is a global organization of population 
scientists and demographers which aims at augmenting the body of knowledge 
about population and its interrelation with economic development and social 
change. The investment in demographic research and teaching is one of the most 
cost-effective approaches to the population problems. 


     Fertility decreases are now occurring in substantial parts of the world. 
But, where this is not happening or where decline is slow, future advances in 
containing excessive population growth will almost certainly be more difficult 
and will need more research guidance. This is also true in the field of 
health, where social change is needed as much as the provision of medical 
services to lower infant, child and adult mortality. 


     The Union has provided advice to the United Nations and has been involved 
in international conferences addressing the issue of population. At the Cairo 
Conference, it has offered lectures on fertility, health and population growth 
and their interrelationship with development, change in the status of women 
and the environment.


     WERNER FORNOS, President of the Population Institute: The Conference is a 
milestone in the annals of humankind. A definitive strategy for universal 
access to family planning could be developed in the next five to 10 years. "It 
is high time for the world to ensure universal access to family planning." 
Coercion must be rejected in all of its forms. The Conference


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 must squarely address the need for males to take responsibility. Male 
attitudes must change if there is to be meaningful progress  worldwide. Male 
participation must be active both in the planning of the family and 
thereafter. The family could only thrive if the status of women could be 
substantially raised and if men could be convinced that assuming 
responsibility in family life enhances, rather than threatens, their 
masculinity.


     Developing countries have every right to question the wasteful 
consumption practices in developed countries. Sustainable development would 
not be realized without a reversal in current consumption and production 
practices.  "The stakes are too high for the Conference's final document to 
remain mere words on paper."  Those words must be translated into deeds. If 
another billion people joined the world in the next 10 years, there would be 
no way to attain the needed development. Success of the Conference would 
benefit people everywhere.  Failure of the Conference would be unthinkable.


     HENRY W. KENDALL, Union of Concerned Scientists:  Scientists from 70 
countries of the world served a warning to the international community in a 
statement that they released two years ago: "Human beings and the natural 
world are on a collision course.  Human activities inflict harsh and often 
irreversible damage on the environment and on critical resources.  If not 
checked, many of our current practices put at serious risk the future that we 
wish for human society and the plant and animal kingdoms, and may so alter the 
living world that it will be unable to sustain life in the manner that we 
know.  Fundamental changes are urgent if we are to avoid the collision our 
present course will bring about."  That sentences were signed by 1,600 
scientists, including more than one half of the world's Nobel laureates in 
science.


     Man's activities are now clearly threatening the survival of the 
environment.  Those trends can be slowed, however.  All nations must recognize 
that improving social and economic well-being, coupled with effective family-
planning programmes, are at the root of voluntary, successful fertility 
declines and population stabilization.  Reduction of poverty, pervasive in the 
third world, including improvements in the status and education of women, are 
necessary. Developing countries must realize that environmental damage is one 
of the gravest threats they face.  The developed nations must greatly reduce 
their over-consumption, their pressures on resources and on the global 
environment. They must also aid and support developing countries.


     "People must realize that there are limits to the number of people that 
the world can contain.  We are fast approaching many of these limits.  The 
magnitude of challenges and speed of their arrival are unlike any that human 
beings have faced before this time.  There is little time remaining.  The 
limits are so near


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 that it is our generation that must face and resolve the challenges.  The 
population doubling we are now committed to is likely to be the last doubling 
of mankind's numbers.  If we do not stabilize population in voluntary, humane 
ways, it will be done for us by nature; it will be done brutally, relentlessly 
and whether we wish it or not."


     VIRGINIA HAZZARD, of the American Association for Retired Persons: The 
proportion of the elderly in the world's population is growing. It has been 
said that the world will face an "age- quake" which will affect the life of 
the planet. Policies and programmes must be implemented to shoulder that 
impact. Older persons had a potential to make contributions to their families, 
nations and the international community. To realize that potential, older 
persons must have access to resources to meet their basic needs. That must be 
taken into account in the execution of population policies. The draft merited 
praise for its treatment of older persons, but more specifics were needed. 


     P.N. TANDON of the Inter-Academy Panel on Population and Development: 
"Already the planet Earth is sending signals of distress calling for urgent 
action, but there is no place for either unmitigated gloom or complacency." 
Population is not just a numbers game; it is intimately linked to issues like 
poverty, literacy, development, women's status, infant and maternal mortality, 
availability of primary health care services and family-planning programmes.  
"Population control programmes cannot succeed by simply providing 
contraceptive pills and devices."


     There are different pathways to the demographic transition. A large 
number of studies indicate that the single most important factor that 
favourably influences rapid demographic transition is female literacy. Family 
planning programmes should be based on the reproductive health needs of women. 
Males must accept responsibility for fertility regulation programmes. There is 
an urgent need for building indigenous capacity in developing countries to 
enable them to find solutions for the problems that beset their communities by 
providing infrastructure and training.


     VIRGINIA OLIVO DE CELLI, Centro de Investigaciones Sociales y Estudios de 
la Mujer:  More family councils should be set up to integrate family planning 
into the dynamics of general development.  There should be education, 
information and communication strategies to create awareness for gender 
equality.  Governments should recognize the need to empower women.  Laws that 
prohibit abortion should be reviewed to decriminalize abortions in cases such 
as incest and not just when there is a threat to the life of the mother.  
Women's sexual and reproductive rights must be recognized and upheld at all 
times.  Men and women all over the world must fight together for those rights 
in order to preserve the human race.


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     PETER A.A. BERLE, President of the National Audubon Society: Development 
is essential to secure the rights of women and the well-being of society as a 
whole. "But development, which puts pesticides in our water, lead and other 
toxins in the air, development which eliminates our forests and topsoils and 
destroys the natural beauty which inspires our souls, threatens the future of 
our planet." The work of the Conference must build on the principles which 
were hard won at the 1992 Rio Conference. "Otherwise, we will be little more 
than a globe-trotting bunch of conventioneers momentarily mesmerized by the 
issues of the day only to rush off to the next global conference when this one 
is over."


     Participants must see to it that funds are indeed committed for the 
purposes outlined in the draft programme of action based on its formulations 
concerning the allocation of resources. Others would say that national 
security requires vast expenditures for armaments and would argue, with their 
limited vision, that women's health issues must always be secondary. "But the 
fact is that unless the goals of the draft plan are met, our future will be 
defined by an ever-shrinking resource base and bitter conflict as too many 
fight over too little to benefit too few." Action was needed to avert that 
fate. 


     Reverend WILFRIED STEEN, of the World Council of Churches:  Much of the 
religious discourse so far has focused on the difficult issues relating to 
human sexuality, especially family planning, contraception and abortion. Among 
the churches in the World Council, there are a variety of positions on those 
issues. "We do not recognize the use of abortion as a method of family 
planning. However, a growing number of our churches recognize that the unjust 
treatment and systematic exploitation of women make recourse to safe, 
voluntary abortion a moral necessity. Dogmatic assertions which affirm the 
sanctity of life but ignore the context in which conception takes place fail 
to bring that assertion to bear on the realities of life." The Conference must 
stimulate more just, effective and humane approaches which ensure the quality 
of life of all people everywhere.


     KAZUO TAKAHASHI, Programme Director of the Sasakawa Peace Foundation: 
According to the Foundation's studies, a country with high fertility rates is 
always a major sender of migrants to other countries. Orderly acceptance of 
immigrants brings about a number of economic returns to the host country. 
Benefits include lower prices and an expansion of the market. Remittance by 
immigrants and migrants over the past 25 years have become a massive 
redistributive mechanism from rich countries to poor ones.  Migrants from 
Mexico and the Caribbean to the United States annually transfer between $10 to 
$12 billion to their home countries.

 
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     Policy makers must anticipate international population movements, he 
continued. Sending countries should deregulate their labour markets in order 
to enlarge employment opportunities. They should also encourage their workers 
abroad to channel part of their remittances into productive investments.  
Further, those States should try to maintain cultural contacts with their 
workers abroad. Education should be globalized so that people in recipient 
countries can become receptive to the inflow of foreigners with diverse 
backgrounds.


     FORREST C. GREENSLADE, President of IPAS-Initiative in Women's Health: 
Unsafe abortion is a reality in much of the world today. Without access to 
appropriate family-planning services, millions of women every year resort to 
untrained persons who perform abortions under unsanitary conditions.  The 
results of that are the deaths of 150,000 women each year and the disabling of 
hundreds of thousands.  Ninety-nine per cent of those women are in the 
developing world.  Addressing women's reproductive health needs forthrightly 
is a critical element in achieving an appropriate balance in the population-
environment-sustainable development equation.  The deaths and illnesses caused 
by unsafe abortions are preventable.  Steps should be taken to prevent that 
tragedy and reduce its consequences.


     A consortium of international reproductive health organizations has 
proposed and is executing programmes around a new concept: post-abortion care. 
 It comprises of three elements: emergency medical treatment for the 
complications of abortions; post-abortion family-planning counselling and 
services to reduce the likelihood of repeat pregnancies; and links to other 
reproductive health services so that women can receive the care they need to 
live healthier lives.

 
     Every country must ensure that women receive prompt treatment for 
complications from abortions and are then guaranteed access to family planning 
and other reproductive health counselling and services.  Services should be 
offered promptly because "during the 10 days of your deliberations, 
approximately 4,000 women will die from unsafe abortion and many more will 
suffer, I call on you to demonstrate the leadership necessary to end this 
needless death and disability experienced by women throughout the world".


     SHIN SAKURAI, Asian Forum of Parliamentarians on Population and 
Development, speaking also for the International Forum of  Parliamentarians on 
Population and Development:  It is essential for the conclusions of the ICPD 
to be implemented.  For example, while the Rio Conference called for measures 
to protect the environment, many of them have not yet been implemented.  As a 
consequence, the environment continues to deteriorate.  "No child should be 
born just to die from starvation", he said.  The international community must 
not allow children to die from


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 poverty and starvation.  The most important need of the population is the 
growing need for food.  The outcome of the ICPD will influence the survival of 
mankind; it should make sound recommendations that will be reflected in 
treaties and conventions and put into action.  The Parliamentarians in both 
Forums would support the ratification of treaties and conventions based on the 
outcome of the Conference.



















 
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