General Assembly
Population
Since the United Nations officially came into existence on 24 October 1945, three world conferences on population have been held.
- The World Population Conference, held in Bucharest in 1974, led to the adoption of the World Population Plan of Action.
- In Mexico-City in 1984, the international community agreed on a set of Recommendations for the Further Implementation of the World Population Plan of Action at the International Population Conference.
- The International Conference on Population and Development, convened in Cairo, Egypt, held from 5 to 13 September 1994, adopted the Programme of Action, which gave prominence to reproductive health and the empowerment of women.
Two other conferences on population have been convened: the first one in Rome in 1954, the second one in Belgrade in 1965.
In 1999, the General Assembly adopted the key actions for the further implementation of the Programme of Action.
International migration
Successive world population conferences have examined various aspects of international migration.
Between 2006 and 2018, the General Assembly devoted four high-level meetings to international migration:
- In 2006, the High-level Dialogue on International Migration and Development led to the creation of the State-led Global Forum on Migration and Development.
- The Declaration of the second High-level Dialogue on International Migration and Development, held in October 2013, paved the way for including international migration in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
- In 2016, the General Assembly convened a high-level meeting on addressing large movements of refugees and migrants. The New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants launched a process of intergovernmental negotiations to develop a global compact on migration.
- In December 2018, Member States adopted the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration at an intergovernmental conference held in Marrakech, Morocco.
Since the Cairo Conference, the General Assembly’s Second Committee has considered the issue of international migration and development on a biennial basis.