Global Committee of ParliamentariansOn Pop lation and Development

An informal newsletter for parliamentariansinterested in population and development

Th e first issu e of Global Com m it tee Update has been designed to providegeneral information to parliamentarians on th e parliamentary movement onpopulation and development and, th e Global Committee.Forthcoming issu es of th e newsletter will provide parliamentarians th eopportunity to pres ent th eir own anecdotes on th e expe r iences which th ey havehad in th eir pursuit of population and dev elopment issues in th eir own countries.

Fall 1983 304 East 45th St. , New York, N.Y. 10017 Vol. 1, No. I

A message from The Honourable Takeo Fukuda ­Chairman, GCPPD

Despite mankind' s e te rnal wish forpeace and prosperity, conflic ts con­tinue endlessly in th e world, Deep

beneath th e conflicts , whatever th eirimmediat e cau ses, li es always th eissue of population and dev elopment. -

To atte mpt to solve the presentworld problems, ea st-west or north­south, without proper settlem ent ofthis ultimate issue, therefore, would b eas fu tile as scanning th e sou thern skyin search of th e polaris.

We consider th e ave nue toward thesettlem ent of population and dev elop­ment issu es to b e th e dev elopment ofpolici es to th at end , dep arting frompast practi ces, through mobilizing th econcern an d und erstanding ofparlia me n tar ians of nations whose

power derive from th e very peoplethey represent. Thus the GlobalCommittee has crea ted as a liai sonbody for sev er al r egional par li am en­tary gr oups on population anddev elopment in 1982 , wh en th e num­ber of such groups reached abou t 40 asa r esult of strenuous organizing effor tsin several p arts of th e world.

We apprecia te the decisive rol e th ecom mittee will pl ay in bringing aboutpeace and prosperity in th e futur eworld, and hope to continue our taskwith for esight in close coop erationwi th all our concerne d fr iends andcolle agues .

A message from Congressman James H. Scheuer ­Chairman, Executive Committee, GCPPD

The pa rliamenta ry movement onpopulation and dev el opment has mad eenormous str ides duri ng th e past fewyear s. Our own Global Committee hasenlis ted ma ny new fri ends an dsuppo r te rs from every region of theworld and th e momentum we h avedev el op ed is beginning to pay divi ­dends a t national, r egional andinternati on al level s.

In thi s new sl etter , and oth ers tofollow, we hop e to contribute to theindividual effec tive ness and collec tiveendeavors of all parliamentarian sconcerne d with th ese vit al issu es.

As Chairma n · of th e Execu tiveCom mittee , I look forward to workingwi th you shoulder to sho ulde r toens ure th at th e concerns which havebrought us together becom e part ofevery nation' s age nda. I urge youitowrite or call me and our Exec u tiveDirector, Akio Matsumura, to shareany expe rie nces or ac tivit ie s in which

you are inv olv ed. We ca n all pro fitfro m these vignettes - we mu st sh ar ethe s tra tegies th at h av e work ed and before wa rned of th e tacti cs th a t h av e notwork ed.

As parli am entari an s who recognizethe global natur e of th e popula tion anddevel opment issu es, we must exte ndour in flu ence beyond th e stricturesimpose d on us individually asparliamentarian s of a particular na­tion. We can be th e bridge th attr an scends poli tics; two gove rnme ntsm ay not be speaking to ea ch otherformally, but th eir parliam entariansass ocia ted with th e Global Committeecan be speaking and working together.

Ano ther area in which we asparliam entarian s can exe r t influenceis wi th international organizationssuch as UNIDO, UNEP, FAO, WHO,and UN ESCO and with importantfin ancial in stitutions such as the WorldBank, IMF, and th e Asian, African, and

Latin Am erican dev elopment b anks.These o.rganizations should be en­courage d by us to pu rsu e broad er andmore inten siv e policies rel ating topopula tion aff airs.

If you, or any of your coll eagues,h av e es ta blishe d good workingrel a tionships wi th any of th eseorganiza tions, pl ease be in tou ch us sothat we may pursue a str at egy foreffe cting ch an ge within thes e organiza­tions.

Our newsletter, and the confer enceswe will be sponsoring, will reflect th eactivities, initia tives and su ccess es ofour p eers . I look forward to vigorouseffor ts by you and all our fri ends tom ak e th es e proj ect s a n d ou rpar liamentary mov em ent on popula­tion and dev elopment a success . Thefutur e of our global communitydep ends on it.

With eve ry warm best wish,

~-

A note fromAkio MastsumuraExecutive Director

PARLIAMENTARY NEWSInternational and Regional Parliamentary Activities

Th e Global Committee of Parliamen­tarians on Population and Dev elop­ment (GCPPD) was establi she d in 1982in order to encourage parliamentariansto work together tow ards appropr ia tepopula tion polices and, in th e process,pursu e th e spiri t of internationalh armony. This is th e first action­oriented, non-political organization tobe found ed with th es e spe cific obj ec­tiv es. The Committee is compose d ofpar liamentarians , form er heads ofgove rnme n t and top exper ts fromdifferent se ctors . The role of th epar liamentarians at this lev el isparticular ly important b ecause it isth ey who r.epr es ent th e p eople and arese ns itive to th eir needs. Th eir respon­sib ili ty is to guide their governments tofollow appr opr ia te policies whichwould benefi t th eir constituen ts. Th eyprovide th e crucial link betweengove rnme n t and th e people and ar eth er efore in a po sition to positivelyaffec t gove rnme n t policy. Thes e menand women who are now workingwithin thi s mov em ent are concernedwi th global per sp ectives as well astheir own national inter ests, and ar einvolved in th e ame lior a tion of long­range problem s which would affectfu tur e gene rations ; th ese legislators Ith er efor e c all, " 21st c enturyparliam entarians. " It is through th epolitical will demonstrat ed by th esepar liam entarians th a t policies arech anged and cr ea ted and it is throughthis movement tha t w e seek to provideparliam entarians with th e nec essarysupport for such activities.

Th e role of th e Glob al Committee isthus: to furth er th e educa tion ofpar liam entarians on population anddev elopment issu es, encourage th eform ation of national parliamentaryass ocia tions, and coordinat e th e ac­tivi ties of th e regional parliamentarygroups. In this endeavor , we havelinked our effor ts with internationalprogr amme-implementing bodies and atask for ce comprised of United NationsFund for Population Activi ties , UnitedNations Dev elopment Progr amme, Un­i ted Nations Children 's Fund, In ter­national Planned Par enthood Feder a­tion, the Population Council and th eInternational Federation of Institutesfor Advanced Study (IFIAS) . Th e taskforc e provides technical support to th eCommittee for m eetings and proj ects,as n eed ed.

We h av e made grea t strid-es in th esh or t period of tim e since ourin ception and are particularly pl eas edto note th e es ta blishme n t of tworegional p arliamentary groups, th eAsian Forum of Parliamentarians onPopulation and Dev elopment and th e

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IN TERNATIONAL PARLIAM ENTAR YGATHERING ON POPULATION ANDDEVELOPME NT

An official invi tati on h as b eenext ended to the Global Committ ee toco-sponsor , wi th th e Chamber ofDepu ties of th e Mexican Congress, th eInternational Parliamentary Gatheringon Population and Dev elopment on 15­16 August 1984 in Mexico . Th eGa th er ing will take place immedia telyaft er th e United Na tions InternationalConference on Population (Mexico)and will thus take advantage of th epres ence of those parliamentarianswho ar e attending th e United NationsConfer ence. Mr. Rafa el M. Salas,Secr etary-General of th e United Na­tions Confer ence, has requested allgov ernments to include parliamen­tar ians on th eir del egations to th eUnited Nations Confer ence. TheGlobal Committee will also b e sendingletters to th e Sp eakers of all parlia­ments encour aging grea ter parliamen ­tary participation at th e UnitedNations Confer enc e.

Th e Interna tional ParliamentaryGathering on Population and Dev elop­ment will be th e fir st to discuss th ePlan of Action which "the UnitedNations Confer ence will adop t and th emeans by which th e Plan may b eimplem en ted. Th e meeting will serveto encour age the attending parliamen­tarians to take --a stronger and mor eactive inter est in th e implem entationof appropriate population policies. Mr.Antonio Carillo Flores, Secretary­Gen eral of th e 1974 Buchares t Con­fer ence, will b e th e Honorary Advisorfor th e Gathering, and will revi ew th eprogr ess which has b een made inpopulation issues since 1974. TheSt eering Committee for th e Gatheringwill be composed of th e key persons orsecre tary-generals of th e r egionalgroups and/ or th e r egional parliamen­tary confer ences .

Inter -Am erican Parliam entary Groupon Population and Dev elopment. Th erole of th es e bodies is to encour age ,assis t and coordina te activi ties on th enational lev el and work together withother .re gions . It is .through th is mutualconcern and effor t in cr eating betterlives for all , th a t bureaucratic lines areovercome and political , cultural and­r egional biases dissolved amongparliamentarians of all nations . It is­hoped that other regional parliamen­tary leaders will see th e value of suchfora and encour age th e formation ofr egional coordina ting bodies in th eirown ar eas .Th e id ea of publishing a newslettereme rged as a resul t of these exciting

ARAB REGIONThe Arab Parliamentary Conference

on Development and Popula tion willbe h el d in Tunis on 8-11 May 1984under th e co-sponsorship of th eTunisian Parliamen tary Commissionon Population and th e Global Commit­tee of Parliamentarians on Populationand Developm ent. Particular lynoteworthy is th e focus of th is meetingon issues of d ev elopment and popula­tion w ith in th e fram ework of Arabhis tory, cu lture .and soci ety.

Th e Steering Committee for th eArab Confer ence met in Tunis on 20-21July a t th e invitation of Mm e. FathiaMzali, M.P., Deputy Sp eaker ofTunisia and Minister of Family and th ePromotion of Women, in order todiscuss arrangem ents for th e confer en­ce . The committee was compos ed of :Mohs en Fahem Farhoud, M.P. of Ir aq ;Jubran Tawk, M.P. of Lebanon;Mohamed Rachidi, M.P. of Morocco ;Rached Mukhles , Deputy Minister of.Social Affairs of Saudi Arabia;Youssef Mohamed Ess ai ed , M.P. ofSudan; and Fathia Mzali, who wasele cted Chairman of th e SteeringCommittee. Also invited to attend th econfe re nce w er e repres entatives of th eadvisory organizations, (the Ar abLeague and th e Organiza tion of th eIslamic Conf er enc e), and th ecooperating organizations (UNDP, UN­FPA , UNICEF, UNESCO, ECA, ECWA,and IPPF ).

"There is no aim more worthy ofthe allegiance of the inter­national community than topreserve the balance betweenman and nature which is fun­damental to the stability andprogress of wor ld civilizationand, indeed, to the quality ofhuman life on earth."Javier Perez de Cuellar, Secretary-Generalof the United Nations, 24/6/83.

and encour aging eve n ts. It IS hopedthat this publication will serve to mak ethis n etwork of parliamentarians morevisible to th e individual legislator andprovide him or h er with easilyacc essibl e inform ation on th eworldwide parliamentary movementon population and dev elopment; itscentr al goa l is to bring toge th erinter ested parliamentarians in a bondof colleagueship.

The staff of the Global Committeeand I welcome any r elevant orin teresting in forma tion which you maywish to convey to your colleagues andhope tha t this project wi ll serve aus eful purpose for all our fri ends.

ASIAThe Asian Forum of Parliam en ­

tarians on Population and Dev elop­ment was es tablishe d in Mar ch 1982 asthe region al parli am entary gr oup forAs ia . Th e offi cer s of th e Forum are :Cha irma n, Tak ashi Sato (Jap an); Co­Chairpe rs ons , He Lili an g (China) andRanji t Ata pa ttu (Sri -Lanka); Secret ary­Gene ra l, Sa t Paul Mittal (India) .

The First Confe re nce of th e AsianForum of Pa rliame n tar ia ns on Popula­tion an d Dev el op ment will be heldfrom 17-20 February 1984 in NewDelhi . The mee ting is being spons ore dby the Global Committee and ho stedby th e Indi an As soci ation ofPa r lia me n tar ia ns for Problems ofPo p u la tion a n d Dev elopm ent.Coope ra ting organizations which arep r ovi ding su b st anti ve a n d ad­ministrative suppor t are : UNFPA,UNDP, UNICEF, WHO, ESCAP, IPPF,and the World Bank.

Parliam entarian s a t thi s confe re ncewill b e give n a chance to particip a temor e ac tive ly by pr esenting cases tud ies of th eir own coun tr ies ' ex­periences. Topics which will beexam ined include: Populati on andDe ve lopmen t in Global Pe rspec tive ,Migr ati on and Urb anizati on, Dev el op­ments in Biom edi cal Resear ch,Delivery of Programmes, and Com­mu nity Pa r ticipation . The Confe rencewill a lso give the particip ants theopp ortunity to disc uss th e UnitedNati ons Int ernati onal Confe re nce onPopula tion .

EUROPE·Th e Global Commit tee and the

British Parlia me ntary Group will beco-spo nsor ing an Ad-Hoc Meeting ofEuropean Parliamentaria ns on Popula ­tion and De ve lopmen t. The mee tingwill be h eld in London in Mar ch 1984.Par tic ipan ts will examine worldwidepopulati on tr ends and , th e inter ­re la tionships between population and

"Let us reflect about the appall­ing paradox that although thereis enough food for everyonethere are still half a billionpeople who are hungry, ill anddying, because basically they aretoo poor to buy what is available.

Is this not a strangephenomenon that the historiansand economists of a future agewill regard as mysterious andinexplicable.Edourd Saouma, Dir ector-Gen er al of FAD,16 October 198 2 . , .-.

socio -economic dev elopment. Discus­sion will also focus upon developmentn eeds and population conc ernsthroughout the world. Th e meeting willende avor to encour age th e att endingparliam entarians to support gr eaterfunding assistance by th eir govern­ments for both bilateral and mul­tila teral popula tion and dev elopmentproj ects.

* * *An initi ativ e has been launched by

th e members of th e European Parlia­ment to es tablish within th e Parlia­ment a "Group on Population andDev elopment". As of the end ofOctober, 40 member s of th e EuropeanParliament accepte d an invitation tothe fir st meeting of the group which issche dule d to be held in Dec ember inStr asbourg.

* * *Th e Global Committee has been

invi ted to participa te in a confer encebeing organi zed by th e ParliamentaryAssembly of th e Council of Europe on"North-South: Europe' s Role." Th econfe re nce will be held in Lisbonduring th e Spring of 1984 and willdi scuss probl ems of population as partof its proceedings.

WESTERN HEMISPHERE

Th e Inter -American Parli am entaryGroup on Population and Dev elopment(IAPGPD) was es tablishe d by recom ­mendation of the Brasili a Declar ationwhich had been adopte d at th eWestern Hemispher e Confer ence ofParliam entarian s on Population andDev elopment (December 1982).

Th e Group submitte d applica tion fornot -far-pr ofit status under New YorkStat e law on 25 Mar ch 1983 andes tablish ed its offices on th e pr emisesof the Global Committee . Officer s ofthe IAPG wer e elec ted at it s fir st

From left to right: Bruce Halliday, CelsoSo tom arino , Mavi s Gilm our and HaraldaSan ford.

offi cial meeting on 27 June 1983 inUN FPA Offi ces, New York. Th ey are :

Ch airman of the Board, DeputyHaroldo Sanford; Chairma n of th eBrazilian Parliame n tary Group onPopulation and Dev elopment.

Vice-Ch airman, Mavis Gilmour ;Minist er of Education and M.P. ofJam aica.

Secretary-General, Deputy CelsoSotomarino ; M.P. of Peru and Chair­man of th e Peruvian ParliamentaryGroup on Population and Dev elop­ment.

Tr easurer, Bruce Halliday; M.P. ofCanada and Chairman of the CanadianParliamentary Group on Populationand Dev elopment.

Executive Coordinator, H ernanSanhuez a.

Executive Secr etary, Cecile J. Rey es.In addit ion, two advisors wer echosen:Walt er Rodriguez, Advisor to the th eCh airman of the Board.Akio Matsumura, Advisor to theInt er-Am eric an P arli am ent aryGroup.Mr. Rafael M. Salas, Executive

Dir ector of UNFPA and Secret ary­Ge ne ral of the United Nations In ter­na tion al Confer ence on Popula tion,welcomed th e group and spoke abou this hopes for th e forthcoming U.N.Confer ence. This was followed by adet ail ed briefing on th e Confer en ce byMr. Jyoti Singh, Chi ef of Informationand Ext ernal Relations Division,UNFPA.

INDIALegislators of Utt ar Pr ad esh held a

Confe ren ce on Population andDev elopment in April 1983. Pa rliame n­tarian s wer e ur ged to h elp diffuse th epopulation bomb and wer e remindedth at the problems of poverty wouldh av e to be tackled within th e stra tegyof over all dev elopment.

Another Confer ence on Populationand Dev elopment was also held from9-10 September 1983 for Ori ssalegisl a tors. In a message to th ep articip ants, Mr s. Indira Gandhi notedthat control of population grow th wasone of th e country's main tasks.

Mr. Sat Paul Mittal, Chairma n of th eIndian Associ ation of Parliam entarian sfor Problems of Population andDevelopment and, Secr et ary-Gener alof the First Confer en ce of th e Asi anForum of Parli am entarians on Popula­tion and Dev elopment, initiated th esemeetings in pr ep ar ation for the Firs tConfe re nce of the Asian Forum ofPar liamentarian s on Populati on andDev el opment.

JAMAICAA meeting on the Dyn ami cs of

Population Ch an ge was held inJam aica on 17 Mar ch 198 3. Th emeeting was atte nde d by ma ny ofJa m ai ca' s p arli a m entari ans an dcov er ed v ariou s a s pe c ts ofdemogr aphic ch an ge and popula tionpolicy.

National parliamentary associationswill be featured in this colum n in ournext issu e.

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GLOBAL COMMITTEE N WSNational Par i mentaryActivities

BRAZILTh e Group of Parli am entarians for

th e Study of Population and Dev elop­ment (Grupo de Parlam entares paraEstudos de Populac ao e Des en­volvimento - GPEPD) h eld a NationalSeminar from 8 to 10 October 1983 inM aceio-Al ago as, Br azil. Politic allead ers from both th e Fed eral and

_Sta te lev els met to di scuss th e GPEPDPlan of Action, especia lly as it r el at esto th e Feder al Family Planning Policywhich th e Gove rnme n t intends toes tab lish . Deputy Haroldo Sanford isPr esident of th e Group.

DOMINICAN REPUBLICFollowing last year' s Western

Hemisphere Confer ence of Parliam en­tarians on Population and Dev elop­ment, Senator Almanzor GonzalezCanahuate of th e Dominican Republicinitiat ed th e formation of a Parliam en­tary Group on Population andDev elopment. A meeting is beingpl anned by th e Group in order todi scuss pr ep ar ations for th e 1984 U.N.Int ern ation al Conf er en c e onPopula tion.

GAMBIAA meeting of Gambian parliamen­tar ians was h eld from 4-6 October1983, in BanguI, in order to di scussth...e ir role in achie ving th e familypl anning, population and dev elopmentgoa ls enc ompassed by th e SecondN ational Development Plan 1980-86 .Th e meeting was organized by th eFamily Pl anning Association of Gam ­bi a and w as in tended to link with th eUN Interna tion al Confer en ce on Pop­ul a tion in Mexico.

"Unless broadly based develop­ment reaches and changes thelives of ordinary people, rapidpopulation growth will continue.Only as education spreads, ashealth programmes keep existingchildren alive, as families havesecure incomes which do notdepend on increasing their num­ber, will incentives for largerfamilies disappear and popula­tion gro wth be kept within themanageable bounds. Yet it isprecisely such developmentwhich is threatened in thecurrent crisis"From Common Crisis - North-South:Coop eration for World Recovery, a reportby th e Brandt Commission published byPan Books, London and Sydney, 1983 (p~ '

79)

GLOBAL COMMITTEE UR GESPARLIAME NTARIANS TO PAR­TICIPATE IN UN INTERNATIONALCONFE RENCE ON PO PULATION.

Th e Global Committee urges allparliamentarians to partic ipate ac tive­ly in the 1984 UN InternationalConference on Popula tion in Mexico.Parliamentarians can have an impacton th e Confer ence by participating inpr e-conf er enc e discussions a n dmeetings. On the national lev el,parliamentarians can become involvedin th e pr eparations being made byth eir countries for th e conference . Inparticular, th e concerns and vi ews ofall legisla tors on priority issues shouldbe voic ed and gove rnme n ts en­couraged to include parliamentarianson national delegations to th e Con­f er enc e . On a r egional level,p ar liamentarians mi ght att end th evarious r egional parliamentary con ­fer ences which will be h eld prior toth e UN International Confer ence onPopulation and th e InternationalParliam entary Gathering. Both th e UNConfer ence and th e InternationalParli am entary Gathering wi ll b e dis ­cussed at th e r egional parliamentarymeetings.

A prepara tory meeting for th eIn terna tional Confer ence on Popula­tion will b e h eld in New York from 23­27 January 1984 to revi ew th e status ofprep arations and documentation forth e Confer ence. In addition to th e 4Exp ert Group reports, two b asi cdo cuments will be utilized. Th e first, areview and apprai sal of th e 1974 WorldPopula tion Plan of Action, will includea surve y of major ch an ges in popula ­tion tr ends and polici es and, willassess th e progr ess of implem entationof th e Plan of Action by nationalgovernments and th e internationalcommunity. This study will serve asth e ra tionale for th e se cond do cumentwhich will propose recommendationsfor further implementation of th e 1974World Population Pl an of Action.

Th e pr eparatory meeting will b eheld by th e UN Population Commis­sion and will b e op en to all membersta tes of th e UN.

INTERDEPENDENCE ACTIONCOUNCIL OF FORME R HEADS OFGOVERNMENT

Th e Founding Committee Meeting ofth e Interdep endence Action Council ofFormer Heads of Gove rnme n t washeld on 7-9 March 1983 in Vienna,Austria . This meeting, conven ed byMr. Takeo Fukuda, was co-sponsoredby th e United Nations Dev elopmentProgramme and th e Glob al Committee.Th e Vienna meeting was a succ ess,particular ly b ec aus e of th e en thusiasmand commitment of th e Founding

Committee which w as composed ofs ta tesmen representing all th e conti­nents . Members of th e Committe ew ere : Mr. Takeo Fukuda, PrimeMi ni ster of Japan from 1976 to 1978;Mr. Manea Manescu, Prime Ministerof th e Government of th e Socialis tRepublic of Romania from 1974 to1979; Mr. H edi Nouira, Prime Ministerof Tunisia from 1970 to 1980; Dr.Misael Pas trana Borrero , Pr esident ofColombia from 1970 to 1974; Dr.Helmu t Schmidt, Chancellor of th eFed eral Republic of Germany from1974 to 1982 ; Mr. Leopold SedarSenghor, Pr esident of the Republic ofSen ega l from 1960 to 1980; Dr. KurtWa ldheim, Secretary-General of th eUnited Na tions from 1972 to 1981.

Th e Main Committee , consisting of20-25 form er Heads of State orGov erment, will meet from 16-18Nov ember 1983 in Vienna. Th e Councilwi ll concentrate on th e implicationsand opportunities of internationalinterdep endence in order to stimulat eaction in th e promotion of world p eaceand dev elopment. As an action group,it wi ll study, on a r egular basis, majorissu es aff ecting world stability. It willalso dispatch hi gh lev el missions tom eet with decision-mak ers of keyindustrialized and dev eloping nationsin order to discuss practical proposalsfor ame lior ating worldwide problems.

CHANGE IN GLOBAL COMMITTEEBOARD

Senator Joseph Tydings, Pr esident ofth e Glob al Committee, resign ed hisposi tion as of 30 April 1983 in order todevote more tim e to his legal practice.We ar e indeed grateful for eve ryth ingthat h e has done both for the GlobalCommittee and for th e worldwideparliam entarian mov em ent on popula­tion and dev elopment. CongressmanJam es H. Scheu er has replac edSenator Tydings and is now th eChairman of th e Executive Committeeof th e GCPPD. Congr essman Scheu eris a member of the Arms Control andForeign Policy Caucus and is th eChairman of its Development andPopulation Committee; h e is known forhis untiring ene rgy and en thusia sm onbehalf of th e population mov em ent.

INTERNATIONAL RESOURCEDEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE

An independent International Resour­ce Dev elopment Committee for th eGlobal Committee was establishedunder th e chairmanship of Mrs. RobinCh andler Duke. The Committee willb e comprised of eminent persons fromthroughout the worl d with. a distribu­tion of: 5-6 from the United States, oneeach from

Cant. an P. 6

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POINTS OF INTEREST

COLLEAGUE NEWS

Th e annual rate of populationgrowth has declined from nearly 2 percent in th e 1960's to 1.7 per cent today;it is proj ected that a 1.5 per centannual growth rate will be reached bythe year 2000. While th es e figures ar epromising, th ey nonethel ess concealthe numbers involved. 78 million newliv es are added to th e wor ld' spopula tion eve ry year; by the end ofthe ce n tury this figur e will haveincr eased to 89 million.(Rafael Sa las , Speech Se ries No. 98)

UNICEF studies have indicat ed thateve ry d ay in the past year 40,000 youngch ildren h av e di ed of malnutrition.Fu rthermor e, th e quality of lif e formany ch ildren is declining because offalling economic prospects for th eirpar ents.(The Sta te of th e World's Childre n 198 2-83,

UN ICEF )

Th e 25 most populous coun tr ie s in1981, in population size rank order ar e:China, India, Sovi et Union, UnitedStat es, Indonesi a, Brazil, Jap an,Bangladesh, Paki stan, Nigeria, Mexico,Fed eral Republic of Germany, Italy,United Kin gdom, Fr ance, Philippines,Th ailand, Turkey, Egypt, Ir an,Republic of Kor ea, Sp ain, Burma,Pol and.(UN, Divis ion for Econ omi c and Social Inf or­ma tion/DPI, 15 Mar ch 1983)

An IPPF regional report indicat esthat th e attitude of Par aguayanpar liam entarians toward family plan­ning has improved conside rably sub­se que n t to last year's West ernHemisphere Confer en ce of Parliamen­tarian s on Population and Develop­ment in Brasilia.(IPPF Open File 5/13/83 )

Th e you th population in dev elopingcoun tr ies is continuing its upwardspira l from 491 million in 1975, to 625million today, to an estima ted 1,115million by th e ye ar 2020. Th e youthlabor forc e will thus r each approx­im at ely 70 million by the year 2000thereby making it nec essary to preparewell ove r 100 million jobs in the nexttwo dec ad es.(Center for Soc ia l and Humanitarian Aff ai rs ­Youth Information Bull etin V olume 1982-4 Num­ber 45)

Th e most r ec ent IPPF MedicalBull etin indicates th at clos e sp acing isthe major cause of childhood mortali­ty. Th e advantages of longer sp acingaffec t not only th e first year of lif e butper sist through to age fiv e. It was alsoreported th at short birth intervalsaffec t th e mortality rate for old erchildre n ; a 50% ris e in th e mortali ty

5

rate was obs erved for th e second yearof life when the n ext child was bornwithin 18 months for 16 out of 23countries.(IPPF M edi cal Bull etin , August 1983)

Evidence from projects in India,Iran, Jam aica and Turkey indicatesthat compr ehensive primary healthcare can be achiev ed at a cost of $0.40to $7.50 per capital per annum. Th emain obstacles to implem enting suchpolicies are, howev er, political andorganiza tional.(World Health Forum, 1983 . Vol. 4)

A comparative study of Kerala andWest Bengal states in India suggeststhat th e gre a ter decline of fertility inKerala is more clos ely associated withgreater equity in educa tion and healthfaciliti es than with equity in income inasset s. It seem ed too th at th eeduca tional effe ct on women's world­v-iew and on th eir decision-makingpowers wi thin the household, ra therth an their increased participation inthe labor for ce, may be moreimportant in changing th eir fertilitymotivation and behavior .(Cen ter for Policy Studies Working Papers, May1983)

Banglad esh has launched a two -yearcrash family planning program whichaims to r ecruit at least 7.79 million

Th e member s of the Board of Trustees ofthe Globa l Commit tee h ave been ac tive inpopulation and development affa irs sincethe 19 79 International Confe re nce ofPar li am en tarians on Popul ation andDevelopment in Colombo, Sri Lanka. OurBoard is composed of : Form er PrimeMinister of Jap an, Takeo Fukuda, Ch air ­man; Frank Karese k, Austria; HaroldoSan ford, Brazil; Bru ce Halliday, Can ad a;Jean -Mari e Daillet, France ; Sat Paul Mittal,India; Mavi s Gilmour, Jam aica; Tak ashiSato, Jap an; Juli a Oji ambo, Kenya; IfigeniaMartinez, Mexico; Celso Sotomarino, Peru;Fathia Mzali, Tunisi a; and Jam es H.Sch eu er, U.S.A.

* * *

"Death rate falls as a result oforganized public health services.Birth rate falls with the growth ofeducation and improvement instandards of living. One couldsay that the death rate is broughtdown by the community's respon­sibility to the individual, and thebirth rate by the individual'sresponsibility to the community."Indira Gandhi - U.N. Population Award,30 September 1983.

eligible couples as family planningacc eptors. In order to create favorablepublic opinion, th e Bangladesh VillageDoctors' Association is popularizingthe slogan "We shall not be Fathers in1983-84". Th e Association will alsosponsor a mass walk (Padajatra)through remote villages to attractpeople towards this cause.(Population Headliners, April 1983)

Children under 14 years of age con ­sti tu te 33.6 per cent of China'spo pula tion. As thes e children marrywithin th e next 18 years, China'spopulation problem may indeedbecome formidable. Should eve rycouple have two children , 22 millionwill be born each year; by th e turn ofthe century, 400 million will have b eenborn.(Dr. Qia n Xin zh ong, Minist er -in -Charge of th eSta te Family Planning Commiss ion , China - 30

September 1983)

In a rec ent U.N . study on populationgrow th and fertility rates, 29 Africancountries consider ed their populationgrow th and fertility r a tes to ·besa tisf actory or too low, 19 consider edthem too high and 3, Djibouti,Madaga scar and Sierra Leone felt thattheir gr owth rat e was satisfactory andth eir fertility rat e too high.(Population Policy Digest - ECA, 8 July 1981)

Seve ra l of our colleagues wh o h adparticip ated at the 1979 Colombo Conf er en ­ce hav e ri sen to positions of emine nce intheir gove rnme n ts or parties: Barbad os ­Billie Miller, Minist er of Educa tion; Egypt- Dr. Fouad Mohieddin, Prime Minist erand Mohamed Sobhi Abdel Hakim, Sp eakerof Sh oura Assembly; Jap an - TakashiSato, Deputy-Secr et ary Gen er al of Lib er alDemocrati c Party; Mal aysi a - DatoAbdullah Hj. Ahmad Badawi, Ministerwi thou t Portfolio in the Office of the PrimeMinist er and Datuk Sharir, Abdul Samad,Minister of Fed er al Capital; Netherlands ­Hans Van den Broek, Minist er of For eignAff airs; Sri Lank a - Ranjit Attapatu,Minist er of Health ; Tunisia - MadameFathia Mzali, Deputy Speaker of Parliamentand Minist er of Fa mily and Promotion ofWom en; United Kingdom - Kenneth Baker,Minist er of Industry and Commerce.

Saudia Arabia - We would lik e toex press our condole nces on th e untimelydeath of H.E. Mr. Rached Mukhles, DeputyMinist er for Social Aff air s. Mr. Mukhleswas a member of the Steering Commit teefor th e Ar ab Parliam entary Confe re nce onDev elopment and Population.

LAW AND OLICY ANALYSIS

GLOBAL COMMITTEE NEWS

By:Stephen L. Isaacs, Esq.Director, Development Law andPolicy ProgramCenter for Population andFamily HealthColumbia University

Two countrie s, Turkey and Jam aica,rec ently issued major policies affe ctingpopulation and development. In May,1983 th e Turkish legislature pa ssed acomprehe nsive law regul ating con ­tr ac eption, voluntary sterilization, andabortion. Jamaica's national populationpolicy received final approval in mid­1983. The differ ences between the twodocuments are instructive.

Th e Jamaica policy, relying heavilyon population proj ections through theyear 2010, sets some sp ecificdemographic targets. Among th em ar ea popula tion of no more than thr eemillion and an average lif e expectancyof 73 years (from the current 70) by theyear 2000 and replacem ent levelfertility (approximately two childrenper woman) by th e late 1980's. Toreach thes e and the oth er sp ecifiedgoals the policy proposes a number ofmeasures including:

• reorganization of family pl anning

Con t. From P. 4

th e Middle East, India , Jap an an dVenezu el a, an d , on e or two from Europe.Th e function of this Committee is toid en tify an d ca n tact paten tial donors fr omwi thin th e U. S. an d abr oa d . In addi tion,member s of th e IRDC will ac t as th e publicrel ation s ar m for th e or ganization. In thisca pac ity , th ey will speak ab ou t th e GlobalCommitte e a t m eetings , host r ec eptions onb ehalf of th e Comm it tee an d ge nerally actas g o o d w i ll a m ba s s a d o r s of th eorganiza tion.

GLOBAL COMMITTEEANNIVERSARY RECEPTIONTh e Global Committee held a r eception inhonor of its fir st an n ive rsa r y on 27 June1983. Mrs. Robin Chand le r Duke, Chairper­son of th e International Resourc e Dev elop-

Senator jos eph Tydings and- Congressm anJam es H. Sch eu er

services under the Nat ional FamilyPlanning Board.establishmen t of a populationplanning and research unit withinth e National Planning Agency.Among its first tasks will be astudy of economic inc entives in ­fluencing childbearing and migra­tion.promotion of mat ernal-childhealth, great er emph asis on familylif e and family planning educa tion,and _improved statistics , r es earchand eva lua tion.

Unlike many similar documents, th eJamaica policy sp ecifies the r espon­sibili ties of each insti tu tion - in­cluding a new contraception policycoordina ting commi tte e - involved inthe implementation of the policy.

By contrast, Turkey 's PopulationPlanning Law deals specifically withacc ess to contraception, steriliza tion ,and abortion and pays li ttle attentionto demographic analysis . Since Turkeyhas long had restrictive legislation, thenew law repres ents a major change inpolicy. Among its oth er provisions, thenew law

• makes family planning information

ment (IRDC) an d Congressman H. Jam esScheuer , Ch airman of th e ExecutiveCommitte e ho st ed th e r ec eption. Bri efs ta te men ts of congra tu la tions w ere made byMr. Br adford Morse , Administrator of th eUnited N ations Dev elopment Programme(UNDP) , Mrs. Duke and CongressmanSch euer. Mr. Akio Matsumur a, Ex ecutiveDirector of th e Global Committee r eviewedth e ac tivitie s of th e organization.

On b ehalf of th e Global Committe e, a gif tw as presented to Senator Tydings byCongressman Sch euer for th e Senator' svaluable contributions to th e Committe ean d to th e progr es s of th e movement.

Distinguished gues ts who attended th er eception in cluded parliamentarians , m em­b ers of the U.N. an d its age ncie s an dmembers of th e privat e sector .

Th e Global Committee is a publiclysupported, not-far -profit organiza tion in cor­porat ed under th e laws of th e State of N ewYork as described in Section 170 (b) (1) (AJ(vi) an d 509 (a) (1) of th e Internal Rev enueCode and as a tax -ex empt organization asd efined in Section 501 (i) (3).

The ma teria l in thi s newsl ett er does not necessarilyrepr esen t the view s of th e Glob al Committee .

and services a state responsibility• permits nurses and midwives to

distribute contraceptives• au thorizes the Ministry of Health

to se t up an organization entrus tedwith obtaining or producing con­traceptives and distributing themfree of charge

• allows st erilization to be perfor­med upon adults who request it

• permits abortion on request of thewoman up to 10 weeks ofpr egnancy

Th ese illustrate two approaches topopulation policy formulation: the one(Jamaica) issuing a formal policydocument emphasizing .dernographicanalysis, setting forth general policymeasures , and conc entrating on in­stitu tional arrangem ents to implementit; the other (Turkey) passing legisla­tion easing acc ess to fertility regulationservices but not in the cont ext of anexplicit, global population policysta tem ent.

For mor e information contac t Mr. Stephen Isaacsa t 60 H av en Avenue; NY, NY 10032 • Tel. (212)694-6971

CALENDAROF EVENTS

- Main Committee Meeting of the Inter­dependence Action Council of FormerHeads of Government (InterActionCouncil). November 16-18, 1983Vienna, Austria

- First Conference of the Asian Forum ofParliamentarians on Population andDevelopment. February 17-20, 1984 ­New Delhi, India.

- Ad-Hoc Meeting of European Parliamen­tarians on Population and Development.March, 1984 - London, United Kingdom.

- Arab Parliamentary Conference onDevelopment and Population. May 8-111984 - Tunis, Tunisia.

- Meet ing of the Board of Trustees ofGCPPD. August 14, 1984 - Mexico City,Mexico.

- International Parliamentary Gatheringon Population and Development. August15-16, 1984 - Mexico City, Mexico.

EDITORIAL NOTEThe quarterly will serve as an informalforum and information exchange forparliamentarians ; w e w elcome any sugges ­tions for its design or pertinent submissionsfor th e publication. Pl ease se nd allcorrespondence to:

The Global Committee of Parliamentarianson Population and Development

304 East 45th Street (12th Floor)New York , N.Y. 10017

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