Population Connection Participation at the 57th Session of the UN Commission on Population and Development (CPD57)

There hasn’t been a major international convening on population challenges for 30 years, since the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in Cairo in 1994. Before that, there was a UN population conference every decade, going back to 1954.*

The UN does, however, have a Commission on Population and Development (CPD) that meets each year at the UN headquarters in New York. We gave an oral statement at the 57th Session (CPD57) in April, which placed special emphasis on 2024 being the 30th anniversary since Cairo. We teamed up with colleagues at two like-minded population organizations to craft and deliver the statement.

Population Matters is a UK-based organization that conducts research and produces reports, advocates for international family planning funding in the UK, and spreads awareness about the benefits of a sustainable population through social media and press outreach. Our talented Communications Manager, Olivia Nater, came to us from Population Matters when she moved to the United States two and a half years ago, and we are most fortunate to have her.

Population Media Center is a US-based organization that develops radio serials and TV dramas that use storytelling to influence social norms around population, sustainability, and gender equality in developing regions (in close collaboration with people from each program’s respective country). This unique and influential organization was founded by Bill Ryerson, who is presently transitioning into the role of President Emeritus. Bill has been a member of Population Connection since the very beginning and prides himself on having a full archive of Population Connection magazines (and the magazine’s predecessor, The Reporter)!

Working with dedicated staff from each of these two organizations, we wrote a statement that we were enthusiastic to deliver (shared in full below). We’ve since worked together on two statements in response to first and second drafts of the Pact for the Future, an international agreement that’s meant to eventually supplant the Sustainable Development Goals’ 2030 Agenda.

Our groups will continue to look for opportunities to share our perspective on population challenges at similar meetings going forward. After all, if we don’t, it seems that no one will.

P.S. If you missed our official side event to the 57th Session of the UN Commission on Population and Development, hosted along with Population Matters and Population Media Center, please view the recording here.

* There was a meeting in 2019 — the Nairobi Summit, also known as ICPD+25 — but it was to mark the 25th anniversary of the Cairo conference and to reaffirm the 1994 Programme of Action.

Oral statement delivered at the 57th Session of the UN Commission on Population and Development (CPD57) on May 3, 2024, at the United Nations headquarters in New York, NY

Thank you, Madam Chair, for the opportunity to contribute to this session. My name is Simone Filippini, representing Population Matters, Population Connection, and Population Media Center. We’re all NGOs with ECOSOC status^**, focused on achieving sustainable development through empowering population solutions for the benefit of people and planet.

The 1994 Cairo Programme of Action was clear on the benefits of slowing population growth and the urgent need to empower all women and girls, yet the world has failed them. Almost half of partnered women in low- and middle-income countries still have no decision-making power over their own bodies, while one in five girls today is married before she turns 18, gender-based violence still affects one in three women globally, and 257 million women have an unmet need for modern contraception.

While we’ve seen important progress in reducing the proportion of women affected by some of these injustices, in many cases, the total number of affected women is still growing due to population growth outstripping development efforts.

International funding for reproductive health and rights sadly falls far short of what is needed to fulfill the basic rights of all women and girls. This is a tragedy, both because it is a moral failing and because investing in women and girls is key to advancing all 17 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

As noted in the Report of the Secretary-General, “The continuing high levels of fertility that drive rapid population growth in many low- and lower-middle-income countries are both a cause and a symptom of slow progress in development.” Drawing the links between population, health, environment, and poverty is key to demonstrating the unmatched power of women’s empowerment.

However, we’ve seen misguided attempts at censoring population concern within some circles. Intentionally obscuring the enormous returns on investment generated by funding family planning and women’s empowerment in terms of health, socioeconomic, and environmental benefits makes it much harder to close the funding gap.

As noted by Dr. Musimbi Kanyoro, former CEO of the Global Fund for Women, “When we leave the P out of the ICPD, we cannot achieve the goals of the ICPD.”

Our three organizations would like to see a recommitment to the Programme of Action and 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development that embraces the critical linkages between population and the SDGs, and that emphasizes the crucial importance of investing in women and girls.

To be concerned about population is to be concerned about people, their needs, their rights, and those of future generations. We must end the siloing of environment and reproductive health and rights: the two are inextricably linked and synergistic.

We stand ready to collaborate with the UN and other stakeholders to ensure the Programme of Action remains a vital framework for achieving sustainable development in a world of 8 billion plus people.

Thank you for your consideration, and we look forward to a continued dialogue on these critical issues.

** The UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) offers consultative status to eligible non-governmental organizations.