EARTHKEEPING NEWS
A NEWSLETTER OF THE NORTH AMERICAN COALITION FOR CHRISTIANITY AND ECOLOGY

Volume Four, Number Two
November/December 1994

WOMEN AND RELIGION ARE MAJOR PLAYERS AT CAIRO CONFERENCE

By Rev. Doug Hunt, member of US Network for Cairo, 1820 Sanford Rd., Wheaton MD 20902, 301/593-4724.

While the popular media focused attention on the Vatican's changing position regarding population stabilization, other reports of the September 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in Cairo suggest that the long range significance of the conference lies elsewhere.

This was the third in a series of six United Nations conferences designed to develop a global consensus on the variety of issues critical to human and planetary sustainability.

Cairo was the first UN conference to connect economic development explicitly with population, consumption and the environment. Helping to avoid the North-South tension characteristic of the Rio conference was the admission by the USA, without European dissent, that population and quality of life cannot be considered apart from developed-world consumption and production patterns. Most of the 114 page Programme of Action (94%), created over the last 3 years at three Preparatory Committee (Prep Com) meetings, had been agreed to before the conference.

This was also the first UN conference where women had central roles: Dr. Nasif Sadiq of Pakistan was Secretary General of the event. Prime Ministers Gro Harlan Bruntland of Norway and Benazir Bhutto of Pakistan were keynoters at the opening plenary. Nearly 30% of 3,000 delegates from over 180 countries were women. In the Women's Caucus, representatives of non-governmental organizations prepared alternative language for the document, and developed lobbying strategies.

Each morning a Progressive Religious Caucus met to discuss issues and formulate alternative language covering the effects of international economic structures and trade that had not been agreed to at the last Prep Com meeting. Caucus members worked to influence delegates and gain media attention on these issues.

The Programme of Action is a non-binding commitment by governments to implement the agreed upon actions and to provide an estimated $17 billion over the next five years. The United States, in addition to implementing the recommendations of the conference and helping finance the programs that require international cooperation, must confront the central issues of sustainability and equity in our own society. The ground work has been laid.

The conference series:

  1. UN Conference on Environment and Development, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 1992;
  2. International Conference on Human Rights, Vienna 1993;
  3. International Conference on Population and Development, Cairo, 1994
  4. World Summit for Social Development, Copenhagen 1995;
  5. World Conference on Women, Beijing 1995;
  6. International Conference on Habitat,1996.

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