7-9 Aug 2018 Lima, Peru | Conferences and meetings of subsidiary bodies
The countries of Latin America and the Caribbean approved today Peru’s proposal to host the Third Regional Conference on Population and Development, at the closing session of the Special Meeting of the Presiding Officers of the Conference, which was held from November 7 to 9 at the headquarters of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) in Santiago, Chile.
The Third Conference will take place during the third quarter of 2018 with the aim of providing follow-up on the implementation of the Montevideo Consensus, the region’s most important intergovernmental agreement on population and development, adopted at the first meeting of the Conference, held in 2013 in Uruguay.
At the gathering, the project of the first regional report on implementation of the Montevideo Consensus will be examined as well. This will serve as a contribution to the global review and evaluation of the Action Program of the International Conference on Population and Development Beyond 2014, which will take place in 2019 in the framework of the 52nd session of the United Nations Commission on Population and Development.
Participants in the special meeting, organized by ECLAC and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), included ministers and senior authorities linked to the areas of population and development, specialists, academics, delegates from international bodies, and many representatives of civil society.
The Presiding Officers of the Regional Conference recognized the progress that countries in the region have achieved on implementing the Montevideo Consensus and its operational guide, as well as their headway on preparing national reports of a voluntary nature that will be presented at the Third Meeting of the Conference in Peru.
In addition, it highlighted the work carried out by Mexico and in particular by Patricia Chemor, Secretary General of the National Population Council (CONAPO), in her role as President of the Presiding Officers of the Regional Conference. It also praised the work of the technical secretariat, which is led by UNFPA.
During the meeting, 23 countries made voluntary presentations regarding national progress on the implementation of the Consensus.
“This occasion allowed us to take the time to understand the methodologies that countries are using to prepare their national reports and examine some of their results. It also paved the way for closer dialogue with civil society to hear their concerns and interests regarding this process,” said Paulo Saad, Director of CELADE – Population Division of ECLAC, in his closing remarks.
He added that the meeting’s outcomes, ahead of the Third Regional Conference in 2018, “will undoubtedly enrich the national reports that countries will present next year and, at the same time, will facilitate the preparation of the regional report on implementation of the Montevideo Consensus.”
Saad highlighted that “the work done over the last few days demonstrates that there is a broad and comprehensive view of population and development matters in Latin America and the Caribbean.” He also indicated that one of the most significant contributions of the Montevideo Consensus “is the confluence of intergenerational, gender and ethnic perspectives which, along with other processes, enriches the implementation of the 2030 Agenda in Latin America and the Caribbean.”
Those attending the meeting approved the proposal of indicators for follow-up of the Montevideo Consensus contained in the Final Report of the Ad Hoc Working Group, made up of experts from 17 countries in the region.
