(2 August 2013) The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), in conjunction with the Government of Uruguay and with the support of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), will hold the First session of the Regional Conference on Population and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean from 12 to 15 August 2013 in Montevideo, Uruguay.
The meeting is expected to be opened on Monday 12 August at 6.00 p.m. in the presence of the President of Uruguay, José Mujica, Executive Secretary of ECLAC, Alicia Bárcena, and Executive Director of UNFPA, Babatunde Osotimehin. The meeting will be attended by official delegations from most ECLAC member countries and associate members. Also expected to attend are senior international officials, experts in population and representatives of non-governmental organizations.
The main purpose of the event is to examine 20 years of Latin American progress in implementing the objectives of the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) - held in Cairo in 1994 - as well as identifying key measures for strengthening its implementation and tackling emerging population challenges for the region beyond 2014.
The priority themes to be discussed will include the rights and needs of children and young people, the opportunities and consequences of population dynamics, gender equality, reproductive and sexual rights, international migration, territorial inequality and environmental vulnerability, indigenous peoples and Afro-descendent peoples.
All the Conference sessions can be watched live online through the ECLAC website.
At the end of the meeting, delegates are expected to adopt a series of agreements on the priority themes for implementing the Programme of Action beyond 2014, based on the lessons learned from its implementation in the past 20 years, regional and world trends in terms of economic and social development, and the socio-economic, cultural and institutional specific features of Latin America and the Caribbean.
The media are invited to cover this Conference.
More information, including the meeting documents, is available on the ECLAC website: here.
Journalists wishing to attend the meeting in Montevideo can gain online accreditation with the ECLAC Press Centre.
Any press queries and interview requests should be sent to the ECLAC Public Information and Web Services Section in Santiago, Chile. E-mail: prensa@cepal.org; Telephone: (56 2) 2210 2040.
