Global perspective Human stories

Latin America and Caribbean to adopt text on population and development - UN

Latin America and Caribbean to adopt text on population and development - UN

Breaking with recent practice, the United States is set to join in the consensus adoption of a declaration by Latin American and Caribbean countries reaffirming support for an international action plan on reproductive health and rights, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) said today.

Delegates meeting in San Juan, Puerto Rico, will endorse a document adopted last March in Santiago, Chile, on the Programme of Action of the 1994 Cairo International Conference on Population and Development.

The US reportedly decided to join the consensus after participants agreed to let the text take note of the report of the Santiago preliminary meeting. At that forum, Washington had expressed the lone dissent, dissociating itself from the Santiago Declaration.

The document urges countries to intensify efforts to implement the Cairo plan, eradicating poverty, reducing social inequalities and eliminating the gender gap. The declaration also urges increased international cooperation to meet those objectives.

"It is clear that the spirit of Cairo is alive and well, especially in this region," said UNFPA chief Thoraya Ahmed Obaid. "It is clear that it is your Programme of Action, and you are tailoring it to the social, cultural and economic realities of your countries and in line with the universally agreed international human rights."

She added: "There cannot be true democracy without true equality, and if there is no true equality, there cannot be true human rights. This is what Cairo is all about."