strategy

Establishing official support for population control

Description:

Provision by government or religious structures of resources, programmes, doctrines, moral affirmation, etc, for efforts to limit family size.

Context:

Family planning programmes fit closely into the larger cultural, political and economic life of a society. Most concern and effort to limit population occurs in societies in which religious and governmental forces exceed the strength of any other sector. Even in countries where this is not the case, there are periods when religious leaders have more influence, as occurred in the USA during the Reagan administration.

Implementation:

Strengthen collaboration among parliamentarians through the exchange of knowledge on population and development issues. Sponsor such activities as: hemispheric conferences of parliamentarians. Regional and sub-regional activities to inform the public about population and development issues.

At the UN Population Conference (Cairo, 1994) 150 nations signed the 113 page final document to curb world population growth. This endorsed a 20 year far-reaching programme to stabilize population growth into the next century. With its emphasis on women's rights, the Cairo Conference was a notable departure from previous UN meetings on the subject (in 1974 and 1984) which focused on demographic projections and contraceptive techniques. There was a marked shift in emphasis away from the mechanistic focus on sheer numbers and the simple provision of family planning services towards a 'holistic' developmental attack on population problems which places enhanced women's rights at its core. Key innovations of the Cairo Conference Programme of Action were: (a) the integration of population programmes into sustainable development strategies; (b) proposals for the empowerment of women, defined as being essential for sustainable development; and (c) abandonment of an isolated emphasis of 'family planning' in favour of the concept of reproductive health, [ie] 'complete physical, mental and social well being... in all matter relating to the reproductive system and to its functions and processes'. The cost of the programme must rise from the present US$5,000 million to $17,000 million by the year 2000, rising to $21,700 million in 2015. Some two- thirds of the total must be provided by the developing countries themselves. The donor countries at the conference -- the USA, UK and Japan -- pledged more money to such programmes. The Policy Statement is not binding, nor does it set any targets for the population of individual countries or for the world.

Claim:

In no instance has family planning been effective when opposed by either the forces of religion or government. As opposed to public indifference, active support by these sectors may make the difference between the success and failure of population control efforts.

Counter Claim:

1. Supporting population control is often construed by fellow citizens and religious adherents as a betrayal of their beliefs. 2. Population control is indeed a long-term goal, which calls for a huge, long-range commitment of support.

Broader:

Reducing population growth
Establishing official support

Narrower:

Securing religious support for population control

Constrains:

Opposing population control

Facilitates:

Empowering women
Funding population programmes
Encouraging family planning schemes

Facilitated by:

Assessing earth's carrying capacity
Increasing awareness of population control
Undermining government opposition to population control
Fostering linkages between family planning and social welfare

Problems:

Government opposition to population control
Government support of population growth
Religious opposition to birth control