Chairperson, colleagues

I wish to thank the general secretariat on the very informative and direction giving reports prepared for the 33^rd session of the Commission. We would like to dwell on a number of aspects that require attention to give direction to the Commission’s work programme and future activities.

In building the ICPD Programme of Action into the new millennium, with specific reference to gender, we would like to highlight three themes, i.e. globalization, HIV / AIDS and reproductive health.

The current stage or phase of globalization is characterised by increasing trade liberalisation and macro economic reform. We have noticed in the developing world that globalization in its current form has tended to sharpen and deepen societal fault lines. With this we mean that marginal social groups worldwide seem to find themselves in even more uncompetitive economic positions, and have more difficulty than before to play an integrated role in society. Here, we specifically refer to the poor and women living in poverty, including in rural areas. The population consequences are wide ranging, including (to mention but a few):

• triggering migration, without guarantees of better conditions at the destination;
• diminishing opportunities for women, including girl children;
• fostering prostitution for survival;
• making it increasingly difficult for governments to meet social service needs;
• the rapid expansion of the HIV / AIDS pandemic.

Chairperson, I think we all have to agree that we need a population response to globalization, that will ensure that the benefits that can be reaped from global economic integration do translate into opportunities for those who were historically excluded from economic participation. Collectively and individually we will however have to consciously embark on and support programmes that:

• accelerate educational and development opportunities for all, but especially for women and girl children;
• promote legal frameworks that entrench gender equality;
• open non-exploitative economic opportunities for all;
• mitigate the devastating impact of disasters, including natural and human made disasters;
• ensure that liberalised trade regimes are underpinned by corresponding and enabling migration regimes;
• recognise and challenge HIV / AIDS as a global population concern;

On HIV / AIDS, the tendency still seems to be to dwell on the impact of the pandemic on population size and life expectancy. South Africa believes that an approach should be developed that is also based on the interrelationships between population, the environment and development, and reflects the aspects of population that best describe those relationships, i.e. population structure. The trend in Southern Africa, and data seem to suggest elsewhere as well, is that very specific groups (economically active age groups) are most severely affected by the pandemic. And increasingly women in those groups are becoming the victims of the disease, and carry the heaviest burden of AIDS induced poverty. The effect of this structural impact of AIDS will be to devastate social and economic support systems in those societies that can least afford it, and will increase dependency to levels not known in recent history.

Unlike other variables that relate to global integration, like those monitored through economic surveillance systems, HIV/AIDS sneaks into societies without much warning, and usually gets discovered too late.

We have learnt in South Africa that the trends associated with traditional population indicators can be deceptive - our fertility trends are similar to those of rapidly developing societies where one would expect women to enjoy reasonable opportunities and improved status. The shocking impact of HIV / AIDS has exposed the weaknesses in our society, and taught us that reproductive health, sexual reproductive rights and family planning services have to be complemented by:

• a legal and social framework of rights, including sexual reproductive rights and the freedom for women to exercise reproductive choices;
• education, to enhance social and economic mobility;
• poverty reduction and frameworks to sustainably eliminate vulnerability to natural and human made disasters;
• the promotion of a culture of human rights and equality.

Chairperson and colleagues, we look forward to participating in this week’s deliberations with a view to contributing in much more detail on these issues I have raised, in order to ensure that population and development in the new millennium becomes one of the major tools to decisively eradicate gender inequality from the global map.

Thank you.