17 October 2016
LAC Countries Standardize Reporting on Population Issues
Photo by IISD/ENB | Kiara Worth
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Representatives of 17 Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) countries adopted a format for national reports on progress in implementing the Montevideo Consensus on Population and Development, which is the main intergovernmental agreement on population and development issues in the region.

The national reports are intended to contribute to the Forum of the Countries of Latin America and the Caribbean on Sustainable Development in its review of regional implementation of the 2030 Agenda, among other processes.

6 October 2016: Representatives of 17 Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) countries adopted a format for national reports on progress in implementing the Montevideo Consensus on Population and Development, which is the main intergovernmental agreement on population and development issues in the region. The national reports are intended to contribute to the Forum of the Countries of Latin America and the Caribbean on Sustainable Development in its review of regional implementation of the 2030 Agenda, among other processes.

The third meeting of the Presiding Officers of the Regional Conference on Population and Development (CRPD) convened from 4-6 October 2016, in Santiago, Chile. Alicia Bárcena, Executive Secretary of the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), said stable population growth, aging and urbanization are the main demographic processes relevant to the implementation of the Montevideo Consensus and the 2030 Agenda in the LAC region. She called for strengthening demographic databases in order to support policies aimed at reducing both poverty and inequality.

Patricia Chemor, Chair of the Presiding Officers, said national institutions must be strengthened to maintain statistical consistency and comparability. Other speakers emphasized that the CRPD must play a key role in follow-up to the 2030 Agenda and the newly established Forum of the Countries of Latin America and the Caribbean on Sustainable Development. The Forum will hold its first meeting in April 2017, in Mexico.

During the meeting, the Presiding Officers: recognized the contribution that national reports will make to the Forum’s review of regional implementation of the 2030 Agenda; invited countries to continue efforts to identify areas of compatibility between the Montevideo Consensus and the 2030 Agenda; and discussed a proposal of indicators for follow-up of the Consensus, aiming to ensure comparability between countries.

The indicators proposal will be submitted for adoption at the third CRPD, convening in El Salvador in 2017. The first regional review will be undertaken at the fourth CRPD, in 2019. Countries are also expected to present their national reports at the third CRPD.

Countries also encouraged continuing information-sharing and communication between the presiding officers of ECLAC’s subsidiary bodies, particularly the Regional Conference on Women, the Statistical Conference of the Americas and the Regional Conference on Social Development.

ECLAC serves the Presiding Officers as Secretariat, and Mexico is currently serving as Chair of the Presiding Officers. The Montevideo Consensus on Population and Development was adopted in August 2013, and includes measures both for integrating population issues into sustainable development, and in the areas of childhood, adolescence and youth, aging, sexual and reproductive health, gender equality, migration, territorial inequality and indigenous peoples and Afro-descendants. In 2015, an operational guide was developed as a technical voluntary instrument to help implement the Consensus. [ECLAC Press Release, 4 October] [ECLAC Press Release, 6 October] [Montevideo Consensus] [Operational Guide]

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