ICPD + 25: Posting 8

ICPD Beyond 2014 + 5 Regional Reviews  — Latin America and the Caribbean

Background

Before the Regional Conference on Population and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean, more than 250 members of networks, national and international coalitions, campaigns and organizations through the Alliance of Civil Society Organization from Latin America and the Caribbean convened a civil society forum. At the Regional Conference, itself, they presented  a strong statement The Time is Now in which they not only specified the unjust gaps that existed but made specific demands for moving the agenda forward. They highlighted the need to ensure that sexual and reproductive rights and health are met through various actions, including the decriminalization of abortion and the promotion of comprehensive sexuality education.

At the end of the Regional Conference, which was organized by the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), together with UNFPA and held in Montevideo, Uruguay, 12-15 August 2013, the Montevideo Consensus on Population and Development was adopted.

As a document the Consensus is ground breaking insofar as it reaffirms and advances the ICPD Programme of Action. It agrees to promote, protect and guarantee sexual health and rights and reproductive rights and recognizes the right to make free and informed choices about sexuality regardless of sexual orientation and gender identity.  Furthermore, it says that penalization of abortion directly increases maternal mortality rates and that states should therefore make efforts to provide safe and good-quality abortion services and consider amending laws, regulations, strategies and public policies relating to the voluntary termination of pregnancy. It also stresses the links between development and equality by protecting the rights and autonomy of women, gender equality and the exercising of their sexual and reproductive rights.

Follow-up and review

Through collaboration between UNFPA, ECLAC and the Government of Mexico, the Montevideo Consensus Operational Guidewas prepared in 2015 and a set of indicators was adopted at the meeting of Presiding Officers in 2017. 

A data-driven report, based on the agreed indicators and national reports, has been prepared by ECLAC, with support from UNFPA. It will serve as a regional input into the ICPD Global Review and the Regional Forum on Sustainable Development and was scheduled for distribution by 7 June 2018, in accordance with conference rules. 

ICPD Beyond 2014 + 5  -- Third Regional Conference on Population and Development

The Third Regional Conference on Population and Development will be held in Lima, Peru, 7-10 August 2018 to conduct the first review of the Montevideo Consensus. It will also serve as the ICPD Beyond 2014 + 5 regional review.

A youth forum will be held on 5 August, followed by a CSO forum on 6 August, with a series of youth camps being held from 1-6 August for young people from Lain America and the Caribbean.