A Glimpse of Post-Cairo Opinion in Brussels: Fact or fiction?
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Development. Copyright © 1999 The Society for International Development. SAGE Publications (London, Thousand Oaks, CA and New Delhi), 1011-6370 (199903) 42:1; 33–37; 007337.
Thematic Section
A Glimpse of Post-Cairo Opinion in Brussels: Fact or fiction? CYNTHIA INDRISO
ABSTRACT Cynthia Indriso asks to what degree have national governments and the international community been moving the Cairo consensus from rhetoric to reality since its historic creation five years ago? Her article is based on her work for a SID Campaign with other Italian NGOs to build awareness in Europe on reproductive rights supported by a series of informal interviews with key people representing various constituencies in Brussels. She outlines the attitudes and approaches of the different actors in Europe towards the implementation of the ICPD and population and development in general.
Attitudes to Cairo in the European Commission and Parliament No one can deny that progress is being made, albeit slowly, toward a systematization of the EU’s approach to gender, development, and reproductive health. With Lomé IV1 due to expire in the year 2000, much of the current debate in Brussels about population and reproductive health issues vis-à-vis Cairo has been held within the context of the forthcoming Lomé V Convention. Discussions are taking place at all levels – among NGOs, the private sector, the EC and member states, ACP governments and their ambassadors. One notable critique of the European Commission’s Green Paper2 states that it ‘takes a step backward on gender and development issues’, making the economy a priority over human rights and freedoms (European Commission, 1997). It goes on to say that it fails to take up gender as called for in the EC Resolution, and lacks a specifically-stated commitment to promoting and protecting women’s rights through European development cooperation policies and practice. Others also agree that the paper does not reflect existing European Union policy on gender, reproductive health, and development. This has raised the question of whether or not the existing policy is really understood, or regarded, by senior officials in the EC who drafted the document, and is providing an important forum for policy debate.
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Development 42(1): Thematic Section
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Within the European Commission itself, it is safe to say that progress has been made on integrating the issues into both EU and Member State development cooperation policies, with gender and reproductive rights and health at least more visible in policy statements and declarations of intent, such as a proposed EU Regulation on Integrating Gender Issues in Development Co-operation in July 1997. At the same time, the Commission proposed an EU Regulation on Aid for Population Policies and Programmes in the Developing Countries, which refers directly to the Cairo Conference and the implementation of its principles. A restructuring of budget lines and DG responsibilities is intended to expedite the rev
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