An informal briefing on ICPD Beyond 2014, co-sponsored by the Permanent Missions of Bangladesh, Colombia, Finland, Mozambique, The Netherlands, New Zealand and Norway and in collaboration with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the NGO Committee on the Status of Women (NGO CSW), was held at the Palais des Nations in Geneva on 28 June 2012.
ICPD Beyond 2014 – where are we now?
In the course of the briefing Mr Kwabena Osei-Danquah, Executive Coordinator, ICPD Beyond 2014 Coordination Secretariat at UNFPA, New York updated participants on the preparations for ICPD Beyond 2014.
At the outset, Mr Osei-Danquah acknowledged the work of those individuals who have played a worthwhile role in the process to date and referred to Resolution A/64/234 by which ICPD has been extended and which calls for an assessment of the implementation of the ICPD Programme of Action leading to a report to be submitted to the Commission on Population and Development in 2014.
The ICPD Programme of Action is an historic document, particularly with regard to human rights and development. As there will be no re-opening of the consensus and no re-negotiation of the document, Members States will face a challenge as to how they will deal with new and emerging issues and how they will use the information gathered during the review process. There will also be a need to consider how to capture progress or identify lack of progress, and how to develop an agenda for moving forward without an inter-governmental negotiation.
Meanwhile the UN Secretary-General has started the process for identifying a successor to the MDG framework. The ICPD review will be an integral part of this process. In reply to a question later he pointed out that the UN Task Team had completed its work on the Realizing the Future We Want, which will be used by the High-Level Panel and that the ICPD agenda is well documented within the document. The ICPD Review will also be part of the process specifically the country-level consultations on the MDGs that will take place in 2013 and which will provide an opportunity to influence Governments. As the data from the ICPD review will be available in December with the analysis following by March of 2013 they can be fed into the process.
Constituencies other than those working on sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights will also involved and the World Health Organization (WHO), the International Labour Organization (ILO), the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and UNAIDS are already contributed to the process.
Global Survey
At the present time the questionnaire was being shared with some Governments in order to get feedback on quality and it will be circulated widely to Governments by the middle of July. Each Government will complete the questionnaire and a 100 percent response is hoped for. UNFPA has also been working to involve Civil Society as well as Young People in the response process and workshops have been, and are being, held to assist them. The data and information will be made available to the Regional Commissions for inclusion in regional reports and conferences. In addition the information collected from the Global Survey will be fed into the Global Report. In some regions Civil Society and Young People have indicated that they wish to hold their own meetings in connection with the Regional Conferences.
Global Thematic Conferences
Insofar as there will be issues that the process for the Global Survey will not capture, three Global Thematic Conferences will being organized. The first will be the Global Youth Forum (GYF) (make link) to be held in Bali from 4-6 December. A second conference on Human Rights is being supported by the Netherlands to be held by May 2013 and a third conference is being discussed on Women’s Health. Opportunities will be provided in the GYF for input from other young people through a virtual conference as part of the plenary.
Documentation for ICPD Beyond 2014
The Global Report will be completed by January 2014 and will be reviewed at the Commission on Population and Development in April 2014. An Index Report will then be collated that to include issues that Member States recognize as being most critical. They will then be transmitted to the Special Session, which is scheduled to take place one day before the General Debate of the General Assembly in order to enable Heads of Government and Heads of States to attend.
Update on High-Level Task Force
H E Mr Antti Rytövuori, Deputy Permanent Representative of Finland and H E Mr Elias Jaime Zimba, Minister Plenipotentiary, Deputy Permanent Representative of Mozambique, both referred to the High-Level Task Force (Link – can you link it both ways?), which is chaired by Former President Tarja Halonen of Finland and President Joaquim Chisano of Mozambique. According to Mr Rytövuori the High-Level Task Force will contribute to generation of the political will, which is necessary to advance past commitments. President Halonen is committed to advancing human rights and gender equality. The Task Force will be responsible for preparing one paper. It will be launched in New York on 1 October 2012.
Note: Since the briefing, the Deutsche Stiftung Weltbevoelkerung (DSW) has announced that its Executive Director, Renate Baehr, as been nominated by the German Federal Government to serve as a member of the HLTF.