The International Conference on Population and Development, which
was held in 1994, represented a milestone for women’s rights. While the
Conference was focused on population issues, the delegates meeting in
Cairo agreed that population was not only about demographics but, more importantly, about people. The issues taken up in its Programme of Action5
are fundamentally related to women’s human rights, including gender
equality, the family, reproductive health, birth control and family planning,
women’s health, as well as immigration and education of women.
Importantly, the Programme of Action is explicitly grounded in human
rights and proclaims that “advancing gender equality and equity and
the empowerment of women, and the elimination of all kinds of violence
against women, and ensuring women’s ability to control their own fertility,
are cornerstones of population and development-related programmes.”
The Conference was also important for its clear statement of reproductive
rights, explaining that these “rest on the recognition of the basic right of
all couples and individuals to decide freely and responsibly the number,
spacing and timing of their children and to have the information and
means to do so, and the right to attain the highest standard of sexual
and reproductive health. It also includes their right to make decisions
concerning reproduction free of discrimination, coercion and violence, as
expressed in human rights documents.”
The Programme of Action sets specific targets for: the provision of
universal education; the reduction of infant, child and maternal mortality;
and ensuring universal access to reproductive health care, including
family planning, assisted childbirth and prevention of sexually transmitted
infections, including HIV/AIDS, by 2015. Follow-up conferences have
been organized to assess progress towards these goals, and inequality and
lack of accountability constitute ongoing challenges to their achievement
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