‘Population Policy – Development and Human Rights’
A two-day Colloquium on ‘Population Policy - Development and Human Rights’ organized by the National Human Rights Commission, the Department of Family Welfare (Ministry of Health and Family Welfare) and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) was organized on 9 and 10 January 2003 at the India Habitat Centre, New Delhi. In his inaugural address, the Minister of Health and Family Welfare, Shri Shatrughan Sinha, outlined the population policy of the country and said, “The validity and sanction of any policy or legislation has to be rooted in the gamut of human rights it seeks to protect or promote. The Family Welfare Programme in India is voluntary and promotive in nature. The National Population Policy (NPP) aims at providing the widest range of services without any form of coercion.” He added that the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare was impressing upon State Governments the need ‘to make enhanced investments in human development for improving the quality of life.’
Coming down heavily on States which have framed population policies which were not consistent with the spirit of the National Population Policy, the Minister said that while the NPP did not provide for any individual incentives or disincentives, because these tend to hit the poor the hardest, some States had framed policies that did not reflect the objectives of the NPP in its true spirit.
In his speech, the Minister also called for upholding the right to privacy and confidentiality of the woman, the right of the woman to decide when and how many children she will bear, the right to information and prior consent for the treatment proposed, and the right to be medically examined in a dignified and responsible manner.
Speaking of a code of ethical practices for medical practioners, he said that technology should not be misused for practices like sex selection as this led to the creation of social imbalances. It was also wrong that this practice was sometimes clothed in the argument of rights and it was argued that women have a right to choose the sex of a child. He argued that no woman, given the choice, would want to abort of the female foetus willingly.
Delivering his presidential address, Justice J.S. Verma, Chairperson called for a rights-based dialogue on the implementation of the National Population Policy. He said that linkage the between human development and human rights had been well established. The population policy must be consistent with this, and must promote both human development and human rights.
Quoting Article 39(f) of the Indian Constitution, he observed that children should be “given opportunities and facilities to develop in a healthy manner and in conditions of freedom and dignity…”. In this context, he asked, why should a third child be punished and deprived of rights, especially in a country where women had no say in the matter of child bearing.
Speaking of coercive population control methods, the Chairperson said that such methods were not part of the NPP. However, some States, in their policies, appeared to have deviated from that policy and to have adopted disincentives and imposed penalties. These disincentives were violative of the constitutional guarantees of the rights of women and children. He lauded the assurances given by the Minister of Health and Family Welfare that the National Population Policy would be implemented in a non-coercive way.
The Chairperson called for a rights-based approach to population policies and urged the State Governments, especially those of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Haryana, to review their policies. Uniform standards, consistent with the NPP, were necessary to achieve the objective of population stabilization. ‘The ‘means’, he emphasized, should be as important as the ‘end’.”
The main objective of the Colloquium was to initiate a dialogue from the perspective of development and human rights, in respect of the population policies being implemented by the Centre and States. The Colloquium therefore deliberated on the following themes: ‘Development and Evolution of Population Policy’; ‘Population Policy and Legal Instruments’; ‘Population Policy and Socio-Legal Perspective’; ‘Impact of two-Child Norm’; and ‘Concerns in Framing Population Policies’, including issues such as ‘Adolescent Health and Rights’, and the ‘Social Costs of a Non Rights-based Policy’. An important feature of the Colloquium was the statements made by representatives of some State Governments who had framed population policies and the papers and ideas presented by distinguished scholars, experts, human rights activists and non-governmental representatives knowledgeable in this field.
The Colloquium expressed concern that the population policies framed and rigorously implemented by some State Governments reflected a coercive approach through the use of incentives and disincentives, which is inconsistent with the spirit of the National Population Policy. Such an approach violated the rights of a large section of the population, especially the marginalized and the vulnerable, including women. The Colloquium thus recommended that the State Governments/UTs should exclude these discriminatory and coercive measures from their population policies. At the end of the two-day Colloquium, a series of recommendations were made and a Declaration adopted.
The Commission, in its meeting of 15 January 2003, decided to accept the recommendations and the Declaration adopted in the Colloquium and has written to the Central and State Governments to take appropriate follow-up action.
The full text of these Recommendations and the Declaration may be seen on the Commission’s website (www.nhrc.nic.in).
Coming down heavily on States which have framed population policies which were not consistent with the spirit of the National Population Policy, the Minister said that while the NPP did not provide for any individual incentives or disincentives, because these tend to hit the poor the hardest, some States had framed policies that did not reflect the objectives of the NPP in its true spirit.
In his speech, the Minister also called for upholding the right to privacy and confidentiality of the woman, the right of the woman to decide when and how many children she will bear, the right to information and prior consent for the treatment proposed, and the right to be medically examined in a dignified and responsible manner.
Speaking of a code of ethical practices for medical practioners, he said that technology should not be misused for practices like sex selection as this led to the creation of social imbalances. It was also wrong that this practice was sometimes clothed in the argument of rights and it was argued that women have a right to choose the sex of a child. He argued that no woman, given the choice, would want to abort of the female foetus willingly.
Delivering his presidential address, Justice J.S. Verma, Chairperson called for a rights-based dialogue on the implementation of the National Population Policy. He said that linkage the between human development and human rights had been well established. The population policy must be consistent with this, and must promote both human development and human rights.
Quoting Article 39(f) of the Indian Constitution, he observed that children should be “given opportunities and facilities to develop in a healthy manner and in conditions of freedom and dignity…”. In this context, he asked, why should a third child be punished and deprived of rights, especially in a country where women had no say in the matter of child bearing.
Speaking of coercive population control methods, the Chairperson said that such methods were not part of the NPP. However, some States, in their policies, appeared to have deviated from that policy and to have adopted disincentives and imposed penalties. These disincentives were violative of the constitutional guarantees of the rights of women and children. He lauded the assurances given by the Minister of Health and Family Welfare that the National Population Policy would be implemented in a non-coercive way.
The Chairperson called for a rights-based approach to population policies and urged the State Governments, especially those of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Haryana, to review their policies. Uniform standards, consistent with the NPP, were necessary to achieve the objective of population stabilization. ‘The ‘means’, he emphasized, should be as important as the ‘end’.”
The main objective of the Colloquium was to initiate a dialogue from the perspective of development and human rights, in respect of the population policies being implemented by the Centre and States. The Colloquium therefore deliberated on the following themes: ‘Development and Evolution of Population Policy’; ‘Population Policy and Legal Instruments’; ‘Population Policy and Socio-Legal Perspective’; ‘Impact of two-Child Norm’; and ‘Concerns in Framing Population Policies’, including issues such as ‘Adolescent Health and Rights’, and the ‘Social Costs of a Non Rights-based Policy’. An important feature of the Colloquium was the statements made by representatives of some State Governments who had framed population policies and the papers and ideas presented by distinguished scholars, experts, human rights activists and non-governmental representatives knowledgeable in this field.
The Colloquium expressed concern that the population policies framed and rigorously implemented by some State Governments reflected a coercive approach through the use of incentives and disincentives, which is inconsistent with the spirit of the National Population Policy. Such an approach violated the rights of a large section of the population, especially the marginalized and the vulnerable, including women. The Colloquium thus recommended that the State Governments/UTs should exclude these discriminatory and coercive measures from their population policies. At the end of the two-day Colloquium, a series of recommendations were made and a Declaration adopted.
The Commission, in its meeting of 15 January 2003, decided to accept the recommendations and the Declaration adopted in the Colloquium and has written to the Central and State Governments to take appropriate follow-up action.
The full text of these Recommendations and the Declaration may be seen on the Commission’s website (www.nhrc.nic.in).