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Compilation
of the Family-Specific recommendations of the INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON POPULATION AND DEVELOPMENT The International Conference on Population and Development, held at Cairo, Egypt, from 5 to 13 September 1994, adopted a far-reaching strategy to stabilize world population growth and achieve sustainable development. Its 16-chapter Programme of Action emphasizes the imperatives of empowering women and guaranteeing choice in regard to family planning. The complementarity of the Conference and the International Year of the Family is well reflected in the Programme of Action, which reaffirms the family as the basic unit of society, entitled to protection by the State. It contains a chapter on "The family, its roles, rights, composition and structure". Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development The Programme of Action consists of the following chapters: I. Preamble; II. Principles; III. Interrelationships between population, sustained economic growth and sustainable development; IV. Gender equality, equity and empowerment of women; V. The family, its roles, rights, composition and structure; VI. Population growth and structure; VII. Reproductive rights and reproductive health; VIII. Hea1th, morbidity and mortality; IX. Population distribution, urbanization and internal migration; X. International migration; XI. Population, development and education; XII. Technology, research and development; XIII. National action; XIV. International cooperation; XV. Partnership with the non¬governmental sector; XVI. Follow-up to the Conference. I. Preamble [Paragraph 1.12.] The present Programme of Action recommends to the international community a ser of important population and development objectives, as well as qualitative and quantitative goals that are mutually supportive and of critical importance to these objectives. Among these objectives and goals are: sustained economic growth in the context of sustainable development,' education, especially for girls; gender equity and equality; infant, child and maternal mortality reduction; and the provision of universal access to reproductive health services, including family planning and sexual health. II. Principles Principle 2. Human beings are at the centre of concerns for sustainable development. They are entitled to a healthy and productive life in harmony with nature. People are the most important and valuable resource of any nation. Countries should ensure that all individuals are given the opportunity to make the most of their potential. They have the right to an adequate standard of living for themselves and their families, including adequate food, clothing, housing, water and sanitation. Principle 4. Advancing gender equality and equity and the empowerment of women, and the elimination of all kinds of violence against women, and ensuring women 's ability to control their own fertility, are cornerstones of population and development-related programmes. The human rights of women and the girl child are an inalienable, integral and indivisible part of universal human rights. The full and equal participation of women in civil, cultural, economic, political and social life, at the national, regional and international levels, and the eradication of all forms of discrimination on grounds of sex, are priority objectives of the international community. Principle 8. Everyone has the right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health. States should take all appropriate measures to ensure, on a basis of equality of men and women, universal access to health-care services, including those related to reproductive health care, which includes family planning and sexual health. Reproductive health-care programmes should provide the widest range of services without any form of coercion. All couples and individuals have the basic right to decide freely and responsibly the number and spacing of their children and to have the information, education and means to do so. Principle 9. The family is the basic unit of society and as such should be strengthened. It is entitled to receive comprehensive protection and support. In different cultural, political and social systems, various forms of the family exist. Marriage must be entered into with the free consent of the intending spouses, and husband and wife should be equal partners. Principle 11. All States and families should give the highest possible priority to children. The child has the right to standards of living adequate for its well-being and the right to the highest attainable standards of health, and right to education. The child has the right to be cared for, guided and supported by parents, families and society and to be protected by appropriate legislative, administrative, social and educational measures from all forms of physical or mental violence, injury or abuse, neglect or negligent treatment, maltreatment or exploitation, including sole, trafficking, sexual abuse, and trafficking in its organs. Principle 12. Countries receiving documented migrants should provide proper treatment and adequate social welfare services for them and their families, and should ensure their physical safety and security, bearing in mind the special circumstances and needs of countries, in particular developing countries, attempting to meet these objectives or requirements with regard to undocumented migrants, in conformity with the provisions of relevant conventions and international instruments and documents. Countries should guarantee to all migrants all basic human rights as included in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. IV. Gender equality, equity and empowennent of women A. Empowerment and status of women Basis for action [Paragraph 4. I.] The empowerment and autonomy of women and the improvement of their political, social, economic and health status is a highly important end in itself. In addition, it is essential for the achievement of sustainable development. The full participation and partnership of both women and men is required in productive and reproductive life, including shared responsibilities for the core and nurturing of children and maintenance the household. In all parts of the world, women are facing threats to their lives, health and well-being as a result of being overburdened with work and of their lack of power and influence. In most regions of the world, women receive less formal education than men, and at the some time, women's knowledge, abilities and coping mechanisms often go unrecognized. The power relations that impede women's attainment of healthy and fulfilling lives operate at many levels of society, from the most personal to the highly public. Achieving change requires policy and programme actions that will improve women's access to secure livelihoods and economic resources, alleviate their extreme responsibilities with regard to housework, remove legal impediments to their participation in public life, and raise social awareness through effective programmes of education and mass communication. In addition, improving the status of women also enhances their decision-making capacity at all levels in all spheres of life, especially in the area of sexuality and reproduction. This, in turn, is essential for the long-term success of population programmes. Experience shows that population and development programmes are most effective when steps have simultaneously been taken to improve the status of women. Actions [Paragraph 4.4.] Countries should act to empower women and should take steps to eliminate inequalities between men and women as soon as possible by: (c) Eliminating all practices that discriminate against women; assisting women to establish and realize their rights, including those that relate to reproductive and sexual health. (d) Adopting appropriate measures to improve women's ability to earn income beyond traditional occupation, achieve economic self-reliance, and ensure women's equal access to the labour market and social security systems. (f) Eliminating discriminatory practices by employers against women, such as those based on proof of contraceptive use or pregnancy status. (g) Making it possible, through laws, regulations and other appropriate measures, for women to combine the roles of child-bearing, breast-feeding and child-rearing with participation in the workforce. [Paragraph 4.11.] The design of family health and other development interventions should take better account of the demands on women's time from the responsibilities of child¬rearing, household work and income-generating activities. Male responsibilities should be emphasized with respect to child-rearing and housework. Greater investments should be made in appropriate measures to lessen the daily burden of domestic responsibilities, the greatest share of which falls on women. Greater attention should be paid to the ways in which environmental degradation and changes in land use adversely affect the allocation of women's time. Women's domestic working environments should not adversely affect their health. [Paragraph 4.12.] Every effort should be made to encourage the expansion and strengthening of grass-roots, community-based and activist groups for women. Such groups should be the focus of national campaigns to foster women's awareness of the full range of their legal rights, including their rights within the family, and to help women organize to achieve those rights. [Paragraph 4.13.] Countries are strongly urged to enact laws and to implement programmes and policies which will enable employees of both sexes to organize their family and work responsibilities through flexible work-hours, parental leave, day-care facilities, maternity leave, policies that enable working mothers to breast-feed their children, health insurance and other such measures. Similar rights should be ensured to those working in the informal sector. B. The girl child Basis for action [Paragraph 4.15.] Since in all societies discrimination on the basis of sex often starts at the earliest stages of life, greater equality for the girl child is a necessary first step in ensuring that women realize their full potential and become equal partners in development. In a number of countries, the practice of prenatal sex selection, higher rates of mortality among very young girls, and lower rates of school enrolment for girls as compared with boys, suggest that "son preference" is curtailing the access of girl children to food, education and health core. This is often compounded by the increasing use of technologies to determine fetal sex, resulting in abortion of female fetuses. Investments made in the girl child's health, nutrition and education, from infancy through adolescence, are critical. Actions [Paragraph 4.17.] Overall, the value of girl children to both their family and society must be expanded beyond their definition as potential child-bearers and caretakers and reinforced through the adoption and implementation of educational and social policies that encourage their full participation in the development of the societies in which they live. Leaders at all levels of the society must speak out and act forcefully against patterns of gender discrimination within the family, based on preference for sons. One of the aims should be to eliminate excess mortality of girls, wherever such a pattern exists. Special education and public information efforts are needed to promote equal treatment of girls and boys with respect to nutrition, health core, education and social, economic and political activity, as well as equitable inheritance rights. [Paragraph 4.21.] Governments should strictly enforce laws to ensure that marriage is entered into only with the free and full consent of the intending spouses. In addition, Governments should strictly enforce laws concerning the minimum legal age of consent and the minimum age at marriage and should raise the minimum age at marriage where necessary. Governments and non-governmental organizations should generate social support for the enforcement of laws on the minimum legal age at marriage, in particular by providing educational and employment opportunities. C. Male responsibilities and participation Basis for action [Paragraph 4.24.] Changes in both men's and women's knowledge, attitudes and behavior are necessary conditions for achieving the harmonious partnership of men and women. Men play a key role in bringing about gender equality since, in most societies, men exercise preponderant power in nearly every sphere of life, ranging from personal decisions regarding the size of families to the policy and programme decisions taken at all levels of Government. It is essential to improve communication between men and women on issues of sexuality and reproductive health, and the understanding of their joint responsibilities, so that men and women are equal partners in public and private life. Objective [Paragraph 4.25.] The objective is to promote gender equality in all spheres of life, including family and community life, and to encourage and enable men to take responsibility for their sexual and reproductive behavior and their social and family roles. Actions [Paragraph 4.26.] The equal participation of women and men in all areas of family and household responsibilities, including family planning, child-rearing and housework, should be promoted and encouraged by Governments. This should be pursued by means of information, education, communication, employment legislation and by fostering an economically enabling environment, such as family leave for men and women so that they may have more choice regarding the balance of their domestic and public responsibilities. [Paragraph 4.27.] Special efforts should be made to emphasize men's shared responsibility and promote their active involvement in responsible parenthood, sexual and reproductive behavior, including family planning; prenatal, maternal and child health; prevention of sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV; prevention of unwanted and high-risk pregnancies; shared control and contribution to family income, children's education, health and nutrition; and recognition and promotion of the equal value of children of both sexes. Male responsibilities in family life must be included in the education of children from the earliest ages. Special emphasis should be placed on the prevention of violence against women and children. [Paragraph 4.28.] Governments should take steps to ensure that children receive appropriate financial support from their parents by, among other measures, enforcing child's support laws. Governments should consider changes in law and policy to ensure men's responsibility to and financial support for their children and families. Such laws and policies should also encourage maintenance or reconstitution of the family unit. The safety of women in abusive relationships should be protected. [Paragraph 4.29.] National and community leaders should promote the full involvement of men in family life and the full integration of women in community life. Parents and schools should ensure that attitudes that are respectful of women and girls as equals are instilled in boys from the earliest possible age, along with an understanding of their shared responsibilities in all aspects of a safe, secure and harmonious family life. Relevant programmes to reach boys before they become sexually active are urgently needed. V. The family, its roles, rights, composition and structure A. Diversity of family structure and composition Basis for action [Paragraph 5.1.] While various forms of the family exist in different social, cultural, legal and political systems, the family is the basic unit of society and as such is entitled to receive comprehensive protection and support. The process of rapid demographic and socio¬economic change throughout the world has influenced patterns of family formation and family life, generating considerable change in family composition and structure. Traditional notions of gender-based division of parental and domestic functions and participation in the paid labour force do not reflect current realities and aspirations, as more and more women in all parts of the world take up paid employment outside the home. At the some time, widespread migration, forced shifts of population caused by violent conflicts and wars, urbanization, poverty, natural disasters and other causes of displacement have placed greater strains on the family, since assistance from extended family support networks is often no longer available. Parents are often more dependent on assistance from third parties than they used to be in order to reconcile work and family responsibilities. This is particularly the case when policies and programmes that affect the family ignore the existing diversity of family forms, or are insufficiently sensitive to the needs and rights of women and children. Objectives [Paragraph 5.2.] (a) To develop policies and laws that better support the family, contribute to its stability and take into account its plurality of forms, particularly the growing number of single-parent households. (b) To establish social security measures that address the social, cultural and economic factors behind the increasing costs of child-rearing. (c) To promote equality of opportunity for family members, especially the rights of women and children in the family. Actions [Paragraph 5.3.] Governments, in cooperation with employers, should provide and promote means to facilitate compatibility between labour force participation and parental responsibilities, especially for single-parent households with young children. Such means could include health insurance and social security, day-care centres and facilities for breast¬feeding mothers within the work premises, kindergartens, part-time jobs, paid parental leave, paid maternity leave, flexible work schedules, and reproductive and child health services. [Paragraph 5.4.] When formulating socio-economic development policies, special consideration should be given to increasing the earning power of all adult members of economically deprived families, including the elderly and women who work in the home, and to enabling children to be educated rather than compelled to work. Particular attention should be paid to needy single parents, especially those who are responsible wholly or in part for the support of children and other dependants, through ensuring payment of at least minimum wages and allowances, credit, education, funding for women 's self-help groups and stronger legal enforcement of mate parental financial responsibilities. [Paragraph 5.5.] Governments should take effective action to eliminate all forms of coercion and discrimination in policies and practices. Measures should be adopted and enforced to eliminate child marriages and female genital mutilation. Assistance should be provided to persons with disabilities in the exercise of their family and reproductive rights and responsibilities. [Paragraph 5.6.] Governments should maintain and further develop mechanisms to document changes and undertake studies on family composition and structure, especially on the prevalence of one-person households, and single-parent and multigenerational families. B. Socio-economic support to the family Basis for action [Paragraph 5.7.] Families are sensitive to strains induced by social and economic changes. It is essential to grant particular assistance to families in difficult life situations. Conditions have worsened for many families in recent years, owing to lack of gainful employment and measures taken by Governments seeking to balance their budget by reducing social expenditures. There are increasing numbers of families, including single-parent families headed by women, poor families with elderly members or those with disabilities, refugee and displaced families, and families with members affected by AIDS or other terminal diseases, substance dependence, child abuse and domestic violence. Increased labour migrations and refugee movements are an additional source of family tension and disintegration and are contributing to increased responsibilities for women. In many urban environments, millions of children and youths are left to their own devices as family ties break down, and hence are increasingly exposed to risks such as dropping out of school, labour exploitation, sexual exploitation, unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases. Objective [Paragraph 5.8.] The objective is to ensure that all social and economic development policies are fully responsive to the diverse and changing needs and to the rights of families and their individual members, and provide necessary support and protection, particularly to the most vulnerable families and the most vulnerable family members. Actions [Paragraph
5.9.] Governments should formulate family-sensitive policies in the field
of [Paragraph 5.10.] All levels of Government, non-governmental organizations and concerned community organizations should develop innovative ways to provide more effective assistance to families and the individuals within them who may be affected by specific problems, such as extreme poverty, chronic unemployment, illness, domestic and sexual violence, dowry payments, drug or alcohol dependence, incest, and child abuse, neglect or abandonment. [Paragraph 5.11.] Governments should support and develop the appropriate mechanisms to assist families caring for children, the dependent elderly and family members with disabilities, including those resulting from HIV/AIDS, encourage the sharing of those responsibilities by men and women, and support the viability of multigenerational families. [Paragraph 5.12.] Governments and the international community should give greater attention to, and manifest greater solidarity with, poor families and families that have been victimized by war, drought, famine, natural disasters and racial and ethnic discrimination or violence. Every effort should be made to keep their members together, to reunite them in case of separation and to ensure access to government programmes designed to support and assist those vulnerable families. [Paragraph 5.13.] Governments should assist single-parent families, and pay special attention to the needs of widows and orphans. All efforts should be made to assist the building of family-like ties in especially difficult circumstances, for example, those involving street children. VI. Population growth and structure B. Children and youth Basis for action [Paragraph 6.6.] Owing to declining mortality levels and the persistence of high fertility levels, a large number of developing countries continue to have very large proportions of children and young people in their populations. For the less developed regions as a whole; 36 per cent of the population is under age 15, and even with projected fertility declines, that proportion will still be about 30 per cent by the year 2015. In Africa, the proportion of the population under age 15 is 45 per cent, a figure that is projected to decline only slightly, to 40 per cent, in the year 2015. Poverty has a devastating impact on children's health and welfare. Children in poverty are at high risk for malnutrition and disease and for falling prey to labour exploitation, trafficking, neglect, sexual abuse and drug addiction. The ongoing and future demands created by large young populations, particularly in terms of health, education and employment, represent major challenges and responsibilities for families, local communities, countries and the international community. First and foremost among these responsibilities is to ensure that every child is a wanted child. The second responsibility is to recognize that children are the most important resource for the future and that greater investments in them by parents and societies are essential to the achievement of sustained economic growth and development. Objectives [Paragraph 6.7.] (b) To meet the special needs of adolescents and youth, especially young women, with due regard for their own creative capabilities, for social, family and community support, employment opportunities , participation in the political process, and access to education, health, counseling and high-quality reproductive health services. (c) To encourage children, adolescents and youth, particularly young women, to continue their education in order to equip them for a better life, to increase their human potential, to help prevent early marriages and high-risk child-bearing and to reduce associated mortality and morbidity. C. Elderly people Objectives [Paragraph 6.17.] (c) To develop a social support system, both formal and informal, with a view to enhancing the ability of families to late care of elderly people within the family. Actions [Paragraph 6.18.] All levels of government in medium- and long-term socio-economic planning should take into account the increasing numbers and proportions of elderly people in the population. Governments should develop social security systems that ensure greater intergenerational and intergenerational equity and solidarity and that provide support to elderly people through the encouragement of multigenerational families, and the provision of long-term support and services for growing numbers of frail older people. [Paragraph 6.19.] Governments should seek to enhance the self-reliance of elderly people to facilitate their continued participation in society. In consultation with elderly people, Governments should ensure that the necessary conditions are developed to enable elderly people to lead self-determined, healthy and productive lives and to mate full use of the skills and abilities they have acquired in their lives for the benefit of society. The valuable contribution that elderly people mate to families and society, especially as volunteers and caregivers, should be given due recognition and encouragement. D. Indigenous people Basis for action [Paragraph 6.21.] Indigenous people have a distinct and important perspective on population and development relationships, frequently quite different from those of the populations with which they interrelate within national boundaries. In some regions of the world, indigenous people, after long periods of population loss, are experiencing steady and in some places rapid population growth resulting from declining mortality, although morbidity and mortality are generally still much higher than for other sections of the national population. In other regions, however, they are still experienced a steady population decline as a result of contact with external diseases, loss of land and resources, ecological destruction, displacement, resettlement and disruption of their families, communities and social systems.
A. Reproductive rights and reproductive health Basis for action [Paragraph 7.2.] Reproductive health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity, in all matters relating to the reproductive system and to its functions and processes. Reproductive health therefore implies that people are able to have a satisfying and safe sex life and that they have the capability to reproduce and the freedom to decide if, when and how often to do so. Implicit in this last condition are the right of men and women to be informed and to have access to safe, effective, affordable and acceptable methods of family planning of their choice, as well as other methods of their choice for regulation of fertility which are not against the law, and the right of access to appropriate health-care services that will enable women to go safely through pregnancy and childbirth and provide couples with the best chance of having a healthy infant. In line with the above definition of reproductive health, reproductive health care is defined as the constellation of methods, techniques and services that contribute to reproductive health and well-being preventing and solving reproductive health problems. It also includes sexual health, the purpose of which is the enhancement of life and personal relations, and not merely counseling and care related to reproduction and sexually transmitted diseases. Objectives [Paragraph 7.5.] (a) To ensure that comprehensive and factual information and a full range of reproductive health-care services, including family planning, are accessible, affordable, acceptable and convenient to all users. (b) To enable and support responsible voluntary decisions about child-bearing and methods of family planning of their choice, as well as other methods of their choice for regulation of fertility which are not against the law and to have the information, education and means to do so. B. Family planning Basis for action [Paragraph 7.12.] The aim of family-planning programmes must be to enable couples and individuals to decide freely and responsibly the number and spacing of their children and to have the information and means to do so and to ensure informed choices and make available a full range of safe and effective methods. The success of population education and family¬ planning programmes in a variety of settings demonstrates that informed individuals everywhere can and will act responsibly in the light of their own needs and those of their families and communities. The principle of informed free choice is essential to the long-term success of family-planning programmes. Any form of coercion has no part to play. In every society there are many social and economic incentives and disincentives that affect individual decisions about child-bearing and family size. .... Objectives [Paragraph 7.14.] (a) To help couples and individuals meet their reproductive goals in a framework that promotes optimum health, responsibility and family well-being, and respects the dignity of all persons and their right to choose the number spacing and timing of the birth of their children. (e) To increase the participation and sharing of responsibility of men in the actual practice of family planning. Actions [Paragraph 7.18.] Non-governmental organizations should play an active role in mobilizing community and family support, in increasing access and acceptability of reproductive health services including family planning, and cooperate with Governments in the process of preparation and provision of care, based on informed choice, and in helping to monitor public- and private-sector programmes, including their own. [Paragraph 7.20.] Specifically, Governments should make it easier for couples and individuals to take responsibility for their own reproductive health by removing unnecessary legal, medical, clinical and regulatory barriers to information and to access to family¬ planning services and methods. D. Human sexuality and gender relations Basis for action [Paragraph 7.34.] Human sexuality and gender relations are closely interrelated and together affect the ability of men and women to achieve and maintain sexual health and manage their reproductive lives. Equal relationships between men and women in matters of sexual relations and reproduction, including full respect for the physical integrity the human body, require mutual respect and willingness to accept responsibility for the consequences of sexual behavior. Responsible sexual behavior, sensitivity and equity in gender relations, particularly when instilled during the formative years, enhance and promote respectful and harmonious partnerships between men and women. [Paragraph 7.35.] Violence against women, particularly domestic violence and rape, is widespread, and rising numbers of women are at risk from AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases as a result of high-risk sexual behavior on the part of their partners. In a number of countries, harmful practices meant to control women's sexuality have led to great suffering. Among them is the practice of female genital mutilation, which is a violation of basic rights and a major lifelong to women's health. Objectives [Paragraph 7.36.] (a) To promote adequate development of responsible sexuality, permitting relations of equity and mutual respect between the genders and contributing to improving the quality of life of individuals. (b) To ensure that women and men have access to the information, education and services needed to achieve good sexual health and exercise their reproductive rights and responsibilities. Actions [Paragraph 7.37.] Support should be given to integral sexual education and services for young people, with the support and guidance of their parents and in line with the Convention on the Rights of the Child, that stress responsibility of males for their own sexual health and fertility and that help them exercise those responsibilities. Educational efforts should begin within the family unit, in the community and in the schools at an appropriate age, but must also reach adults, in particular men, through non-formal education and a variety of community-based efforts. E. Adolescents Basis for action [Paragraph 7.41.] The reproductive health needs of adolescents as a group have been largely ignored to date by existing reproductive health services. The response of societies to the reproductive health needs of adolescents should be based on information that helps them attain a level of maturity required to make responsible decisions. In particular, information and services should be made available to adolescents to help them understand their sexuality and protect them from unwanted pregnancies, sexually transmitted diseases and subsequent risk of infertility. This should be combined with the education of young men to respect women's self-determination and to share responsibility with women in matters of sexuality and reproduction. This effort is uniquely important for the health of young women and their children, for women's self-determination and, in many countries, for efforts to slow the momentum of population growth. Motherhood at a very young age entails a risk of maternal death that is much greater than average, and the children of young mothers have higher levels of morbidity and mortality. Early child-bearing continues to be an impediment to improvements in the educational, economic and social status of women in all parts of the world. Overall for young women, early marriage and early motherhood can severely curtail educational and employment opportunities and are likely to have a long-term, adverse impact on their and their children's quality of life. Actions [Paragraph 7.45.] Recognizing the rights, duties and responsibilities of parents and other persons legally responsible for adolescents to provide , in a manner consistent with the evolving capacities of the adolescent, appropriate direction and guidance in sexual and reproductive matters, countries must ensure that the programmes and altitudes of health-care providers do not restrict the access of adolescents to appropriate services and the information they need, including on sexually transmitted diseases and sexual abuse. In doing so, and in order to, inter alia, address sexual abuse, these services must safeguard the rights of adolescents to privacy, confidentiality, respect and informed consent, respecting cultural values and religious beliefs. In this context, countries should, where appropriate, remove legal, regulatory and social barriers to reproductive health information and core for adolescents. [Paragraph 7.48.] Programmes should involve and train all who are in a position to provide guidance to adolescents concerning responsible sexual and reproductive behavior, particularly parents and families, and also communities, religious institutions, schools, the mass media and peer groups. Governments and non-governmental organizations should promote programmes directed to the education of parents, with the objective of improving the interaction of parents and children to enable parents to comply better with their educational duties to support the process of maturation of their children, particularly in the areas of sexual behavior and reproductive health. VIII. Health, morbidity and mortality A. Primary health core and the health-care sector Actions [Paragraph 8.6.] The role of women as primary custodians of family health should be recognized and supported. Access to basic health core, expanded health education, the availability of simple cost-effective remedies, and the reappraisal of primary health-care services, including reproductive health-care services to facilitate the proper use of women's time, should be provided. B. Child survival and health Actions [Paragraph 8.17.] All Governments should assess the underlying causes of high child mortality and should, within the framework of primary health core, extend integrated reproductive health-care and child-health services, including safe motherhood, child-survival programmes and family-planning services, to all the population and particularly to the most vulnerable and underserved groups. Such services should include prenatal core and counseling, with special emphasis on high-risk pregnancies and the prevention of sexually transmitted diseases and HIV infection; adequate delivery assistance; and neonatal core, including exclusive breast-feeding, information on optimal breast-feeding and on proper weaning practices, and the provision of micronutrient supplementation and tetanus toxoid, where appropriate. Interventions to reduce the incidence of low birth weight and other nutritional deficiencies, such as anemia, should include the promotion of maternal nutrition through information, education and counseling and the promotion of longer intervals between births. All countries should give priority to efforts to reduce the major childhood diseases, particularly infectious and parasitic diseases, and to prevent malnutrition among children, especially the girl child, through measures aimed at eradicating poverty and ensuring that all children live in a sanitary environment and by disseminating information on hygiene and nutrition. It is also important to provide parents with information and education about child core, including the use of mental and physical stimulation. C. Women's health and safe motherhood Basis of action [Paragraph 8.19.] Complications related to pregnancy and childbirth are among the leading causes of mortality for women of reproductive age in many parts of the developing world. Maternal deaths have very serious consequences within the family, given the crucial role of the mother for her children's health and welfare. The death of the mother increases the risk to the survival of her young children, especially if the family is not able to provide a substitute for the maternal role. Greater attention to the reproductive health needs of female adolescents and young women could prevent the major share of maternal morbidity and mortality through prevention of unwanted pregnancies and any subsequent poorly managed abortion. Safe motherhood has been accepted in many countries as a strategy to reduce maternal morbidity and mortality. [Paragraph 8.22.] All countries, with the support of all sections of the international community, must expand the provision of maternal health services in the context of primary health core. .... [Paragraph 8.24.] All countries should design and implement special programmes to address the nutritional needs of women of child-bearing age, especially those who are pregnant or breast-feeding. .... [Paragraph 8.27.] All countries, as a matter of some urgency, need to seek changes in high-risk sexual behavior and devise strategies to ensure that men share responsibility for sexual and reproductive health, including family planning, and for preventing and controlling sexually transmitted diseases, HIV infection and A/DS. D. Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) Objectives [Paragraph 8.29.] (b) To ensure that HIV-infected individual shave adequate medical core and are not discriminated against; to provide counseling and other support for people infected with HIV and to alleviate the suffering of people living with AIDS and that of their family members, especially orphans; to ensure that the individual rights and the confidentiality of persons infected with HIV are respected; to ensure that sexual and reproductive health programmes address HIV infection and AIDS; [Paragraph 8.32.] Governments should mobilize all segments of society to control the A/DS pandemic, including non-governmental organizations, community organizations, religious leaders, the private sector, the media, schools and health facilities. Mobilization at the family and community levels should be given priority. Communities need to develop strategies that respond to local perceptions of the priority accorded to health issues associated with the spread of HIV and sexually transmitted diseases. [Paragraph 8.34.] Governments should develop policies and guidelines to protect the individual rights of and eliminate discrimination against persons infected with HIV and their families. Services to detect HIV infection should be strengthened, making sure that they ensure confidentiality. Special programmes should be devised to provide core and the necessary emotional support to men and women affected by AIDS and to counsel their families and near relations. IX. Population distribution, urbanization and infernal migration A. Population distribution and sustainable development Actions [Paragraph 9.6.] Governments wishing to create alternatives to out-migration from rural areas should establish the preconditions for development in rural areas, actively support access to ownership or use of land and access to water resources, especially for family units, mate and encourage investments to enhance rural productivity, improve rural infrastructure and social services and facilitate the establishment of credit, production and marketing cooperatives and other grass-roots organizations that give people greater control over resources and improve their livelihoods. Particular attention is needed to ensure that these opportunities are also made available to migrants' families remaining in the areas of origin. X. International Migration B. Documented migrants Basis for action [Paragraph 10.9.] Documented migrants are those who satisfy all the legal requirements to enter, sray and, if applicable, hold employment in the country of destination. In some countries, many documented migrants have, over time, acquired the right to long-term residence. In such cases, the integration of documented migrants into the host society is generally desirable, and for that purpose it is important to extend to them the some social, economic and legal rights as those enjoyed by citizens, in accordance with national legislation. The family reunification of documented migrants is an important factor in international migration. It is also important to protect documented migrants and their families from racism, ethnocentrism and xenophobia, and to respect their physical integrity, dignity, religious beliefs and cultural values. .... Objectives [Paragraph 10.10.] (d) To promote the welfare of documented migrants and members of their families; Actions [Paragraph
10.11.] Governments
of receiving countries are urged to consider extending to documented migrants
who meet appropriate length-of-stay requirements, and to members of their
families whose stay in the receiving country is regular, treatment equal
to that accorded their own nationals with regard to the enjoyment of basic
human rights, including equality of opportunity and treatment in respect
of religious practices, working conditions, social security, participation
in trade unions, access to health, education, cultural and other social
services, as well as equal access to the judicial system and equal treatment
before the law. [Paragraph 10.12.] Consistent with article 10 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and all other relevant universally recognized human rights instruments, all Governments, particularly those of receiving countries, must recognize the vital importance of family reunification and promote its integration into their national legislation in order to ensure the protection of the unity of the families of documented migrants. Governments of receiving countries must ensure the protection of migrants and their families, giving priority to programmes and strategies that combat religious intolerance, racism, ethnocentrism, xenophobia and gender discrimination and that generate the necessary public sensitivity in that regard. [Paragraph 10.13.] Governments are urged to promote, through family reunion, the normalization of the family life of legal migrants who have the right to long-term residence. XI. Population, development and education A. Education, population and sustainable development Basis for action [Paragraph 11.3.] The relationship between education and demographic and social changes is one of interdependence. There is a dose and complex relationship among education, marriage age, fertility, mortality, mobility and activity. The increase in the education of women and girls contributes to greater empowerment of women, to a postponement of the age of marriage and to a reduction in the size of families. When mothers are better educated, their children's survival rate tends to increase. Broader access to education is also a factor in infernal migration and the composition of the working population. B. Population information, education and communication Basis for action [Paragraph 11.11] At the most basic level, more adequate and appropriate information is conducive to informed, responsible decision-making concerning health, sexual and reproductive behavior, family life, and patterns of production and consumption. .... [Paragraph
11.13.] Schools and religious institutions, taking into account
their values Objectives [Paragraph 11.15.] (a) To increase awareness, knowledge, understanding and commitment at all levels of society so that families, couples, individuals, opinion and community leaders, non-governmental organizations, policy makers, Governments and the international community appreciate the significance and relevance of population-related issues, and take the responsible actions necessary to address such issues within sustained economic growth in the context of sustainable development; (b) To encourage altitudes in favor of responsible behavior in population and development, especially in such areas such environment, family, sexuality, reproduction, gender and racial sensitivity; Actions [Paragraph 11.16.] Information, education and communication efforts should raise awareness through public education campaigns on such priority issues as: safe motherhood, reproductive health and rights, maternal and child health and family planning, discrimination against and valorization of the girl child and persons with disabilities; child abuse; violence against women; mole responsibility; gender equality; sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV/AIDS; responsible sexual behavior; teenage pregnancy; racism and xenophobia; ageing populations; and unsustainable consumption and production patterns. .... [Paragraph 11.24.] Age-appropriate education, especially for adolescents, about the issues considered in the present Programme of Action should begin in the home and community and continue through all levels and channels of formal and non-formal education, taking into account the rights and responsibilities of parents and the needs of adolescents. Where such education already exists, curricula and educational materials should be reviewed, updated and broadened with a view to ensuring adequate coverage of important population-related issues and to counteract myths and misconceptions about them. Where no such education exists, appropriate curricula and materials should be developed. To ensure acceptance, effectiveness and usefulness by the community, education projects should be based on the findings of socio-cultural studies and should involve the active participation of parents and families, women, youth, the elderly and community leaders. XII. Technology, research and development A. Basic data collection, analysis and dissemination Actions [Paragraph 12.5.] Comprehensive and reliable qualitative as well as quantitative databases, allowing linkages between population, education, health, poverty, family well-being, environment and development issues and providing information disaggregated at appropriate and desired levels, should be established and maintained by all countries to meet the needs of research as well as those of policy and programme development, implementation, monitoring and evaluation. .... [Paragraph 12.7.] All data collection and analysis activities should give due consideration to gender-desegregation, enhancing knowledge on the position and role of gender in social and demographic processes. In particular, in order to provide a more accurate picture of women's current and potential contribution to economic development, data collection should delineate more precisely the nature of women's social and labour force status and make that .a basis for policy and programme decisions on improving women’s income. Such data should address, inter alia, women's unpaid economic activities in the family and in the informal sector. B. Reproductive health research Actions [Paragraph 12.13.] Research on sexuality and gender roles and relationships in different cultural settings is urgently needed, with emphasis on such areas as abuse, discrimination and violence against women; genital mutilation, where practiced; sexual behavior and mores; male attitudes towards sexuality and procreation, fertility, family and gender roles; risk-tasking behavior regarding sexually transmitted diseases and unplanned pregnancies,. women's and men's perceived needs for methods for regulation of fertility and sexual health services; and reasons for non-use or ineffective use of existing services and technologies. [Paragraph 12.14.] High priority should also be given to the development of new methods for regulation of fertility for men. Special research should be undertaken on factors inhibiting male participation in order to enhance male involvement and responsibility in family planning. .... [Paragraph 12.20.] (a) To promote socio-cultural and economic research that assists in the design of programmes, activities and services to improve the quality of life and meet the needs of individuals, families and communities, in particular all underserved groups; (b) To promote the use of research findings to improve the formulation of policies and the implementation, monitoring and evaluation of programmes and projects that improve the welfare of individuals and families and the needy to enhance their quality, efficiency and client-sensitivity, and to increase the national and international capacity for such research; Actions [Paragraph 12.24.] Governments, intergovernmental organizations, non-governmental organizations concerned, funding agencies and research organizations are urged to give priority to research on the linkages between women's roles and status and demographic and development processes. Among the vital areas for research are changing family structures; family well-being; the interactions between women's and men's diverse roles, including their use of time, access to power and decision-making and control over resources; associated norms, laws, values and beliefs; and the economic and demographic outcomes of gender inequality. Women should be involved at all stages of gender research planning, and efforts should be made to recruit and train more female researches. XIII. National Action B. The private sector objectives [Paragraph 15.20.] Private-sector employers should continue to devise and implement special programmes that help meet their employees' needs for information, education and reproductive health services, and accommodate their employees' needs to combine work and family responsibilities. Organized health-care providers and health insurers should also continue to include family planning and reproductive health services in the package of health benefits they provide.
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