B4-0063, 0070, 0071, 0072, 0073, 0077 and 0084/94

Resolution on the outcome of the Cairo International Conference on Population and Development

The European Parliament,

-having regard to its resolution of 11 March 1994 on the demographic situation and development;

-having regard to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and the draft UN Convention on the Rights of the Child,

-having regard to the Action Programme agreed at the Cairo International Conference on Population and Development on 13 September 1994,

-having regard to the 1993 UN report on the world social situation, which paints an extremely black picture of the past decade, characterized by growing poverty, new outbreaks of famine, the spread or reappearance of certain endemic diseases, increasing illiteracy and rising unemployment and underemployment,

A.whereas the population problem cannot be dissociated from poverty alleviation or development policies,

B.mindful, on the one hand, of the serious problems caused by the rapid population increase in many developing countries and, on the other hand, of the complexity of the relationship between population, cultural traditions and development, as demonstrated by the fact that although the European Union has a very high level of per capita consumption and a population density that is among the highest in the world, it also produces surplus food,

C.regretting that an EU Commissioner did not attend the conference and hoping that equal representation of women and men on Commission and Parliament delegations at future world conferences will be ensured,

1.Welcomes the degree of progress shown at the third International Conference on Population and Development compared with the two preceding conferences in Mexico (1984) and Bucharest (1974), with regard to the essential role of women in the development process;

2.Welcomes the fact that the fight against poverty brought together at the conference the representatives of almost all the countries in the world and that there was unanimous agreement on most of the sections of the final document drawn up in Cairo;

3.Regards the Cairo Conference as a sign of universal solidarity and proof of a mature awareness of the common destiny of all the peoples of the earth;

4.Warmly welcomes the Conference's recognition of the pivotal role of women in this debate, the importance of the social position of women in development, the necessity for empowerment of women with regard to their fertility, their education, their access to health provision and their entitlement to a safe physical environment;

5.Regrets, however, that no decision was taken on the urgent need to finance measures to promote the empowerment of women;

6.Agrees that the development of nations depends largely on effective recognition of the equal dignity of women, with their specific personalities, all of whose rights to take part in public life, from education to work, must be guaranteed and promoted;

7.Condemns the continuing discrimination against women and the violence of which they are victims even within the family;

8.Reiterates that the developed world must acknowledge its role in thisprocess and face up to its responsibilites for the social, economic and environmental damage caused by over-consumption and by promoting inappropriate technology and wasteful lifestyles; further reiterates its commitment to the task of balancing questions of population, consumption patterns and technology in order to arrive at a just and sustainable world worthy to be bequeathed to the descendants of the current global population;

9.Reiterates its view that it is a fundamental and inalienable right of women in all countries, whatever the cultural or religious environment in which they live, to decide for themselves how many children they want to have, if any, and, to this end, to have access to all safe, good quality methods of contraception;

10.Endorses the affirmation that abortion cannot under any circumstances be regarded as a means of birth control, but that under certain circumstances it should be recognized as a public health problem and that family education should be improved in order to avoid unwanted pregnancies; there is therefore a need, both before and after conception, for educational and public health measures and for help where having a child creates problems or where the mother does not want a child;

11.Regrets that the question of abortion, as presented by the Vatican and Muslim fundamentalists, succeeded in leading the debate during the Cairo conference up a blind alley, preventing the issues of development and overpopulation from being considered in greater depth;

12.Is of the opinion that family planning programmes are no substitute for the radical changes needed in the North to solve the ecological problems throughout the world;

13.Notes that, despite cultural, religious and ideological differences, the conference approved a programme of action which forms a basis for the formulation of family planning policies, while favouring economic development and the rights of women;

14.Regrets that the proposals on sexual rights and ways of life other than the nuclear family were not included in the final declaration;

15.Calls for family planning schemes to be incorporated into structural adjustment programmes, recognizing that it is for the developing countries to define their own strategies and programmes relating to population policy;

16.Stresses the importance which should be attached by development policies to immigration, reception facilities and the reuniting of families;

17.Calls on the EU immediately to release the ECU 3 billion promised in Rio under Agenda 21 as a first, minimal step in this direction and to use the funds pledged in Cairo not in the form of re-allocations from the development budget but as fresh money;

18.Calls for account to be taken, in the appropriations for family planning in the draft budget, of funding information on all methods of birth control, including natural methods;

19.Regrets that in his inaugural speech the President-in-Office of the EU Council did not discuss such basic causes of the global environmental crisis as the unjust international economic order and the unequal distribution of resources between North and South, including the debt burden;

20.Notes that the European Union has already taken positions on the central questions, supported by a large majority of Member States, and notes with satisfaction the remarkable degree of cohesion inside the Union; nevertheless, deplores the fact that the European Union did not play a major political role either during the preparatory phase or during the debate at the conference;

21.Reaffirms its opinion that in the new negotiations on the Treaty on European Union, a resolution should be adopted which will guarantee the European Parliament its own role and own powers of participation at international conferences;

22.Hopes that the initial first steps taken at the Cairo Conference in recognizing the role of women in development will be followed up at the UN International Conference on women to be held in October 1995 in Beijing and will lead to practical measures with respect to the economic independence of women;

23.Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, the Commission, the Council and the governments of the Member States.