20 March 2015, Vientiane – The International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) was first organized in Cairo, Egypt, in 1994 bringing 179 countries to discuss the interlink between population and development. The diverse views of human rights, population, sexual and reproductive health, gender equality and sustainable development, merged into a remarkable global consensus that placed individual dignity and human rights, including the right to plan one’s family at the very heart of development.

After 20-year of the implementation of the ICPD Programme of Action (PoA), the review of the implementation revealed progresses in many areas that have improved the wellbeing of the world population. The review shows that the world’s future development agenda will unfold in the midst of dramatic demographic transformations – a population of 7.2 billion and counting, more young people than ever before, a global ageing transition, increasing mobility and unprecedented urbanization – coinciding with high income and wealth inequality, gender inequality and inequalities in access to sexual and reproductive health and rights.

The comprehensive ICPD beyond 2014 review overwhelmingly supports the consensus that investing in individual human rights, capabilities and dignity across multiple sectors and through the life course is the foundation of sustainable development.

Lao PDR as one of the countries adopted the ICPD Programme of Action in 1994 conducted a dissemination workshop to share the ICPD beyond 2014 Framework of Action on 20 March 2015, at the Lao Plaza Hotel, to guide post-2015 development in Lao PDR and to ensure the continuous implementation of the ICPD agenda in particular through the 8^th National Socio-Economic Development Plan.

Dr Khamlien Pholsena, Vice Minister of Planning and Investment, said at the workshop: “The recommendation have major implication for our national institutions and for governance, including conceptual and analytical framing of the links between rights and development, and a coherent development framework based on the comprehensive treatment of social, economic, and environment issues. They are also central to the post 2015 development agenda. By bringing individual dignity and rights with collective sustainability, the ICPD beyond 2014 Framework of Action can help guide the way to achieving the aims of the post-2015 process, and realizing a sustainable future”

“ICPD agenda is still very much relevant today after 20 years. Protecting the rights of women and girls, fulfilling commitments to gender equality and women’s empowerment, including the eradication of gender-based violence; and ensuring universal access to sexual and reproductive health and rights for all, particularly women and young people; are essential for future prosperity of the country” said Dr. Hassan Mohtashimi, Representative of UNFPA Lao PDR