Omar Anderson, Gleaner WriterFOREIGN AFFAIRS and Trade Minister K.D. Knight says Jamaica has made significant progress in implementing aspects of an agreement reached at the 1994 United Nation's Population Fund's (UNFPA), international conference on population and development.
The conference was held in Cairo, Egypt.
Yesterday, the UNFPA released its 2004 report, entitled The Cairo Consensus at Ten: Population, Reproductive Health and the Global Effort to End Poverty, during a ceremony at the Foreign Affairs Ministry in New Kingston.
PLANS IMPLEMENTATION
It was there that Mr. Knight explained that the implementation of the goals of the Cairo confe-rence was inextricably linked to Jamaica's achievement of the millennium development goals to which the country committed itself in 2000 at the United Nation's millennium summit.
According to the Minister, some of the achievements from this partnership so far include the revision of the national population policy and the formulation of a plan of action on population and development; the development and implemen-tation of a national poverty eradication policy and programme; an extensive programme of reform of the social safety net; the establishment of
a National Centre for Youth Development to
consolidate and coordinate youth development efforts; and the adoption and implementation of a national policy for the elderly.
SPECIAL MOBILISATION
"Our commitment to integrate population issues into development is evident in the formulation of several successful policies, plans and programmes as an integral part of the enjoyment of basic human rights," Mr. Knight said. He added that significant resources will be required over the next 10 years to translate Jamaica's plans and programmes into reality.
Hetty Serjeant, UNFPA's representative in Jamaica, pointed out that this year's report calls for a special mobilisation of Government's 'political will and resources' to make the Cairo vision a reality.
"It is an assessment on whether we have kept the promise," she said. "It is a call for governments to invest in the education, health and human rights of women and young people to ensure a more equitable and sustainable world."
