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  • Title: ICPD: in whose interest?
    Author: Shiva M.
    Journal: Health Millions; 1994 Jun; 2(3):4-7. PubMed ID: 12345780.
    Abstract:
    The International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) is set for September 1994. Arms control and control of military interests are as crucial as population control. The expenditure on the military and arms should go to social measures and true socioeconomic development. Women are leading the movement against war and towards peace. Women make up 70% of current refugees of ethnic conflicts. The conquest of free trade with little or no restriction and globalization trends forces developing countries to accept nonessential luxury items which tend to be irrational, hazardous consumer articles and technologies from industrialized countries. The privileged elite in developing countries and the industrialized countries overconsume, while the basic needs of the poor majority are not being met. The rich view the poor as a global threat and a threat for environmental degradation. They believe that free trade will solve all problems, yet it only marginalizes the poor and the vulnerable. The pattern of overconsumption is the threat. The poor are characterized as demons responsible for the population explosion. Women are angry that population control policies are attempts to control women's fertility. Specifically, most contraceptive technologies and most family planning programs target women. Male responsibility is ignored. Religious fundamentalists tell women not to become pregnant, not to use contraception, and not to seek abortion, yet they allow male sex behavior, e.g., sexual violence. This attitude leaves women vulnerable to unwanted pregnancies, sexually transmitted diseases, and AIDS. Developing countries should be concerned about chapter III on Population, Environment, and Development in the ICPD text. Most countries, including India, have formed a consensus on this chapter. The Vatican and some Latin American countries have objections, however. The meeting in Cairo will likely continue to promote the view that the fertility of women in developing countries and of women of color must be controlled.
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