REFUGEES: The Cairo Conference

World attention was focused on Population issues as delegates from 175 countries gathered in Cairo on Sept. 5-13, 1994, for the International Conference on Population and Development. Previous population conferences had been held in Mexico City (1984) and Bucharest, Rom. (1974). The delegates in Cairo debated a 20-year Program of Action that had been drafted by the UN Population Fund, the conference organizers. Three provisions were considered essential to reducing fertility and holding the world population by the year 2050 to the "low" estimate of 7.8 billion (other projections ran as high as 12.5 billion): improved access to contraceptives, reduced child mortality, and promotion of women’s rights to reproductive health. Language in the draft program favouring the empowerment of women drew sharp attacks from fundamentalist regimes, and some Muslim countries boycotted the conference. Vatican City State promoted Pope John Paul II’s crusade against abortion with a media campaign and pitched arguments against the contraception provisions. World leaders, however, including the conference host and chairman, Egyptian Pres. Hosni Mubarak, U.S. Vice Pres. Al Gore, and Norwegian Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland, counterattacked with aggressive speeches supporting the conference goals. At the close most delegates enthusiastically endorsed the program, while the Vatican and some Latin-American countries voiced partial support, excepting those provisions that would legitimize abortion and sexual relations outside marriage. Carl V. Haub

REFUGEES: The Cairo Conference
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REFUGEES: The Cairo Conference
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