Asian Forum of Parliamentarians on Population and Development

The Asian Forum of Parliamentarians on Population and Development (AFPPD)[1] is a coordinating body of National Committees of Parliamentarians on Population and Development and Parliamentary Committees dealing with population and development issues working to generate support and perpetuate cooperation among Asian parliamentarians in the area of population and development, and related fields. The Asian Forum is committed to informing, educating and motivating parliamentarians on the linkages between increasing population and issues such as reproductive health, family planning, food security, water resources, sustainable development, environment, ageing, urbanisation, migration, HIV/AIDS, and gender equality.

Background

With initiatives from UNFPA, AFPPD was formed in 1981 at the Asian Conference of Parliamentarians on Population and Development held in Beijing. AFPPD membership and programmes have increased multi-fold since then. AFPPD currently has twenty-four National Committees and has full-time office support in Afghanistan, Australia, Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Iran, Japan, Lao PDR, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Republic of Korea, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Viet Nam. A separate parliamentary group for population and development has been formed to support parliamentarians advocating in pacific countries supported by UNFPA/SPC.

AFPPD conducts regional and national seminars, conferences, and study visits and participations in event organized by other agencies if related to ICPD issues as a means to help parliamentarians increase their level of knowledge, obtain more information on population and development, and enhance their involvement and motivation in the areas surrounding ICPD issues.

AFPPD gives emphasis, for the most part, to national level activities including review of legislation, monitoring programme implementation, and advocacy at the constituency level on population and development related issues.

AFPPD also provides due importance to the participation and involvement of women parliamentarians and gender equality including Elimination of Violence against Women and male involvement in this process.

AFFPPD has also initiated programme to involve young parliamentarians, indigenous parliamentarians, parliamentarians with medical, teaching and legal professions.

AFPPD was registered with the Department of Skills and Labour, Government of Thailand on the 20th of October 1994 as an international non-governmental organization and has highest consultative status with UN ECOSOC; i.e., General Status. AFPPD also received UN Population Award of 2010.

As per the decision of the AFPPD 1990 General Assembly in Bangkok, reconfirmed in Kuala Lumpur in 1993, the permanent secretariat was moved from New Delhi to Bangkok in 1991. AFPPD has an Executive Director and full-time local and international support staff.

Standing Committees

Standing Committee on the Status of Women

The Executive Committee established the Standing Committee on the Status of Women in order to give special emphasis to the status of women and enhance participation of women parliamentarians. This Standing Committee serves to advise the AFPPD on parliamentarians' activities on the status of women, gender equality and equity, and Elimination of Violence against Women. Senator Claire Moore of Australia is the current Chair of this committee (2008–2011).

Standing Committee on Population and Food Security

AFPPD places high importance to the interrelationship between population and various socio-economic issues specially food security. This is to highlight the fact that unless population growth is addressed, it will be virtually impossible to tackle the issues of food security and its interrelations with water resources, poverty, environment, and climate change; therefore, AFPPD decided to form its Standing Committee on Population and Food Security in 2002. Current chair is Hon. Mr. Chiaki Takahashi, MP from Japan.

Standing Committee on Male involvement in EVAW

As a result of Regional Parliamentarians workshop on Male involvement in Elimination of Violence Against Women in 2009 in Bangkok and to pursue the issue further, a Standing Committee was constituted under the Chairmanship of, Dr. Puka Temu, the Deputy Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea. The Standing Committee met again in Port Macquerie, Australia on 18 December 2010 and elected Dr. Nicar Shihab, Member of Parliament of Indonesia as the Chairperson of the Standing Committee.

Members

Population Policy Tracking and Monitoring

Population and Policy Tracking and Monitoring Unit of AFPPD has created a database of population and reproductive health policies and legislations in cooperation with UNFPA.[2] The policy tracking and monitoring database is one of the most successful initiatives of AFPPD. AFPPD has been able to collect population and reproductive health related legislations[3] from nine countries such as Afghanistan, Australia, China, Fiji, India, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia and the Philippines. AFPPD has also been able to collect population policies[4] from 16 countries such as Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, India, Iran, Lao PDR, Maldives, Micronesia, Mongolia, New Zealand, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Timor Leste, Vietnam and South Korea, and sexual and reproductive health policies[5] from three countries as in Bangladesh, China and Sri Lanka.

Policy trends are being also tracked from time to time. Policy round-ups are prepared and disseminated twice a month to partner organizations and professionals in the field of population and reproductive health.

Parliamentary staff training on Population Policy Tracking and Monitoring was held in Bangkok, Thailand from November 7 to 10, 2010 where 25 staff members of national parliamentary committees and parliaments from 14 Asia-Pacific countries attended. This regional training was organized by AFPPD in cooperation with the Institute for Population and Social Research (IPSR), Mahidol University in Thailand, and supported by United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the Government of Japan. The training was conducted to improve the capacity of staff of national parliamentary committees and parliaments in Asia-Pacific countries in tracking policies related to population and reproductive health in the region. The training aimed to provide the participants with a better understanding of how population policies are created as well as providing them with the skills to find and monitor national population policies. Information was provided about what population policies are and how they are created, along with information about the various stakeholders involved in the process. Examples were provided from Thailand, showing how the country created its population policies, and how it is approaching the issue of migration and ageing.

References

  1. ↑ http://www.afppd.org
  2. ↑ http://www.afppd-populationpolicies.org
  3. ↑ http://afppd-populationpolicies.org/legislation.htm
  4. ↑ http://afppd-populationpolicies.org/population_policies.html
  5. ↑ http://afppd-populationpolicies.org/Sexual_and_Reproductive_Health_Policies.html
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Wednesday, November 05, 2014. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.