Mr. Chairman,

Thank you for giving me this opportunity to make a brief statement on behalf of Partners in Population and Development (PPD) at this 51st Session of the UN Commission on Population and Development. As most of you are aware, PPD is an Inter-governmental Organization of 26 developing countries from Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Middle East representing 59% of the total world population. The organization was launched during ICPD in 1994 in Cairo, Egypt for promoting South-South Cooperation in Reproductive Health, Population and Development.

Mr. Chairman

PPD welcomes the theme of 51st Session of the UNCPD namely “Sustainable Cities, Human Mobility and International Migration” as it profoundly underpins the important demographic phenomena affecting population and development both within and between countries.

PPD has been addressing the migration issue within its six priority mandates which includes population dynamic and development; universal access to reproductive health and family planning; maternal and child health; healthy ageing, and poverty and reproductive health, utilizing South-South cooperation as a complementary approach towards achieving ICPD agenda and SDGs 2030.

In the past two decades or so, PPD has been actively engaged with South-South Cooperation in addressing migration issues by experience sharing, human resource development, policy dialogues, networking and partnership building. Considering the importance of the theme of its session, PPD organized its14th International Inter-ministerial Conference on Population and Development jointly with UNFPA and Government of Indonesia in Yogyakarta from 28 to 29 November 2017. The Conference  highlighted the same 51st Session CPD theme, and its outcome document namely “the Yogyakarta Call for Action” expressing the political will of the PPD 26 member countries to promote South-South Cooperation on the aspect of urbanization and migration.

Mr. Chairman

On behalf of 26 member countries of PPD, I would like to present a few salient commitment and recommendations of the Conference as follows:

1. PPD acknowledges the ongoing consultations on the Global Compact on Refugees (GCR) and the Global Compact on Safe, Orderly, and Regular Migration (GCM); recognizing the greater increase of domestic migrant population along with economic development and the increasingly female dimensions of migration; realizing the importance of social cohesion in achieving development.
2. PPD recognizes the unique challenges of population dynamics in the urban context of developing countries, particularly migration and ageing; acknowledging the immense opportunity to scale up data and outreach operations through South-South cooperation; and further acknowledging the importance of improved access to adolescent sexual and reproductive health information and education as well as sexual and reproductive health and family planning services in the urban settings; and realizing South-South Cooperation provides opportunities for sharing best practices in similar settings that can be replicated in the PPD member countries;
3. PPD encourages its member countries to integrate population dynamics into urban development plans in order to achieve sustainable cities as well as to link and synchronize the population dynamics data and the urbanization data. PPD calls upon the national governments to strengthen programmes addressing the needs of the mobile adolescent population groups, including their sexual and reproductive health needs and end violence against adolescent girls, and make sure that no one is left behind.  PPD encourages the governments to promote social cohesion of the mobile and migrant population groups by strengthening the health services facilities.
4. PPD recommends reviewing policies, alignment of programmes and integration of services targeted at the adolescent and youth groups so that they address the needs of domestic as well as mobile and migrant population.

Mr. Chainman,

In conclusion, PPD looks forward to the forthcoming debates and discussions on all the substantive and programmatic issues at this Fifty-first Session, has firm commitment and stands ready to contribute PPD’s experience in the South-South Cooperation in Reproductive Health, Population and Development.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for your attention.