Of the World Population Conferences and the Landmark International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) – The Birth of ICPD
The United Nations has over the years intensified its efforts in creating awareness on challenges and opportunities posed by population dynamics and the need to integrate population policy into economic, social and environmental sustainability policies and programmes. Over the year, a number of Population Conferences have been held to address population challenges and opportunities.
As a member of the United Nations, Kenya has been participating and making valuable contributions in the international population conferences.
The first World Population Conference was held in Rome from 31 August to 10 September 1954. The conference resolved to generate detailed demographic information for developing countries. This was to be done through the establishment of regional training institutions for demographers to undertake demographic analyses that would help in addressing population issues.
Ten years after the first World Population Conference, states and governments converged in Belgrade (now in Serbia) in 1965 (30 August – 10 September). The second World Population Conference was organised by the International Union for the Scientific Study of Population (IUSSP) and the United Nations. The focus of the conference was on the analysis of fertility as part of a policy for development planning.
The National Council for Population and Development (NCPD) represented Kenya in the 1974 World Population Conference held from 19. to 30. August in Bucharest, Romania. A total of 135 countries attended the global forum. The conference focused on the relationship between population issues and development. World Population Plan of Action (PoA) recognised that population and development were interdependent, and that population policies and objectives were an integral part of socio-economic development.
The World Population Conference of 1984 was held in Mexico City between 6 and 14 August. It expanded the Global Population Plan of Action to incorporate latest research findings and data provided by governments. It also brought to light issues pertaining to rights of individuals and families, health and well-being, employment and education.
The outcome of the 1984 conference stimulated Kenya to prioritize interventions to improve the population indicators. Indeed, the strategies the country put in place were becoming fruitful. For example, by 1993 Kenya managed to reduce the average number of children per woman to 6 from the global highest of 8 in 1979.
The fifth population conference dubbed the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development, was held in Cairo, Egypt from 5 to 13 September 1994. Attended by over 180 States, the conference broadened the scope of population issues to include the needs of individuals within the framework of universally recognized human rights standards, environment, gender, poverty, and problems facing youth, the elderly, and persons with disabilities rather than simply responding to demographic goals. The conference has been recognized globally for its human-centric approach to development.
It was realised in the meeting that sharing of these experiences through South-South Cooperation under an intergovernmental framework would immensely benefit the developing countries and strengthen the North-South cooperation.
The United Nations organized two special sessions in 1999 and 2014 to review and assess the implementation of the Program of Action adopted at the 1994 conference. The progress made and the challenges encountered in the implementation of population and development strategies were the central themes of these meetings of world leaders. Governments were called on to: take strong measures to promote the human rights of women and strengthen the reproductive and sexual health and rights. The United Nations system and donors were requested to support governments in building national capacities to plan, manage, implement, monitor and evaluate reproductive and sexual health services.
The 6th International Conference on Population and Development ICPD+25 held in Nairobi, Kenya (12-14 November 2019) created a platform for development of Global Commitments in Accelerating the Promise of the Cairo Plan of Action (PoA). Over 1,200 commitments were made by governments, institutions and individuals to accelerate the promise of ICPD PoA. Kenya, on her part, made seventeen commitments of which the National Council for Population and Development (NCPD) was tasked to track, monitor and report annually.