Our experiences of the Cairo conference. A youngster's report on ICPD
Ellayadi, R.; Klompmaker, T.
Planned Parenthood Challenges 1995(1): 5-7
1995
PMID: 12319371 Document Number: 287476
The Dutch Minister of Development Cooperation, Jan Pronk, recruited the authors from their respective schools to join the official Dutch delegation to the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD). Klompmaker is a 16-year-old male from The Hague and Ellayadi is a 17-year old Muslim female of Moroccan origin from Rotterdam. Both youths argue that sex education and the distribution of contraceptives can go far to combat teenage pregnancy and abortion. Ellayadi, however, believes that abortion should be allowed only if a pregnant woman's life is in danger, while Klompmaker finds abortion to be acceptable after contraceptive failure, to protect a woman's life, against rape-induced pregnancy, and in other cases where partners cannot be held responsible. Klompmaker stresses that abortion under this broad set of circumstances should be legal, performed by a trained physician, and paid for by the national health service. Illegal, unsafe abortion must be prevented at any price. With regard to the ICPD, the students stressed the importance of youth involvement, and were dismayed to have youth participants from only Holland and Australia. Scheduling constraints prevented Klompmaker and Ellayadi from addressing audiences in the Main Committee and Plenary meeting halls, but they did manage to write a letter to all of the delegations asking them to defend the rights of children and youths, to involve young people in preparing future conferences, and to allow young people to participate in them. They describe their difficulties in getting some delegations to accept their nonofficial correspondence. They did, however, read their letter to delegations at the NGO forum to the receipt of warm applause. The authors were pleased that Minister Pronk in his address stressed the need for education, and sex education in particular. They were also pleased with the press coverage of their involvement in the ICPD and the ability to submit a contribution to Terra Nova, one of the two conference newspapers, on the final day of the conference. Nafis Sadik, head of the UN Population Fund and Secretary-General of the ICPD, granted the authors a press conference scheduled on the final day of the ICPD. Sadik endorsed the involvement of young people, but noted her inability to force delegations to do so. She did, however, promise to create a budget to help youths in poor countries start dialogues with their governments. Klompmaker and Ellayadi will try to convince delegations to send young people to the 1995 World Conference on Women in Beijing, maybe by sending a letter to foreign embassies in the Netherlands. Back in Holland, they were invited to the final meeting of the national delegation with Minister Pronk, and wrote pieces for their school newspapers.