12 Jul 2010
11 July 2010 marks the 21st anniversary of World Population Day. "Everyone counts", this year's theme seeks to draw the world's attention and call to action to address key issues of population and development.
The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) resolved to observe this day every year with the view to bring governments’ attention to the growing world population and the many development challenges this pose to the environment and natural resources.
The theme for this year's World Population Day lies at the centre of the South African population policy and reaffirms our government's commitment to ensuring that our people remain at the centre of all our development endeavours.
Over the last 16 years, our government has worked tirelessly to entrench human rights and made "everyone count" through government policies and programmes, and through the provision of basic services in key areas such as social development, health, education, housing, water and sanitation to the most vulnerable members of our society.
The International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) held in Cairo (Egypt) in 1994 and the adoption of the programme of action were a turning point and provided the necessary impetus to population and development issues.
Since then, population and development have become more important policy issues and priorities for governments across the world, and ours is no exception.
In April 1998, Parliament adopted the White Paper on Population Policy for South Africa (hereafter referred to as the population policy) which is founded upon the ICPD programme of action.
The shift to the sustainable human development paradigm rather than the emphasis on demographic targets; places population at the heart of development strategies.
The 10 year review of the South African population policy and the 15 year review of the ICPD programme of action show that government has made remarkable progress in key areas of development.
More than ever before, access to primary and secondary schooling has almost reached universal enrolment, more children have greater access to free primary healthcare and that more than eight million children receive social assistance in the form of social grants transfers.
As we commemorate the World Population Day this year, we reaffirm our government's resolve to accelerate progress towards the full realisation of the rights of our people as envisioned in the Freedom Charter and our Constitution.
We also reaffirm our commitment to tackle the remaining development challenges that continue to confront our country. This includes the socio-economic imbalances and the growing inequality between the rich and the poor, urban and rural disparities, high unemployment, particularly among young people, ageing population and mitigating the impact of HIV and AIDS to make our people the driving force and ultimate beneficiaries of development.
Equally, we will accelerate progress on key issue of national importance of gender equality and women empowerment through expanded access to education and health services, skills development and employment, and full participation in policy and decision making processes at all levels of government and society.
In South Africa, this year's World Population Day falls on the same day as the final match of the 2010 FIFA World Cup. For this reason the national commemoration has been postponed to August and will take place in Parliament, Cape Town.
The highlight of this event will be the official launch of the report entitled: "Progress review on the implementation of the White Paper on Population Policy for South Africa and the ICPD programme of action".
For enquiries contact:
Mandla Mathebula
Cell: 083 282 6133
Issued by: Department of Social Development
12 Jul 2010
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