IV
103D CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. CON. RES. 234
Expressing the sense of the Congress regarding the role of the United States
at the International Conference on Population and Development.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH 24, 1994
Mrs. MORELLA (for herself, Mr. BEILENSON, and Mr. PORTER) submitted the
following concurrent resolution; which was referred to the Committee on
Foreign Affairs
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
Expressing the sense of the Congress regarding the role
of the United States at the International Conference
on Population and Development.
Whereas slowing rapid global population growth, and the pro-
motion of sustainable economic development and safe, ac-
cessible family planning programs, are high priority con-
cerns of the United States;
Whereas such urgent global population and development chal-
lenges will require strengthened international institutions
and increased international cooperation;
Whereas the International Conference on Population and De-
velopment, to be held in Cairo, Egypt, in September
1994, represents an important opportunity to reach
agreements on such international cooperation;
•HCON 234 IH
Whereas the International Conference on Population and De-
velopment presents a unique opportunity for the commu-
nity of nations to address the interdependent issues of
population, economic prosperity, and environmentally sus-
tainable development;
Whereas the International Conference on Population and De-
velopment will be a milestone in a continuing process of
improving the international response to the issues within
the purview of the Conference;
Whereas, during the 1980’s, nearly 800,000,000 people, a
number three times greater than the population of the
United States, were added to the world’s population;
Whereas, according to the United Nations, if further actions
are not taken immediately to slow population growth,
global population could more than double from the cur-
rent number of 5,600,000,000 to 12,500,000,000 by the
year 2050, and could more than triple by the year 2100;
Whereas more than 500,000,000 women lack access to safe
and effective voluntary family planning and reproductive
health care, and half of the estimated 910,000 daily con-
ceptions are unplanned;
Whereas over 500,000 women worldwide die annually from
complications related to pregnancy and childbirth, and
another 10,000,000 women annually suffer long-term ill-
ness or permanent physical impairment from a lack of
adequate reproductive health care;
Whereas women’s low status, and lack of access to basic edu-
cation, training, credit, jobs, and resources such as land,
bear a direct relationship to high fertility rates and limit
women’s ability to exercise control over their fertility;
•HCON 234 IH
Whereas the inability of women throughout much of the
world to exercise voluntary family planning undermines
women’s struggle for self-determination, contributes to
death and suffering among women and their children,
and frustrates the efforts of families to lift themselves
out of poverty, in which over 1,000,000,000 of the
world’s more than 5,000,000,000 people live;
Whereas rapid population growth aggravates poor health,
perpetuates poverty, and inhibits saving and investment
by Nations, particularly investment in people in the form
of basic health and education services;
Whereas the impact of human population growth, wasteful
consumption of natural resources, and widespread pov-
erty is evident in mounting signs of stress on the world’s
environment, particularly in deforestation, erosion of ara-
ble land and watersheds, extinction of plant and animal
species, global climate change, waste management, and
air and water pollution;
Whereas 
rapid 
population 
growth, 
in 
addition 
to
overconsumption, undermines efforts for sustainable de-
velopment and is directly tied to degradation of the natu-
ral resource base and the environment;
Whereas rapid population growth can contribute to economic
stagnation and political instability;
Whereas, in 1989, experts from 79 countries, including the
United States, convened at the International Forum on
Population in the 21st Century in Amsterdam and deter-
mined that worldwide expenditures for population assist-
ance must double by the year 2000 in order to achieve
a 75 percent contraceptive use rate, which would result
in a world population meeting the United Nations’ me-
•HCON 234 IH
dian variant projection of 11,200,000,000 people by the
year 2050;
Whereas actions taken before the turn of the century will de-
termine whether world population doubles or triples in
the 21st century;
Whereas it is a fundamental human right to freely and re-
sponsibly decide the number and spacing of one’s chil-
dren, and to have the information, education, and means
to do so;
Whereas the International Conference on Population and De-
velopment provides the United States with the oppor-
tunity to reestablish itself as a leader of international ef-
forts to ensure that individuals and couples around the
world are able to exercise this fundamental human right,
and of efforts to promote economic prosperity, sustain-
able development, and environmental protection;
Whereas the role of the United States in negotiations on the
International Conference on Population and Development
is crucial to the success of the Conference; and
Whereas the 3d preparatory committee meeting to plan the
International Conference on Population and Development
will be held in New York in April 1994: Now, therefore,
be it
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate
concurring), That it is the sense of the Congress that, at
the International Conference on Population and Develop-
ment, the United States should—
(1) place the highest priority on the success of
the Conference by participating actively in the Con-
•HCON 234 IH
ference, particularly through the personal participa-
tion of the President of the United States;
(2) propose or support an initiative concerning
the financing of global cooperation on efforts to slow
rapid population growth, that—
(A) takes into account the costs of slowing
rapid international population growth and the
basic development goals of developing countries;
and
(B) increases accountability for the use of
funds provided for family planning purposes;
(3) seek to initiate a process of regular high-
level intergovernmental consultations on the issues
under consideration at the Conference;
(4) seek to establish improved organizational
and procedural means to implement the objectives of
the Conference;
(5) support the effective implementation of a
global action plan to raise the economic, educational,
and leadership status of women;
(6) promote public participation, especially par-
ticipation by women, at all levels of formulation and
implementation of family planning and sustainable
development policy and programs; and
•HCON 234 IH
(7) support programs that provide maternal
and child health care, education and training for
women, and voluntary family planning.
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