Rio + 20: The Future We Want and Population Control

By Stefano Gennarini, J.D. | June 14, 2012

“The Future We Want” is the title chosen for the document that will be the outcome of the Rio + 20 UN Conference on Sustainable Development. For the moment, it looks as though Population Control will not feature in that document as a result of developing countries’ refusal to bow to demands from western countries who are intent on keeping the earth green by getting rid of people.

During yesterday’s negotiations the G77, who represents over half the nations of the earth, shot down a proposal by New Zealand that linked sexual and reproductive health to “population dynamics”. This has been going on for a long time in UN negotiations, and is one of the reasons that “sexual and reproductive health”, terms that have always been controversial in UN negotiations, are increasignly avoided in negotiations.

Several countries in the G77 feel that “sexual and reproductive health” are simply another word for population control. It now looks as though the SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) that will substitute the MDGs (Millenium Development Goals) will not even feature “universal access family planning”, which was included in MDG 5.

“The Future We Want” will not be a binding document. It is a political document without legal import. Whatever goals and ideals make their way into the document will not change the world over night. But, the outcome document of this conference will have political significance. It is an indication of the direction in which the political elites of the world want our future to go. For the most part, its success will only be assured if policies from the document become hard law through national legislation.

Of course, UN agencies and other powerful international actors who are unaccountable to countries and their populations will be able to implement the policies they choose whether or not they are in the outcome document. UNFPA (United Nations Population Fund) who has been lobbying heavily with delegations in the bulid up towards Rio will continue to cry that the world is overpopulated and hand out condoms as if they were candy. Other international actors will instead insist this is a matter of women’s rights.

Regardless, if the negotiations continue as they are proceeding now, it will spell a victory for the pro-life movement. Twenty years ago the first UN Conference on Sustainable Development took place in Rio Centro, the very same conference center where negotiations are underway today. Population Control was unashamedly one of the primary focuses of the conference and the policies that were outlined in the Rio Declaration, the 21 Rio Principles, and Agenda 21.

Twenty years ago many developing countries did not question the science and desirability behind population control policies.Today, developing countries are more weary of mentions of population dynamics, population reduction or stabilization and simliar verbiage. Countries now know that population woes are grossly overstated, and are even fearful of being subjected to the same economic fate as european countries if they adopt population control as a policy. In addition, the racial motivation at the origins of population policies still alarm developing countries.

Advocates of population control are fuming (see here). For them population growth is a problem that needs to be addressed through “non-coercive population stabilization and reduction policies”. These they argue are a “win, win, win” for all. They blame the “Vatican”, that is the Holy See (as they are known formally in international politics), for the recent setbacks on population control because of their “monstrous doctrine on contraception”.

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