In our recent issue on Faith and Sexuality, the Bulletin reported on a historic U.N. conference and its impact on global population policy. PRC Senior Researcher Larry Greenfield traveled to Bangladesh to share his concerns.

In a special session of the United Nations General Assembly next summer, the Programme of Action of the historic International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) of 1994 will undergo a five-year review. During the current year, a series of global round tables and technical symposia are being held to prepare for that assessment.

PRC researcher Larry Greenfield was a participant in the round table on Partnership with Civil Society held in Dhaka, Bangladesh, this July. With a long-standing interest in the ways religious traditions approach issues of sexuality and population, he was asked to share evaluations of how faith communities are responding to the recommendations of the 1994 Cairo conference and to suggest strategies for their greater involvement.

Prior to the ICPD, the Center had convened a domestic symposium and an international consultation on the perspectives religious communities bring to population policies and their specific reactions to the new Programme of Action. The Programme emphasized human rights and individual choice, women's empowerment, sustainable economic development, and environmental concerns instead of demographic targets and goals as central to global population policies. Subsequent to the ICPD, the Center engaged in two major research projects on related themes: one focusing on religion, sexuality, and public policy and the other on religion and civil discourse, with particular attention paid to issues of reproductive health and population policy.

This summer's Dhaka round table concentrated on four dimensions of partnership with civil society: (1) creating an enabling environment for the implementation of the Programme of Action; (2) mobilizing society to promote the ICPD agenda; (3) strengthening financial sustainability and building coalitions; and (4) promoting access to high quality reproductive health and family planning services.

At the round table, Greenfield gave special attention to the concern for social mobilization, since religious communities are often overlooked and sometimes seen as foes to population policies. The working group of which he was a member drafted five major recommendations, dealing with issues of communication, effective uses of the media, cooperation with related forums and networks, engagement with critics and adversaries, and the addressing of controversial topics and cultural taboos. In virtually every area, Greenfield reports, religion had a role to play. One recommendation, for example, stated, "Seek expert accounts of the nature and variety of religious teachings on ICPD-related issues among the world's religions and make these accounts available to all segments of civil society."

Recommendations from the round tables will be considered at an International Forum to be held at The Hague, the Netherlands in February 1999. Before that meeting, a two-day forum on Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) will be convened. The Dhaka round table suggested a significant representation of leaders and organizations from the world religions be included in the NGO Forum and that the topic of religion be included as an issue area on the Forum's agenda. The Park Ridge Center will participate in realizing this.