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State of World Population 2024
This year's report takes the 30th anniversary of the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development as an opportunity to reflect on how far we have come in achieving sexual and reproductive health and rights for all. While the report celebrates the significant gains made it also considers who has been left out of that progress arguing that a more equitable future for all requires a renewed commitment to empowering those furthest behind.
Women are the thread
In an ideal world the advancement of women’s reproductive rights and the promotion of equitable access to sexual and reproductive health and rights would be inherently motivated by the principles of human rights and social justice. But real-world sociopolitical contexts often demand quantifiable arguments on the short-term and long-term returns on investments in such programmes. Indeed this was understood to be the case in 1994. Though the ICPD Programme of Action represented a monumental pivot away from population control policies and towards prioritizing the rights of all individuals the economic rationale nevertheless remained critical for justifying investments in these rights.
Foreword
Thirty years ago governments around the world agreed that reproductive health and rights are foundation stones of global development – a groundbreaking consensus that paved the way for decades of progress. Since then the global rate of unintended pregnancies has fallen by nearly 20 per cent globally. The number of women using modern contraceptive methods has doubled. Today at least 162 countries have adopted laws against domestic violence and maternal deaths have decreased by 34 per cent since 2000.
Weaving a collective future
“If you have come here to help me you are wasting your time. But if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine then let us work together.” These were the words of Lilla Watson an indigenous activist from Australia at the 1985 United Nations Decade for Women Conference in Nairobi.
A work in progress
A safe birth. A choice of contraceptives. Protection from gender-based violence. More people than ever before have realized these essential life-sustaining rights. But the number of people denied these rights has not yet reached zero – as it can and as it must.
Technical notes
The statistical tables in State of World Population 2024 include indicators that track progress towards the goals of the Framework of Actions for the follow-up to the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the areas of maternal health access to education and reproductive and sexual health. In addition these tables include a variety of demographic indicators. The statistical tables support UNFPA’s focus on progress and results towards delivering a world where every pregnancy is wanted every birth is safe and every young person's potential is fulfilled.
Unravelling inequality
The ICPD Programme of Action emerged in the aftermath of the Cold War a time of upheaval and uncertainty. That year 1994 saw both the end of apartheid in South Africa which held its first multiracial democratic election in April and the eruption of genocide in Rwanda that same month. Sweden legalized civil unions between same-sex partners – making it the third country ever to do so – as the global rate of new HIV infections was reaching its highest-ever peak (UNAIDS n.d.). The promise of collective action and the perils of failing to take such action could not have been more prominent in the minds of ICPD attendees in Cairo.
Counting every stitch
The 1994 ICPD and its resulting Programme of Action not only represented a moment of remarkable consensus around the value of universal sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights (Brown and others 2019; Sen and others 2019; Corrêa and others 2015) it also represented a powerful call for better and more transparent data – a contribution to global standards that has seldom been recognized. In fact an entire chapter of the Programme of Action Chapter XII (UNFPA 1994) is devoted to the need for “valid reliable timely culturally relevant internationally comparable data” including “gender and ethnicity-specific information”. It also called for research into the views of less-empowered groups of people and those in different cultural settings.
Economic and Social Survey of Asia and the Pacific 2024
Given the urgency of the SDG Stimulus and that public debt distress is likely to remain a major macroeconomic policy challenge for Asia and the Pacific in coming years the Survey 2024 will continue to focus on fiscal and public debt challenges and policy options. After outlining the changing economic financial and development context and its medium-term fiscal implications the Survey 2024 will dive deeper into policy options that developing Asia-Pacific economies as debtors and as part of the international community can explore to boost affordable and long-term financing for essential public spending on sustainable development and reduce the associated sovereign credit risks and costs. In addition to identifying ‘what’ policy actions should be taken the Survey 2024 will also give emphasis on ‘how to’ implement the needed policy actions. Insights from approaches such as political economy behavioural science and country case studies will be used.
伯克利数字开源调查协议
The Berkeley Protocol on Digital Open Source Investigations: A Practical Guide on the Effective Use of Digital Open Source Information in International Human Rights Humanitarian Law and Criminal Investigations. The Berkeley Protocol on Digital Open Source Investigations identifies international standards for conducting online research of alleged violations of international criminal human rights and humanitarian law. It provides guidance on methodologies and procedures for gathering analyzing and preserving digital information in a professional legal and ethical manner. The Protocol sets out measures that online investigators can and should take to protect the digital physical and psychosocial safety of themselves and others including witnesses victims and first responders (such as citizens activists and journalists) who risk their own wellbeing to document war crimes and human rights violations so that those who are responsible are brought to justice.
前言
自1990 年代初以来,数字工具和互联网,如 同之前的照相机和电话一样,彻底改变了我 们获取、收集和传播有关侵犯人权和其他严 重违反国际法行为的信息,包括国际犯罪的 信息。
Foreword
Our world is engulfed in a perfect storm. The ongoing effects of the cost-of-living crisis are joined by multiple conflicts geopolitical tensions rising mistrust and the triple planetary crisis of climate change biodiversity loss and pollution.
Macroeconomic prospects, challenges and policies
Macroeconomic conditions in the developing Asia-Pacific region continue to remain challenging despite higher GDP growth and moderating inflation. Average economic growth in the region picked up from 3.5 per cent in 2022 to 4.8 per cent in 2023; however the rebound was concentrated in only a few large economies. In other developing Asia-Pacific economies economic growth remained moderate in 2023. On the external front countries that rely on merchandise exports faced weak external demand especially from China and Europe. On the domestic front although global commodity prices have receded from their 2022 peaks following the outbreak of war in Ukraine and international sanctions related to that war average inflation in the Asia-Pacific region remained relatively high thus repressing household consumption.