This report was prepared in February 2014 pursuant to General Assembly resolution 65/234, in which the Assembly called for an operational review of the implementation of the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development, adopted in 1994, on the basis of the highest-quality data and analysis of the state of population and development, taking into account the need for a systematic, comprehensive and integrated approach to population and development issues.
The Programme of Action represented a remarkable consensus among 179 Governments on 11 major policy areas - population dynamics and sustainable development; gender equality and women’s empowerment; older persons; adolescents and youth; persons with disabilities; indigenous peoples; urbanization and internal migration; international migration; family; sexual and reproductive health and rights; and education - that individual human rights and dignity, including the equal rights of women and girls and universal access to sexual and reproductive health and rights, are a necessary precondition for sustainable development. The Programme to Action set forth objectives and actions to accelerate such development by 2015.
This report reviews 20 years of achievements - including gains in women’s equality, population health and life expectancy, educational attainment, human rights protection systems, and poverty reduction (with an estimated 1 billion people moving out of extreme poverty - as well as remaining areas of concern. The framework presented in this report outlines a path to sustainability which demands better leadership and greater innovation to address critical global needs pertaining to the realization of human rights. Among the key findings and recommendations related to the care of children, this report notes that:
- Countries that will host a large cohort of youth over the next two decades have, in the last five years, made significant progress in addressing the needs of adolescents and youth in regards to job creation and access to sexual and reproductive health, including HIV production. A smaller, though still significant proportion (75%) of these countries have also begun to address the adverse effects of poverty on adolescents and youth
- Worldwide, more than 15 million girls aged 15 to 19 years give birth every year, with about 19 per cent of young women in developing countries becoming pregnant before they turn 18. Globally, adolescent birth rates are highest in poor countries, and in all countries they are clustered among the poorest sectors of society, compounding the risk of poor maternal outcomes for both mother and child.
- An estimated 800 women in the world still die from pregnancy or childbirth-related complications each day, and the differences between developed and developing regions remain stark. In 2010, developing countries accounted for 99 per cent of all maternal deaths globally.
- “Providing support to families caring for persons with disabilities” is addressed by 61 per cent of countries, and the level of concern is proportional to the countries’ income level and inversely proportional to the countries’ population growth.
- For indigenous peoples in many countries, structural discrimination included the violence of forced displacements, loss of homeland and property, separation of families, enforced loss of language and culture, the commodification of their cultures, and a disproportionate burden of the consequences of climate change and environmental degradation.
- Migrants are frequently stigmatized and their risk of social discrimination remains high. States should ensure that migrants are able to realize the fundamental human rights of liberty, security of person, freedom of belief and protection against forced labour and trafficking, and should provide support for integration for migrant children.
- The overwhelming majority of countries (87 per cent) reported that they have addressed the issue of “preventing children’s abuse and neglect and [providing] assistance to [child] victims of abuse, neglect or abandonment, including orphans” during the past five years.
- AIDS remains the leading cause of death in women of reproductive age (15-49 years) worldwide.
- The percentage of pregnant women living with HIV who have access to antiretroviral therapy has risen dramatically owing to the sustained scale-up of vertical transmission programmes, with coverage reaching 63 per cent globally in 2012. There is, however, considerable variation in the coverage of prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV programmes between regions, with coverage exceeding 90 percent in Eastern and Central Europe and the Caribbean, while remaining at less than 20 per cent in the Pacific, the Middle East and North Africa. And while prevention of mother-to-child transmission has increased access to treatment among pregnant women, pregnant women still receive antiretroviral therapy for their own health at lower levels than the general population.
- Greater efforts should be made to promote and protect the human rights and fundamental freedoms of international migrants, regardless of their migration status, especially women, young people and children, and provide social protection to all migrants, including from illegal or violent acts, including acts of discrimination and crimes perpetrated on any basis, and to protect their physical integrity, dignity, religious beliefs and cultural values.
- Homeless youth differ from homeless adults because of their age (typically under 21), and from homeless children (in families) because they are homeless on their own. A variety of terms have been used to describe homeless youth, including runaways, throwaways and street youth, who may have raised themselves on the streets. These are not mutually exclusive groups. Most research has found roughly equal numbers of girls and boys among homeless adolescents, while boys are more common among older street youth.
- Recognition of the importance of legal identity by the international development and human rights communities has led to the increased profile of birth registration as a human rights issue. While the most developed countries have achieved universal coverage, in the least developed countries only about one third of births are registered
The report also highlights the global needs for: more population surveying; greater use of data for development planning; capacity strengthening; creating enabling legal and policy environments for participation and accountability; and collaboration, partnership, and coherence. The report concludes with key areas for action in governance and accountability; an emphasis on sustainability, including a description of the threat of global climate change, and an outline on paths to sustainability; and a look at monitoring the implementation of the Programme to Action beyond 2014.