Draft first regional report on the implementation of the Montevideo Consensus on Population and Development

Chapter I
Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC)
At its second session, the Regional Conference on Population and Development also established an ad
hoc working group for the preparation of a proposal on the indicators for <strong>regional</strong> follow-up of the Montevideo
Consensus on Population and Development, which it stipulated would be open-ended, geographically
representative, composed of government-appointed experts and coordinated by Mexico. 7
The working group’s purpose was to prepare, in consultation with all the members of the Conference,
a proposal of the indicators to be used for the <strong>regional</strong> follow-up of the Montevideo Consensus based on a
review of the indicators suggested in the Operational guide, as well as in the proposals for the follow-up of the
2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and of the Programme of Action of the International Conference
on Population and Development beyond 2014. 8 ECLAC, with the support of the United Nations Population
Fund, would serve as technical secretariat of the ad hoc working group, which would include representatives
of civil society and other stakeholders in its tasks, whose opinions would be considered in the preparation of
the working group’s recommendations. 9
The ad hoc working group presented a progress <strong>report</strong> at the third meeting of the Presiding Officers of
the Regional Conference on Population and Development, held in Santiago from 4 to 6 October 2016. On that
occasion, the Presiding Officers reviewed the preliminary proposal on the indicators contained in the progress
<strong>report</strong> and reached agreements which served for the ad hoc working group to update its <strong>report</strong>. 10
It is important that convergence be achieved between the <strong>regional</strong> review of the Montevideo Consensus
and the preparation of national <strong>report</strong>s. Although they are different processes, the national <strong>report</strong>s are crucial
inputs for the <strong>regional</strong> follow-up. Accordingly, it was recommended that the countries should take into account
the indicators proposed by the ad hoc working group in their national <strong>report</strong>s, and this recommendation has
in fact been reflected in the <strong>report</strong>s received to date by the secretariat.
The national <strong>report</strong>s will be presented in the third session of the Regional Conference on Population and
Development in Latin America and the Caribbean, and part of their content was already presented at the
special meeting of the Presiding Officers in November 2017.
The draft <strong>first</strong> <strong>regional</strong> <strong>report</strong> on the implementation of the Montevideo Consensus on Population and
Development is presented in the sections that follow. The scope of work has been determined by the availability of
the necessary information to <strong>report</strong> on the activities carried out by the countries and on the indicators associated
with the priority measures of the Montevideo Consensus. It will be noted that many indicators approved for
<strong>regional</strong> follow-up still lack necessary data and, in some cases, their metadata have yet to be defined.
The <strong>report</strong> was prepared on the basis of information from official sources in the countries, such as
the national population censuses and surveys, the national progress <strong>report</strong>s on the implementation of the
Montevideo Consensus presented by the countries, 11 the voluntary presentations made by governments at
the special meeting of the Presiding Officers of the Regional Conference on Population and Development
in Latin America and the Caribbean, information from the countries systematized and compiled by ECLAC,
databases of United Nations bodies, the Sustainable Development Goal Indicators Database, voluntary national
<strong>report</strong>s on the fulfilment of the Sustainable Development Goals and a large bibliographical corpus of ECLAC
and United Nations documents, as well as academic research and documentation produced by civil society
on various topics.
7
See para. 13 of resolution 1(II) adopted at the second session of the Regional Conference on Population and Development of Latin America and the Caribbean
[online] https://www.cepal.org/sites/default/files/news/files/c1600275_<strong>report</strong>_crpd_2.pdf.
8
Ibid., para. 13.
9
Ibid., para. 14.
10
See para. 12 of the agreements [online] http://repositorio.cepal.org/bitstream/handle/11362/40645/1/S1601050_en.pdf.
11
In paragraph 12 of the agreements adopted at their special meeting, the Presiding Officers of the Regional Conference on Population and Development agreed
that “the countries that decide to submit their national progress <strong>report</strong>s on the implementation of the Montevideo Consensus on Population and Development
do so before 31 March 2018, so that the <strong>report</strong>s can be taken into consideration in the preparation of the draft <strong>first</strong> <strong>regional</strong> <strong>report</strong> on the implementation of the
Montevideo Consensus on Population and Development” (see [online] https://crpd.cepal.org/1e/sites/crpd1e/files/17-01123_mdp-e_agreements.pdf). By 17 April 2018,
the deadline for the draft <strong>regional</strong> <strong>report</strong> prior to the beginning of the editorial review process, the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Brazil, Chile, Colombia,
Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Jamaica, Panama, Peru, Suriname and Uruguay had submitted their voluntary national <strong>report</strong>s. It was also
possible to include some information from national <strong>report</strong>s, such as that of Mexico, which were received during the editorial review process.
28