PRESS RELEASE
UN Department of Public Information
Yerevan Office (Armenia)
Arminé Halajyan (Mrs.), Information Officer
Tel.: (374 10) 560 212
Fax/Tel.: (374 10) 561 406
Mobile: (374 91) 20 37 25
United Nations Population Fund in Armenia Celebrates 15th Anniversary of
International Conference on Population and Development
PRESS RELEASE
YEREVAN, 4 December 2009 – United Nations Population Fund in Armenia together
with its partners celebrated the 15th Anniversary of the International
Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) and took stock of the
progress in implementing the ICPD Programme of Action at a conference
`Population and Development: Achievements and Challenges – ICPD at 15′ which
started in Yerevan today.
During this one-day conference, the government officials, members of
Parliament, decision-makers, researchers and academicians, UN officials,
representatives of Armenian Church and local and international NGOs and
faith-based organizations, Y-Peer and mass media also discussed the existing
challenges in achieving the ICPD goals in Armenia in the areas of
reproductive health, HIV/AIDS, demography, and gender equality.
The International Conference on Population and Development was convened in
1994 in Cairo under the auspices of the UN and was the largest
intergovernmental conference on population and development ever held. Then
the international community, including Armenia, agreed on a Programme of
Action with a 20 year time scope to address the population and development
challenges that the world is facing. It emphasized the integral linkages
between population and development and focused on meeting the needs of
individual women and men, rather than on achieving demographic targets. One
of the primary goals of the Programme of Action is to make family planning
universally available by 2015. It also includes goals in regard to
education, especially for girls, as well as goals to further reduce levels
of infant, child and maternal mortality. It addresses issues relating to
population, the environment; the family; internal and international
migration; HIV prevention; technology, research and development; and
partnership with the non-governmental sector.
`In Armenia significant progress has been made in improving reproductive
and
maternal health, HIV prevention, and gender equality, however Armenia still
faces challenges such as rapid ageing, declining fertility rates, achieving
universal access to reproductive health, reducing maternal mortality and
unwanted pregnancies, HIV prevention among vulnerable young people and most
at risk adolescents, as well as gender equality and combating gender-based
violence,’ said the United Nations Resident Coordinator a.i., Ms. Laylee
Moshiri.
She also thanked the Armenian Government and partners for their valuable
efforts to ensure the ICPD agenda becomes a reality in Armenia. In turn, the
Armenian officials expressed their gratitude for the UNFPA assistance.
More than halfway to the 2015 deadline is passed to achieve Millennium
Development Goals and the ICPD Programme of Action. `15 years later the ICPD
agenda is still relevant, and today we should not only celebrate the
achievements, but also make sure to continue work together to follow up on
the commitments to ICPD,’ said Prof. Razmik Abrahamyan, the UNFPA Sexual
and
Reproductive Health Project Director.
This year’s 15th anniversary of the historic International Conference on
Population and Development that guides UNFPA’s work coincides with the 40th
anniversary of UNFPA.