ICPD + 25: Posting 1

Background to the 5^threview of the ICPD Programme of Action 

At its 50^thsession in 2017, the UN Commission on Population and Development decided that the Special theme for its 52^ndsession in 2019 will be “Review and appraisal of the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development and its contribution to the follow-up and review of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

From 1994 to the present…

The ICPD Programme of Action (PoA)[1]has been the guiding influence for the sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) agenda since its adoption in Cairo, in 1994. This will be the fifth review and it is the first time that a specific link has been made to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (2030 Agenda). As previously, it will be preceded by a series of Regional Conferences, which will feed into the review and appraisal. 

The first review was held in 1999 culminating in the 21^stSpecial Session of the UN General Assembly with its outcome document Key Actions for the Further Implementation of the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development.[2]This included some progressive language, particularly relating to abortion (para 57(b) & (c)) which built on the paragraph on unsafe abortion in the ICPD PoA (para 8.25). Progress, however, stalled subsequently until the 20-year review in 2014 and for a number of reasons, including the rise of the Opposition, and even began to move backwards.

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[1] Report Of The International Conference On Population And Development* (Cairo, 5-13 September 1994) http://undocs.org/A/CONF.171/13

[2]United Nations General Assembly. 1999. Report of the Committee of the Whole of the Twenty-First Special Session of the General Assembly, Key Actions for the Further Implementation of the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development A-S-21/5/Add 1