by GINA
THE special committee meeting on population development which is being hosted by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), in collaboration with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) yesterday commenced in Quito, Ecuador to discuss regional priority issues related to population and development. Specific focus will be placed on the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development and the Latin American and Caribbean Regional Plan of Action on Population and Development, which were drafted after the Regional Conference in Mexico in 1993 and in which the countries of the region agreed to facilitate integration and national experience sharing for formulating population policies and programmes.
Other topics on the agenda are the 2010 round of censuses, the main demographic trends in the region and their consequences; ageing and the rights of older persons; indigenous peoples and Afro-descendant populations in Latin America; and international and internal migration.
Ecuador’s Head of State, Rafael Correa Delgado addressed yesterday’s opening session followed by Executive Director of ECLAC, Alicia Barcena, and UNFPA’s Regional Director for Latin American and the Caribbean, Marcela Suazo.
Another important objective of this meeting is to define the regional process regarding the review and assessment of the 20 years of the International Conference on Population and Development held in Cairo in 1994 (Cairo+20 in 2014).
This will pave the way for reviewing the Latin American and Caribbean Regional Plan of Action on Population and Development, as well as the region’s participation in the world process related to Cairo+20 – to conclude in October 2012 by means of a High-Level Dialogue held during the United Nations General Assembly.
Guyana is being represented by Chairperson of the National Toshaos Council (NTC), Yvonne Pearson and Rights of the Child Commission (ROC) member Sandra Hooper.
Preceding this opening session was a media workshop held at the Swissotel, Quito, which was attended by Director of the Government Information Agency (GINA), Neaz Subhan and Videographer, Leroy Lyttle.