The World Programme of Action: a new paradigm for population policy. The Cairo Conference
Sen, G.
Environment 37(1): 10-5 34-7
1995
ISSN/ISBN: 0013-9157 PMID: 12290142 DOI: 10.1080/00139157.1995.9929209Document Number: 526703
An article adapted from the forthcoming book Global Development Fifty Years After Bretton Woods, edited by Roy Culpeper, Al Berry, and Frances Stewart. The World Programme of Action adopted last September at the International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo reflects a new paradigm in population policy. Instead of focusing on controlling numbers, it emphasizes the need for broadly defined reproductive health services and acknowledges women's reproductive rights and their need for empowerment. During the preparatory committee meetings before the conference, women's groups from industrialized and developing countries lobbied hard to bring their concerns to the attention of policymakers. The Holy See and Islamic fundamentalists sought to block much of the language relating to reproductive rights and health, but much of it survived in modified form.