Caribbean authorities and members of civil society will be meeting in Georgetown, Guyana, to assess the region's progress in implementing the Programme of Action of the United Nations International Conference on Population and Development (adopted in Cairo in 1994).
The Caribbean Forum on Population, Migration and Development, which will be held on 9 and 10 July 2013, is being organized by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), the Government of Guyana and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). It will give participants the opportunity to share successful experiences and identify new challenges faced by the region in terms of achieving the aims of the ICPD.
The Cairo Conference adopted the most important international agreement on population, as it was focused on the link between population and development based on individual needs and rights, rather than uniquely demographic objectives.
The Caribbean forum is being held in the context of ICPD - Beyond 2014, a global review of the Programme of Action that will enable government representatives and civil society to assess 20 years of progress towards established development targets, with a view to reaffirming the commitment made in the agreement as the cornerstone of the post-2015 agenda.
These objectives include integrating the specific characteristics of the Caribbean population in terms of development planning. Such dynamics include international migration and ageing, poverty eradication, investing in youth, gender equality, universal access to reproductive health and family planning services and the prevention of sexually transmitted diseases and HIV/AIDS.
As part of this process, Caribbean countries, with the support of UNFPA, filled in a questionnaire to assess compliance with the commitments made in Cairo. The results of the survey are a fundamental part of the report that will be presented at the forum, and the conclusions will form the subregional contribution to the First session of the Regional Conference on Population and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean, which will be held in Montevideo, Uruguay, in August 2013.
The review process will end with a special session on the ICPD - Beyond 2014 at the United Nations General Assembly in September 2014.
The media are invited to cover the Caribbean Forum on Population, Migration and Development, which will be opened on 9 July at 8.30 a.m., in the Guyana International Conference Centre, in Georgetown.
Press contact:
In Guyana, please contact Althea Buchanan
Advocacy & Communications UNFPA
Telephone: (876) 906-8591/2 (Ext. 30413)
Fax: (876) 906-8593
E-mail: buchanan@unfpa.org
In Chile, contact ECLAC Public Information and Web Services Section
E-mail: prensa@cepal.org, Telephone: (562) 2210 2040.