Sustaining Progress on Population and Development in Asia and the Pacific: 20 Years After ICPD
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Sustaining Progress on Population and Development in Asia and the Pacific: and in Asia and Development on Population Sustaining Progress Sustaining Progress on Population and Development in Asia and the Pacific: 20 years after ICPD 20 years after ICPD after years 20 United Nations Publication Copyright © United Nations All rights reserved Printed in Bangkok ST/ESCAP/2670 This document has been issued without formal editing. Disclaimer Reproduction of material in this publication for sale or other commercial purposes, including publicity and advertising, is prohibited without the written permission of the copyright holders. Applications for such permission, with a statement of purpose and extent of the reproduction, should be addressed to the Director, Social Development Division, United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific at <[email protected]>. United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific Bangkok Sustaining Progress on Population and Development in Asia and the Pacific: 20 years after ICPD Preface n pursuance of General Assembly resolution 65/234 of 5 April 2011 on the follow-up to the International IConference on Population and Development beyond 2014, a special session of the General Assembly during its sixty-ninth session in 2014 will be convened in order to assess the status of implementation of the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development. The resolution, inter alia, mandates an operational review of the implementation of the Programme of Action on the basis of the highest-quality data and analysis of the state of population and development, and requests the Secretary-General to submit a report based on this review to the Commission on Population and Development at its forty-seventh session. The five regional commissions, including ESCAP, collaborated with UNFPA in conducting a global survey on the implementation of the Programme of Action in the 20 years after ICPD. In the latter part of 2012, the “ICPD beyond 2014 Global Survey” was sent to all ESCAP members and associate members. Following completion, which in some cases entailed convening of national stakeholder meetings to validate content, the responses were submitted to ESCAP and to UNFPA. Of the 58 ESCAP members and associate members located in the region, 51 completed and returned their Survey forms, yielding a response rate of 88 per cent and representing 99 per cent of the population of the region. The Survey responses contributed to the preparation of this Asia-Pacific regional report, supplemented by technical information from United Nations databases and other sources. The report reveals that the Asia-Pacific region can be proud of many successes in the last 20 years in the imple- mentation of the Programme of Action, including increased life expectancies, reduced fertility rates, and better access to, and knowledge about sexual and reproductive health services. But this success has come with new challenges. Increased life expectancy and lower fertility rates have resulted in rapid population ageing in the region. Some countries are at risk of becoming old before they become rich. There is an urgent need for the region to prepare for ageing societies. While the opportunity for the demographic dividend has passed in some countries, in others there is still an opportunity to harness its potential. With the appropriate mix of policies, including job-led growth and effective school-to-work transition, it would be possible to reap the youth dividend. On issues of sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights, despite great strides made in strengthening policy, programme implementation is lagging, particularly in targeting youth. Lack of information concerning sexual and reproductive health and limited access to related services are contributing to unintended pregnancies and unsafe abortions in some parts of the region. These gaps are also exposing millions to the risk of HIV, in particular key populations at risk, including people who inject drugs, people who buy and sell sex, men who have sex with men and transgender people. This means that comprehensive sexuality education and increased access to a range of contraceptives must be made a priority. Furthermore, sexual and reproductive health programmes must also reach childless married women, unmarried women and girls, as also men and boys, as part of an integrated public health system that combines curative, preventive and health promotion services. The report also reveals that despite overall progress on improving maternal health, in some countries the number of women dying in childbirth still remains unacceptably high. The region could benefit from incorporating rights-based approaches to addressing population dynamics in their long-term plans for inclusive and sustainable development, including the impact of climate change. Above all, the response to the region’s challenges must be iii grounded in a commitment to addressing the unmet needs of women and all groups that remain excluded from the development process. The report lists a number of priority areas for the next five to ten years identified by countries in their responses, and provides specific recommendations for action on all the thematic areas of the Programme of Action. It is hoped that the report and its recommendations will be used by policymakers, civil society and development practitioners in all countries in the Asian and Pacific region to advance the implementation of the Programme of Action, and to ensure that the needs of all sections of the population are equitably addressed in this process. A preliminary version of this regional report was considered by ESCAP members and associate members at the Sixth Asian and Pacific Population Conference that was held in Bangkok from 16 to 20 September 2013. This final report was submitted as a regional input to a global report of the Secretary-General on the implementation of ICPD beyond 2014. iv Acknowledgements This publication was prepared by the ESCAP Social Development Division in cooperation with UNFPA. Under the overall direction of Nanda Krairiksh, Director of the Social Development Division, the report drafting team was led by Srinivas Tata, Chief of the Social Policy and Population Section, and included Marco Roncarati, Maren Jimenez and Lucia Gonzalez Lopez. Subatra Jayaraj, Chol Han, Joan Barcelo Soler, Ksenia Glebova and Nathalie Meyer also provided valuable quantitative and qualitative inputs to this report. This publication would not have been possible without the data analysis and comments provided by the ICPD Beyond 2014 Coordination Secretariat, led by Kwabena Osei-Danquah, including Francoise Ghoyareb, Guillem Fortuny and Francois Farrah; and the valuable substantive contributions of the UNFPA Asia and the Pacific Regional Office, led by Nobuko Horibe, which included the following team members: Lubna Baqi, Salli Davidson, Galanne Deressa, Josephine Sauvarin, Julia Cabassi, Kiran Bhatia, Andres Montes, Christophe Lefranc, Annette Sachs Robertson, Maha Muna and Priya Marwah. The ESCAP secretariat is grateful for the substantive and editorial contributions of Stan Bernstein and Jerrold Huguet in the preparation of this report. The ESCAP secretariat also acknowledges with appreciation the inputs of the following Asian and Pacific countries and territories in responding to the ICPD beyond 2014 Global Survey: Afghanistan; Armenia; Australia; Azerbaijan; Bangladesh; Bhutan; Cambodia; China; Cook Islands; Democratic People’s Republic of Korea; Federated States of Micronesia; Fiji; Georgia; Hong Kong, China; India; Indonesia; Iran (Islamic Republic of); Japan; Kazakhstan; Kiribati; Kyrgyzstan; Lao People’s Democratic Republic; Macao, China; Malaysia; Maldives; Marshall Islands; Mongolia; Myanmar; Nauru; Nepal; New Zealand; Niue; Pakistan; Palau; Papua New Guinea; Philippines; Republic of Korea; Russian Federation; Samoa; Singapore; Solomon Islands; Sri Lanka; Tajikistan; Thailand; Timor-Leste; Tonga; Turkey; Turkmenistan; Tuvalu; Vanuatu; Viet Nam. The editing of the publication was undertaken by Orestes Plasencia, Robert Blackwell and Kim Atkinson. The cover, layout and graphic design of the publication were contributed by Daniel Feary. v Abbreviations ADB Asian Development Bank PDS proportion of demand satisfied AIDS acquired immunodeficiency syndrome RM Malaysian ringgit AUD Australian dollar SEA South-East Asia CPR contraceptive prevalence rate SRB sex ratio at birth CSO civil society organization SRH sexual and reproductive health DHS Demographic and Health Survey SSWA South and South-West Asia ENEA East and North-East Asia S$ Singapore dollar ESCAP United Nations Economic and Social Tk Bangladesh taka Commission for Asia and the Pacific UNAIDS Joint United Nations Programme on GPI gender parity index HIV/AIDS HIV human immunodeficiency virus UN-HABITAT United Nations Human Settlements Programme ICPD International Conference on Population and Development UNDP United Nations Development Programme KP key population UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific MDG Millennium Development Goal and Cultural Organization MMR maternal mortality ratio UNFPA United Nations Population Fund NCA North and Central Asia UNHCR United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees NER net enrolment ratio UNICEF United Nations Children’s Fund NGO non-governmental organization WHO World Health Organization OCHA United Nations Office for the Coordination for Humanitarian Affairs ODP ozone depletion potential