Asian Forum of Parliamentarians on Population and Development
Encyclopedia
The Asian Forum of Parliamentarians on Population and Development (AFPPD) 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.
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.
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.
, Australia
, China
, Fiji
, India
, Indonesia
, Iran
, Malaysia and the Philippines
. AFPPD has also been able to collect population policies 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 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.
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 WomenThe 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
- Afghanistan Parliamentarians Committee on Population and Development, Parliament of Afghanistan
- Australian Parliamentary Group on Population and Development
- Bangladesh Committee of Parliamentarians on Population and Development, Parliament of Bangladesh (Not yet reformed)
- Cambodian Association of Parliamentarians on Population and Development, Parliament of Cambodia
- Education, Science, Culture and Public Health Committee of the National People's Congress in China
- National Committee of Parliamentarians on Population and Development in Fiji (Parliament dissolved)
- Indian Association of Parliamentarians on Population and Development
- Indonesian Forum of Parliamentarians on Population and Development
- Iranian Parliamentarians on Population and Development Committee, Parliament of Iran
- Japanese Parliamentarian Forum on Population
- Parliamentarians' Group on Family and Population in Kazakhstan, Parliament of Kazakhstan
- Association on Population and Development in Kyrgyzstan, Parliament of Kyrgyzstan
- Laos Association of Parliamentarians on Population and Development, Parliament of Laos
- AFPPD-Malaysia, Parliament of Malaysia
- Maldives Parliamentary Group on Population and Development, Parliament of Maldives
- Mongolian Parliamentarian Committee on Population and Development, Parliament of Mongolia
- Population and Social Committee in Nepal, Parliament of Nepal
- New Zealand Parliamentarians on Population and Development
- Pakistan Parliamentarians' Group on Population and Development (Not yet reformed)
- Philippine Legislators' Committee on Population and Development
- Korean Parliamentary League on Children, Population and Environment, Parliament of Korea
- Sri Lankan Forum of Parliamentarians on Population and Development, Parliament of Sri Lanka
- National Committee on Family in Tajikistan, Parliament of Tajikistan
- Senate's Standing Committee on Public Health in Thailand, Senate of Thailand
- Vietnam Association of Parliamentarians on Population and Development, Parliament of Vietnam
- Pacific parliamentarians on Population and Governance in Cook Islands (Pacific Committee of AFPPD)
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. 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 from nine countries such as AfghanistanAfghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
, Fiji
Fiji
Fiji , officially the Republic of Fiji , is an island nation in Melanesia in the South Pacific Ocean about northeast of New Zealand's North Island...
, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
, Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
, Malaysia and the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
. AFPPD has also been able to collect population policies from 16 countries such as Bangladesh
Bangladesh
Bangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...
, Cambodia
Cambodia
Cambodia , officially known as the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia...
, China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
, Lao PDR, Maldives
Maldives
The Maldives , , officially Republic of Maldives , also referred to as the Maldive Islands, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean formed by a double chain of twenty-six atolls oriented north-south off India's Lakshadweep islands, between Minicoy Island and...
, Micronesia
Micronesia
Micronesia is a subregion of Oceania, comprising thousands of small islands in the western Pacific Ocean. It is distinct from Melanesia to the south, and Polynesia to the east. The Philippines lie to the west, and Indonesia to the southwest....
, Mongolia
Mongolia
Mongolia is a landlocked country in East and Central Asia. It is bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south, east and west. Although Mongolia does not share a border with Kazakhstan, its western-most point is only from Kazakhstan's eastern tip. Ulan Bator, the capital and largest...
, New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
, Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
, Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
, Thailand
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
, Timor Leste, Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
and South Korea
South Korea
The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...
, and sexual and reproductive health policies from three countries as in Bangladesh
Bangladesh
Bangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...
, China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
and Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
.
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.