{"id":32029,"date":"2013-07-22T12:00:01","date_gmt":"2013-07-22T11:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=32029"},"modified":"2015-05-06T09:00:05","modified_gmt":"2015-05-06T08:00:05","slug":"economics-and-population-policies-go-hand-in-hand-in-latin-america","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2013\/07\/economics-and-population-policies-go-hand-in-hand-in-latin-america\/","title":{"rendered":"Economics and Population Policies Go Hand in Hand in Latin America"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nearly 20 years after the landmark U.N. conference on population and development, the countries of Latin America have an opportunity to make headway with a new agenda on these issues, thanks to the favourable economic context that has made it possible to reduce social inequalities.<\/i><\/p>\n

The situation in the region was debated at the preparatory meeting in Rio de Janeiro for the first session of the Regional Conference on Population and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean, to be held Aug. 12-15 in Montevideo under the auspices of two specialised United Nations agencies.<\/p>\n

Demographers and government representatives from the region were convened by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) to a Jul. 15-17 meeting that took stock of pending challenges from the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), held in Cairo in September 1994, which approved a plan of action to 2014.<\/p>\n

The current context of economic growth and improvements in income distribution opens an opportunity for progress in the elimination of socioeconomic imbalances<\/a> and improvement in quality of life, says the basic document by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).<\/p>\n

Conference speaker Juan Jos\u00e9 Calvo, of the Uruguayan government\u2019s population commission, agrees with this analysis of a Latin American population that over the last six decades has expanded from 167 million people to 596 million, according to 2010 figures.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the last 20 years we have seen extremely significant progress, in some cases giant strides, which does not mean that we do not still face big challenges, even in the same areas. In other words, we have lifted dozens upon dozens of Latin Americans out of poverty and extreme poverty, but that does not change the fact that it is still the main problem to be solved,\u201d Calvo told IPS.<\/p>\n

The ICPD programme of action recommended a set of interlinked quantitative goals, such as universal access to primary school education, with a special emphasis on girls; the promotion of health and reproductive rights, including family planning; the reduction of maternal and child mortality and morbidity rates; gender equality; and an increase in life expectancy.<\/p>\n

In the framework of \u201csustainable development,\u201d it took account of more general issues such as reduction of poverty and social, generational and ethnic inequalities.<\/p>\n

In some countries these indicators improved, along with others that can help interrupt the cycle of inequality, like education. In Argentina, Chile and Uruguay, for instance, nearly all children and teens under 15 are in school, while on average in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua, one-quarter of young people in that age range are out of the system, Calvo said.<\/p>\n

Another stride forward was a rapid fall in fertility that began in the first half of the 20th century. Latin America and the Caribbean had some of the highest fertility rates in the world, at nearly six children per woman.<\/p>\n

Four decades later, fertility in the region was below the world average of 2.9 children per woman, and in recent decades it has dropped to 2.17.<\/p>\n

Since 1950, average life expectancy in Latin America and the Caribbean has increased by 23 years, to 75 years. During the same period, infant mortality plunged from 138 to 18 per 1,000 live births.<\/p>\n

But these improvements are not evenly distributed among countries, regions or ethnic groups. \u201cLatin America and the Caribbean remains the most unequal region on the planet, and that is probably its top priority challenge,\u201d said Calvo.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile we have made significant advances in most of the indicators that measure improvements in living conditions, there are still unacceptable gaps in sexual and reproductive health, poverty and education,\u201d he added, referring, for example, to indigenous peoples.<\/p>\n

Calvo said the basic problems could be traced back to the 1990s, when \u201cthe neoliberal governments that were predominant in the region gave up government planning as an instrument of public policies.\u201d<\/p>\n

At present, \u201cseveral progressive governments have resumed planning, including demographic planning,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cMany have created social development ministries and institutes for young people and for women, for example, which are effective mechanisms for implementing more advanced regulatory frameworks,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

However, not even these governments have been able to overcome internal conservative positions that hinder progress on issues like sexual and reproductive rights, regarded as \u201cfundamental\u201d by Brazilian demographer George Martine.<\/p>\n

According to Elsa Berc\u00f3 of Brazil, \u201cfundamentalist\u201d concepts blocked free discussion in Cairo of issues like sexual orientation, abortion and teenage pregnancy.<\/p>\n

These issues \u201cwere not materialised in public policies or in the decisions of higher courts,\u201d said Sonia Correa, the founder of the Brazilian women\u2019s group SOS Corpo.<\/p>\n

Martine told IPS that \u201cIn Cairo progress was made in terms of development, gender equity and reproductive rights, but not all of the agenda was discussed, and some touchier issues were left out of the debate for ideological reasons.\u201d<\/p>\n

He attributed this to \u201creligious opposition, which is even capable of influencing governments whose own agenda is more progressive.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Magdalena Chu, the founder of the postgraduate course on Demography and Population at the Cayetano Heredia University in Peru, highlighted the region\u2019s advances in sexual and reproductive rights.<\/p>\n

\u201cNowadays there is more of a sense that people are free to plan their families, and to use this or that method of family planning,\u201d she said. But she also blames conservative sectors for the fact that many governments have not been able to openly implement these policies.<\/p>\n

Speakers at the meeting in Rio de Janeiro brought up other pending issues, like urbanisation processes and their consequences for the environment.<\/p>\n

These are \u201cinevitable\u201d processes, but \u201cthere is a lack of policies on the part of administrators,\u201d according to Martine.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have made advances on the road to development, but we still have a great deal to do,\u201d Calvo summed up.<\/p>\n

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