(please check against delivery)

Fifth Asian and Pacific Population Conference

Ministerial Officials Segment
16-17 December 2002
Bangkok

Address by Mr. Kim Hak-Su, Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Executive Secretary of ESCAP

Your Excellency Prime Minister Thaksin,
Mrs. Obaid,
Professor Sinding,
Excellencies,
Distinguished Participants,
Ladies and Gentlemen:

I am pleased and honoured to extend to each of you a very warm welcome to the Ministerial Segment of the Fifth Asian and Pacific Population Conference. As with the previous decennial population conference, which was hosted by the Government of Indonesia in Bali, this one is being organized by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific and the United Nations Population Fund.

I should like to begin by expressing my sincere gratitude to His Excellency Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra for so graciously consenting to inaugurate the Ministerial Segment of this Conference amid his many pressing duties of State. Excellency, your presence here is compelling evidence of Thailand's strong commitment to United Nations-led efforts in the field of population and development. I would also like to express my deep appreciation to the officials in the Government of Thailand for helping to facilitate the arrangements for receiving so many high-level delegations participating in this Conference. I would like to take this opportunity also to express our profound gratitude to the Executive Director of UNFPA for the valuable support provided by the Fund in convening this Conference. Finally, I would like to welcome into the United Nations community of nations its newest Member State, Timor-Leste, which is with us today in observer capacity.

Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen:

One of the first major activities of the United Nations in the field of population was the organization of the Asian Population Conference at New Delhi in December 1963 under the auspices of ECAFE, as ESCAP was called in those days. That Conference was an historic one. Not only was it the earliest predecessor of today's meeting but that Conference also set the stage for the United Nations to become deeply involved in population and related development issues.

In the Asian and Pacific region, ESCAP for the past 40 years has played a central role in the field of population. It has initiated the debate. It has provided a forum for discussion and is assisting developing countries through regional population projects and through technical assistance and advisory services, and training and information dissemination activities. Over the past four decades, with support from UNFPA, ESCAP has been able to devise numerous ways to respond to the varied needs of Governments in this most populous region of the world.

I should add, too, that the very holding of the Asian and Pacific Population Conferences every 10 years is also in fulfilment of early mandates. The fourth such meeting in Bali in 1992 was particularly fruitful. The Conference adopted the visionary Bali Declaration on Population and Sustainable Development, and that Declaration, in turn, provided invaluable regional input to the Programme of Action adopted by the International Conference on Population and Development, held at Cairo in 1994.

This landmark policy instrument goes far beyond any previous population plan or programme, in that it endorses an entirely new strategy that moves away from the achievement of demographic targets. Instead, it emphasizes the integral linkages between population and development, and focuses on meeting the needs of individual women and men, taking a rights-based approach that represents a paradigm shift in the field of population and development.

In the future, I hope that the Fifth Asian and Pacific Population Conference will also be remembered for the important role it played in advancing the population agenda espoused by the Bali and Cairo policy instruments. Based on the outcome of the Senior Officials Segment, I am optimistic that this Conference will adopt a meaningful plan of action which will guide the population and development policies and programmes of countries in this region in the decade ahead and enable ESCAP, your secretariat, to continue to assist you in your efforts.

In the context of assistance, the active involvement of NGOs in tackling the challenges we face is essential. The presence of many NGOs with us today is in recognition of the fact that partnership with civil society has enabled Governments in the Asian and Pacific region to make significant progress towards attaining the goals of the Bali and Cairo action plans. Some population issues are so sensitive that it is practically impossible for Governments to take decisive action on their own, even when they have the resources to do so. When partnerships exist among the government sector, the private sector and civil society, it is possible for societies to take courageous action for the benefit of their people.

Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen:

I am sure we all agree that addressing population issues is integral to national efforts to alleviate poverty and accelerate social and economic development. We all recognize that population concerns are at the heart of our work in fostering human progress in modern society.

Today the importance of population issues to national development and individual well-being is virtually unquestioned. The challenges we face are great. In spite of the economic advances that have been made, poverty still exists. Despite improvements in medicine and health, the menace posed by HIV/AIDS and other deadly diseases threatens our lives and well-being. Although the green revolution has made more grain available, growing population numbers increase the demand for food and water, not to mention housing and transport. While women in other parts of the world hold equal status with men, the relegation of girls and women to lower status in many parts of our region is hurting our population and damaging those societies' potential for progress. Too many women die needlessly giving birth to the future generation. Too many girls are denied the opportunity to gain an education. Although many of our countries have been very successful in lowering their fertility rates, they are now faced with the demands of an ageing population. Even though most of the region has completed the fertility transition or is well on the way towards doing so, there continues to be considerable unmet need for reproductive health information and services, including family planning, both among married couples and - increasingly in some societies - among adolescents and unmarried youth. Despite the promises made at the Cairo Conference, the resource allocations needed to support the work being done to improve the quality of life of our people have not increased.

I have mentioned only some of the many challenges we face. I think each of us realizes that we cannot confront them effectively unless we address the issues of population and reproductive health.

Despite the enormity of these challenges, I have hope that solutions will be implemented. At the time of the first population conference in 1963, only a few countries in this region had population programmes. Today virtually every country and area represented here has a population programme that reflects its particular needs and aspirations. Four decades ago, the social and economic situation in this region was considered almost hopeless. Today, the Asian and Pacific region stands out to the rest of the world as a model of development. The region is home to countries that have made massive investments in their people's welfare, countries where health and education levels have been vastly improved, where life expectancy has significantly increased and where many people enjoy a better standard of living than ever dreamed of in 1963.

If our predecessors were able to accomplish so much in such a relatively short period of time, why shouldn't we?

To be fair, attacking poverty and coming to grips with the other challenges I mentioned are not easy tasks, especially when we realize that the advances in the past 10 years have not been enjoyed by all. In this regard, I should point out that almost all the countries in South Asia lag behind in terms of lowering fertility and infant, child and maternal mortality rates. They also have relatively low education and employment levels of women, among other indicators of low development. The experience of Pacific island countries and territories, the least developed countries and the landlocked countries is unique, related as it is to the nature of the special problems they face. Many are small in size, geographically isolated and face serious limitations with regard to their human and financial resources. Their population indicators show that they also are not making the progress they so ardently desire.

For all these reasons, a great deal of creativity has been displayed by the senior officials. When hammering out policy guidelines and forging the action framework, they benefited from the experience of each other. Based on their positive interaction, the draft plan of action captures the synergies between population policies and poverty alleviation policies. Obviously, during this process, the achievement of the millennium development goals was foremost in their thinking, but since these goals are very broad, the plan of action sharpens the focus and adds precision in terms of emphasis.

Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen:

Previous Asian and Pacific Population Conferences have set a high standard for success. The Bali Declaration on Population and Sustainable Development helped to ensure the success of the past decade of work in the field of population and development in this region. I am certain that the Fifth Asian and Pacific Population Conference will create a fresh vision and adopt the plan of action to guide our future actions in this field.

In conclusion, I would like to wish you every success in your deliberations and in your adoption of a plan of action appropriate for launching our work in this the first decade of the new millennium's first century.

Thank you.

* *** *

Back [ UN ESCAP Home Page] [UNIS Home] [Press Release]