UN POPULATION FUND IN ARMENIA MARKS 15TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON POPULATION AND DEVELOPMENT
Panorama.am
18:27 04/12/2009
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 Program of Action at a conference "Population
and Development: Achievements and Challenges – ICPD at 15" held in
Yerevan today.
During the one-day conference, the government officials, Parliament
members, decision-makers, researchers and academicians, UN officials,
representatives of Armenian Church and local and international NGOs,
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 Cairo in 1994 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 Program of Action with a 20 year time scope to address
the population and development challenges 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 achieving demographic targets. One of the primary goals of the
Program 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 UN
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 gratitude for the
UNFPA assistance.
More than halfway to the 2015 deadline is passed to achieve Millennium
Development goals and the ICPD Program 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 International Conference on
Population and Development guiding UNFPA work coincides with the 40th
anniversary of UNFPA.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress