Opening Session
International agreements should be implemented. – Mr Shin Sakurai, Chairman of AFPPD
"Children who are the future of the country and their mothers – who are victimised by difficulties experienced by any society – are most vulnerable. It is always the children who are placed in the most difficult situation; the children who should be looked after the most to ensure a future for the humankind. We have faith in the goodness of human beings and their potential. It is with this belief that we work hard to resolve the population issue. If human beings are not allowed to use their brains and work for the future, what good reason is there for us to exist." In referring to his proposal, drawn from the discussions at the International Forum of Parliamentarians at the Hague, to the United Nations Secretary General’s Draft Report at the Preparatory Committee met in New York for the UN Special Session on Population, Mr Sakurai stated, "international agreements and conventions must be made compatible with the rational standards developed from a long term perspective dictated by the population problems. In the global society of ours, we are in variably directly effected by the international conventions and agreements. Among the various international conventions, inter-alia the trade agreements including the World Trade Organisation rules affect national economies in unaccountable ways as well as on the lives of our citizens. It is important that various conventions are integrated in the process of globalisation so that they reflect rational approach. The present rules of trade, however, are drawn up from the perspective of pursuing short-term economic rationality on the principle of comparative advantage. "Is this the right approach? The future we draw from the population issue is not a society of surplus. It is a society of want, a society of scarcity. The present economic principles are developed from the perspective of selling and marketing the surplus. No one has a clue as to what is rational in a society where goods are in short supply."
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Balance between population and development needed - Mr Jyun Kyu Park, Hon. Speaker from Korea H.E. Mr Jyun Kyu Park, Speaker of the National Assembly Republic of Korea, in his address noted that despite the varying degrees of economic development in the Asian Pacific countries, the common thread that binds this region together is the need to strike a balance between population and development. He stated, "we need to bear in mind the fact that this is no ordinary issue because it permeates the social fabric of all countries and impacts every facade of our lives." He also urged an immediate action on how to allocate public resources in a more efficient manner and explore ways to forestall any unfortunate events. "By taking preventive measures, we can ensure the quality of life of the people for whom we are elected to serve. Without addressing issues relevant to population and development here and now, they will come back and haunt us in the immediate future. I emphasise the urgency of these issues because the mere flap of a butterfly’s wings, or any seemingly insignificant event in a country is enough to cause a tidal wave in today’s volatile world," said Mr Park.
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$17 Billion needed for population programme – Dr Hirofumi Ando, Deputy Executive Director of UNFPA
He pointed out population issues and encouraged parliamentarians to play their roles to fight the problems. "Asian countries are also facing or will face a number of emerging population issues before too long. They are among other migration including international migration, rapid urbanisation, aging of population and the young population, HIV/AIDS to name a few. Asian Governments should be urged to deal with these issues more proactively. Here again, as noted by the ICPD Programme of Action, you, Parliamentarians can and must play a critical advocacy role individually and collectively. Occupying a unique position in your respective society, you are the bridge between your people and the Government. You are respected community and national leaders. Thus you can be strong advocates for population issues. You can also call the attention of the Government, non-Governmental organisations and the public at large to the emerging issues an their societal implications. You can furthermore formulate and legislate appropriate laws to help deal with these emerging population issues. Most importantly, you can mobilise resources, especially financial resources domestically and internationally. US$17 billion needed "The ICPD Programme of Action established the financial goals of mobilising $17 billion annually by the year 2000; $ 5.7 billion from the donour community and $11.3 billion from the developing countries. At present, the commitment by the latter has been most met, despite the financial crisis affecting many developing countries. However, the former has provided only about $2 billion annually. You can continue to support the mobilisation of domestic financial resources through your parliaments. You can also urge donour countries to meet their obligations through the dialogues you may have with them, especially through international meetings."
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Korea’s population programme gave positive results. – Dr Sang-Mok Suh, MP-Korea Dr Sang-Mok Suh – MP, Chairman of the Korean Parliamentary League on Children, Population and Environment (CPE), was confident that "overall status of population and development in Korea is in a very good shape thanks to successful population and family planning programmes and female education and employment. The ultimate goal of Korea’s population and development policy is to improve the quality of life of the population in general. "Recently, our region has experienced unprecedented economic crises. Even though some of us were fortunate enough to escape the worst times, there are still many issues to be resolved in our region. The issues of population and development are all the more important at this juncture because – due to recent economic crises – some may think that economic recovery comes first and, therefore, the issues of population and development can be put on the back burner. This is absolutely wrong. It is wrong because those issues are too closely tied to our daily lives to be neglected and overlooked. "However, in the course recent economic restructuring, human suffering side of the issue is being neglected. Human resources and social development is being overlooked, and the demand by the underprivileged is being ignored. Our role as parliamentarians is to make their voices heard and be reflected in our policies. We need to come up with workable plans for population and development and implement them in our respective countries. To that end, resource mobilisation is as important as, if not more important than, the plans themselves. Without appropriately allocated resources, all those great plans that we have vigorously worked on will be nothing more than just pages of papers. We need to persuade our governments so that they mobilise and allocate enough resources to put our plans of action into practice. We would also need the support from NGOs and general public to carry out our plans effectively and successfully."
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Quality of life related to population issue – Dr Mo-Im Kim, Minister of Health and Welfare, Republic of Korea Dr Mo-Im Kim, Minister of Health and Welfare Republic of Korea in her keynote address stated that, "The quality of people’s life is strongly interrelated with population changes, patterns and levels of use of natural resources, the state of the environment, and the pace and quality of economic and social development. For example, population growth influences poverty, which, in turn, is often accompanied by malnutrition, low status of women, and limited access to social and health services, including reproductive health services. This is why population concerns need to be integrated into the formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluating of all policies and programmes relating to sustainable development and resource allocation at all levels. "Indeed, the ICPD Programme of Action underscores the integral and mutually reinforcing linkages between population and development, and subsequently many countries have increased political action and public attention concerning the linkages between population and a country’s social, economic and environmental concerns. "In Korea’s case, there have been considerable legislative efforts to support the elimination of sex discrimination since the ICPD. These included promulgation of the Basic Law on Women’s Development in 1995, which aims at improving sex equality, protecting maternality, eradicating sex discrimination, developing women’s capability and increasing active participation of women in socio-economic activities; the Law on Punishment of Sexual Offenders and Protection of Victims in 1994 which aims at protecting women, including adolescents, from domestic violence and sex crimes." "In order to ensure the improvement of people’s quality of life in the 21st century, parliamentarians in every political and legislative activity must continue to pay a great deal of attention to population programmes which integrate socio-economic and environmental factors, including food security. Parliaments also need to urge international assistance to be reinforced in population programmes for countries that have recently undergone economic crisis. Korea looks forward to cooperating with all other nations in identifying areas in which the international community can work in concert, and in determining how common goals of the population and development can be best achieved," urged Dr Kim.
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Mr Shin Sakurai, Chairman of AFPPD, began his speech
with the region’s economic crisis. "In the last few years economic storm hit
Asia including Japan. The storm did not merely hit our economies. It brought about an
enormous and serious damage on population in general and reproductive health in
particular. Investment in the fields of population and reproductive health is the most
important if we are to secure long-term prosperity. Most unfortunately, it is the spending
on population, health and education fields that is reduced in most countries whenever
there is tight budget. The currency crisis that took Indonesia had enormously impacted the
field of reproductive health and maternal mortality.
Dr Hirofumi
Ando, Deputy Executive Director of United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in his address
at the opening session said, "It is quite timely for you to meet and discuss your
roles in facilitating the successful implementation of the Programme Action of the
International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) held in Cairo almost five
years ago, because the United Nations is now undertaking a 5-year review of the progress
made in achieving the goals of the Programme of Action. This review has been proceeding
through a process called the ICPD+5. The Inter-governmental Preparatory Committee meeting
took place at the United Nations two weeks ago to review the draft Secretary
General’s report. I am pleased to report to you that despite severe time constraints,
the Preparatory Committee completed the review of almost all substantive issues including
reproductive health and including family planning, empowerment of women, population and
education, adolescent reproductive health and migration. The remaining few substantive
issues, two additional chapters on Partnership and Resource Mobilisation, and the main
framework chapter will be reviewed at the resumed session of the Preparatory Committee
meeting next month. In this connection, on behalf of UNFPA, I would like to express my
deep gratitude to the Asian Forum of Parliamentarians on Population and Development
(AFPPD) for organising the extremely successful International Parliamentary Forum in the
Hague last February as key part of the ICPD+5 process. Our special thanks go to Mr Shin
Sakurai, Chairman of the Asian Forum, despite his extremely busy schedule, for convincing
and chairing the International Parliamentary Forum with the able assistance of Mr Shiv
Khare, Executive Director of the Asian Forum." 
