The Chair of the 57th session of the Commission on Population and Development (CPD), arranged an informal consultation on 11 March 2024 in New York and online as part of the preparations for the 57th session of the Commission on Population and Development, scheduled for May 2024.
The aim was to have a strong presence and cover a comprehensive overview of the issues relating to the ICPD Programme of Action at the meeting. The organisers expected there to be a strong presence from the opposition and therefore sought to ensure that strong support was mobilised for SRHR at the meeting.
The following is a list of some of the priority areas that were suggested could be raised at the meeting:
Priority areas to be reflected in ISRRC members’ statements at the CSO briefing on March 11th:
– The continuing relevance of the ICPD Programme of Action today in terms of the global challenges and opportunities we face.
– The centrality of SRHR to all aspects of development and human rights.
– Leaving no one behind and focusing on the most marginalised groups and those facing multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination.
– The importance of marking the ICPD 30 with a focus on regional reviews – what progress has been achieved and the value of regional review conferences and regional agreements (Montevideo, Addis Ababa and Maputo).
– The importance of CPD as the inter-governmental body mandated to play the primary role in the follow-up to the implementation of the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development.
– The link between Agenda 2030 and ICPD Programme of Action
– The interlinkage between the Summit of the Future and ICPD 30.
– Focus on young people and adolescents.
– Emerging issues relevant to the ICPD Programme of Action.
-Climate change
-Humanitarian contexts
-Migration issues
-Public health crises
– Comprehensive sexuality education as key to the empowerment of young people.
– SRHR and gender equality – interlinkages and implications for development.
– Sexual and reproductive health care services and stagnating maternal mortality decline.
– How the ICPD Programme of Action provides solutions to the concrete challenges we face today.
– Regional perspectives on reviews in terms of progress and gaps in implementation.
– Anti-gender mobilization.
This list of issues is obviously valuable for many other reasons, not least for raising issues at national level and working with regional and international NGOs, governmental bodies, UN agencies, human rights bodies and health policy and advocacy groups.