Title: Recognizing 25 years since the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in Cairo, Egypt and reaffirming the goals and ideals of the ICPD Programme of Action, including comprehensive sexual and reproductive health and rights.
Policy area: International Affairs

Summary:
This resolution reaffirms the goals of the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development, which include ensuring international reproductive rights and the right to bodily autonomy for all people. The resolution urges the United States to demonstrate its commitment to these goals.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 688 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 688

    Recognizing 25 years since the 1994 International Conference on 
 Population and Development (ICPD) in Cairo, Egypt and reaffirming the 
      goals and ideals of the ICPD Programme of Action, including 
        comprehensive sexual and reproductive health and rights.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           November 12, 2019

Ms. Frankel (for herself, Ms. Lee of California, Mrs. Napolitano, Mrs. 
Lawrence, Mr. Johnson of Georgia, Mr. Levin of Michigan, Mr. Espaillat, 
   Ms. Tlaib, Mr. Blumenauer, Ms. Norton, Ms. Wild, Mr. Pappas, Ms. 
 DeLauro, Mr. Grijalva, Ms. Castor of Florida, Ms. Titus, Ms. Speier, 
     Mr. Schiff, Mr. Raskin, Mr. Carson of Indiana, Mrs. Torres of 
  California, Ms. DeGette, Ms. Schakowsky, Mr. Cohen, Mr. Deutch, Mr. 
   Peters, Ms. Jayapal, Mr. McGovern, Mrs. Lowey, Mr. Hastings, Mr. 
Kennedy, Mrs. Davis of California, Mr. Smith of Washington, Mrs. Watson 
    Coleman, Mr. Welch, Mr. Connolly, Mr. Keating, and Mr. Brown of 
Maryland) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the 
                      Committee on Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
    Recognizing 25 years since the 1994 International Conference on 
 Population and Development (ICPD) in Cairo, Egypt and reaffirming the 
      goals and ideals of the ICPD Programme of Action, including 
        comprehensive sexual and reproductive health and rights.

Whereas the United States played a central role in the creation of the United 
        Nations in 1945 following World War II to promote international 
        cooperation;
Whereas the United States encouraged the establishment of the United Nations 
        Population Fund (UNFPA) in 1969 and continues to serve on its Executive 
        Board;
Whereas the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), which 
        was attended by officials from the Executive Office of the President, 
        Congress, and United States civil society and private sector 
        organizations, was convened by the UNFPA and the Population Division of 
        the United Nations Department for Economic and Social Information and 
        Policy Analysis in Cairo from September 5 to September 13, 1994, for the 
        purpose of addressing critical issues regarding population, development, 
        and human rights;
Whereas the resulting ICPD Programme of Action, to which the United States is a 
        signatory, asserts that the focus of development policy must be the 
        improvement of individual lives, measured by progress in addressing 
        inequalities;
Whereas civil society played an indispensable role in shaping and executing the 
        ICPD Programme of Action and continues to do so today;
Whereas since the adoption of the ICPD Programme of Action in 1994, significant 
        progress has been made towards universal access to sexual and 
        reproductive health and rights, including but not limited to--

    (1) a global increase in voluntary access to modern contraception by 25 
percent;

    (2) a decline in the number of deaths due to unsafe abortion from 
69,000 in 1990 to 22,800 in 2014, due to liberalization of abortion laws 
and increased access to safe and effective methods of abortion across the 
globe;

    (3) a decrease in maternal deaths by 40 percent globally; and

    (4) enhanced access to medical advances such as the development of 
antiretroviral therapies, which 23,300,000 people living with HIV accessed 
in 2018, contributing to significant decreases in HIV acquisition and 
transmission;

Whereas gaps and challenges in achieving the goals of the ICPD Programme of 
        Action remain as progress has been unequal and fragmented and new 
        challenges have emerged, such as--

    (1) 214,000,000 women worldwide who still have unmet contraceptive 
needs;

    (2) 295,000 women who still die annually from complications during 
pregnancy and childbirth globally, nearly all of which are preventable and 
1 out of 4 of which could be prevented by access to contraception;

    (3) up to 13.2 percent of maternal deaths that can be attributed to 
unsafe abortion;

    (4) more than 1,000,000 STIs that are--

    G    (A) acquired worldwide every day because access to education about 
STIs and STI testing is not universally available due to a lack of trained 
personnel, comprehensive sexual education, laboratory capacity, and 
medicines; and

    G    (B) exacerbated by the separation of STI services from other 
services, such as primary health care or family planning;

    (5)(A) 1,700,000 people who became newly infected with HIV in 2018, 54 
percent of which are among key populations and their sexual partners; and

    (B) the risk of acquiring HIV is 22 times higher among men who have sex 
with men, 22 times higher among people who inject drugs, 21 times higher 
for sex workers, and 12 times higher for transgender people;

    (6) adolescent girls and young women (ages 15-24) who are at a higher 
risk of becoming infected with HIV and 4 out of 5 new infections among 
adolescents (aged 15-19) in sub-Saharan Africa are among girls;

    (7) 35 percent of women worldwide who have experienced physical or 
sexual intimate partner violence or sexual violence, or sexual violence by 
a non-partner at some point in their lives, a vulnerability that may 
increase as a result of characteristics such as sexual orientation, 
disability status, HIV status, and pregnancy, or contextual factors, such 
as humanitarian crises and conflict; and

    (8) 35,000,000 women and girls of reproductive age who are in need of 
humanitarian assistance;

Whereas the ICPD Programme of Action and other international human rights 
        standards recognize that access to comprehensive sexual and reproductive 
        health care, including abortion, is an essential human right, and that 
        ending gender-based violence and the prevention and treatment of HIV are 
        key priorities to advancing sexual and reproductive health and rights 
        for all people, and attaining the ICPD Programme of Action milestones 
        and the Sustainable Development Goals;
Whereas the ICPD called on governments to commit themselves at the highest 
        political level to achieving the goals and objectives of the Programme 
        of Action and to take a leading role in coordinating the implementation, 
        monitoring, and evaluation of follow-up actions; and
Whereas the General Assembly of the United Nations endorsed the ICPD Programme 
        of Action in 1995, affirmed that governments should commit themselves to 
        their goals and objectives, and called upon all governments to give the 
        widest possible dissemination of the Programme of Action and seek public 
        support for its goals, objectives, and actions: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
            (1) commends the notable progress made in achieving the 
        goals set in 1994 at the ICPD and the follow up and outcomes of 
        subsequent review conferences;
            (2) recommits to the achievement of these goals;
            (3) champions the right to bodily autonomy and self-
        determination for all, regardless of race, ethnicity, religion, 
        income, country of domicile or origin, migratory or refugee 
        status, sexual orientation or gender identity, disability, HIV 
        status, marital status, age, or socioeconomic status;
            (4) recognizes sexual and reproductive health and rights, 
        including family planning, abortion care, maternal health, STI 
        and HIV prevention, testing and treatment, and freedom from 
        gender-based violence and discrimination, as key to achieving 
        gender equity, universal health coverage, sustainable 
        development, and economic empowerment;
            (5) commits to advocating for and providing such services 
        and rights to marginalized and key populations, including men 
        who have sex with men, transgender people, sex workers, people 
        who are incarcerated, people in conflict or humanitarian 
        settings, adolescent girls and young women, and people who 
        inject drugs;
            (6) acknowledges that without a firm, rights-based approach 
        to development, reproductive health, and gender equality, it 
        will not be possible to meet the goals of either the ICPD or 
        the Sustainable Development Goals;
            (7) acknowledges and condemns the recent backsliding that 
        has occurred globally, particularly regarding abortion access, 
        that is contrary to evidence-based health practices and 
        established human rights norms and could set back the progress 
        made on reducing unsafe abortions;
            (8) accepts the responsibility of the United States, as the 
        largest funder of global health, to encourage the goals of ICPD 
        among other countries and set a global example through United 
        States funding and policies;
            (9) urges the United States Government to demonstrate its 
        commitment to the vision outlined in the ICPD Programme of 
        Action by reinstating funding for UNFPA, the lead United 
        Nations agency focused on sexual and reproductive health, and 
        by rescinding harmful policies, such as the Mexico City Policy 
        and its multiple expansions; and
            (10) encourages the international community to adopt a bold 
        vision for comprehensive sexual and reproductive health and 
        rights at the 2019 Nairobi Summit to mark the 25th anniversary 
        of the ICPD Programme of Action.
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