92002E3371

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3371/02

by Marianne Eriksson (GUE/NGL) to the Council

(27 November 2002)

Subject: Cairo document and reproductive health

At a preparatory meeting held ahead of the next ESCAP meeting in Bangkok, the Bush Administration declared that it would not support the action plan adopted at the UN's international conference in Cairo in 1994. One aspect on which the action plan focuses is women's right to functioning reproductive health and sex education in the developing countries. The USA will now oppose this plan and instead recommend sexual abstinence and family planning. It is a major retrograde step to deny the women of the world their reproductive rights when one woman dies every minute as a result of the complications of an abortion or pregnancy.

Will the Council, therefore, go against the USA and continue to support the Cairo document at the meeting in December?

Reply

(8 May 2003)

The Council continues to support the Action Plan adopted at the UN's International Conference on Population and Development which was held in Cairo in 1994.

It has not had the opportunity to discuss with the USA its position on the implementation of the Plan.

However, the Council would emphasise that at its meeting in May 2002 in its development configuration it adopted conclusions in paragraph 13 of which it stated that with a view to intensifying support for health in developing countries and build further on each other's strengths and comparative advantages, it welcomed the intention by the Commission to reinforce cooperative arrangements with the Member States, and with international organisations or public/private entities, in particular the UNFPA, and considered that these arrangements should also benefit initiatives taken at regional and national levels.