Viscount Craigavon – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Viscount Craigavon on 2014-06-16.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what actions they will take to help implement the Stockholm Statement of Commitment developed at the April 2014 International Conference on Population and Development.
Baroness Northover
The UK Government is fully committed to the principles of the International Conference on Population and Development’s (ICPD) Programme of Action and will continue to uphold these principles in its development work. We consider 2014, as the twentieth anniversary and review year of the ICPD, as an important moment to recognise progress and to address remaining gaps and emerging challenges.
We have been fully engaged in the intergovernmental process for the review of the ICPD, including actively participating in the regional and thematic conferences, the 47th Commission on Population and Development which took place in April of this year, as well as preparations for the upcoming special session at the United Nations General Assembly in September. The Stockholm Statement of Commitment was the outcome document agreed by participants attending the Sixth International Parliamentarians’ Conference on the Implementation of the ICPD Programme of Action, which also took place in April. Official representatives from the UK Government did not participate in the Stockholm parliamentarians’ meeting. However, the Stockholm Statement does endorse a number of the elements we have been supporting throughout our engagement in the ICPD review process and will continue to support, including that sexual and reproductive health and rights become a reality for all, without distinction of any kind.
