[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 165 (Tuesday, October 24, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2003-E2004]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    WORLD POPULATION AWARENESS WEEK

                                 ______


                           HON. SAM GEJDENSON

                             of connecticut

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, October 24, 1995

  Mr. GEJDENSON. Mr. Speaker, I would like to submit for the Record an 
official proclamation by His Excellency John G. Rowland, Governor of 
the State of Connecticut. I would like to join the Governor in 
stressing the importance of the World Population Awareness Week for 
1995, focusing on general equality. Placing family planning on top of 
our priority list, through eradication of female illiteracy, full 
employment opportunities for women, and universal access to family 
planning information, is of utmost importance. This is the only way to 
control an overpopulated world, to reduce the spread of disease and 
poverty, and to bring progress to many struggling areas of the world.

                           Official Statement

       Whereas, world population is currently 5.7 billion and 
     increasing by nearly 100 million per year, with virtually all 
     of this growth in the poorest countries and regions--those 
     that can least afford to accommodate their current 
     populations, much less such massive infusions of human 
     numbers; and
       Whereas, the annual increment to world population is 
     projected to exceed 86 million 

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     through the year 2015, with three billion people--the 
     equivalent of the entire world population as recently as 
     1960--reaching their reproductive years within the next 
     generation; and
       Whereas, the environmental and economic impacts of this 
     level of growth will almost certainly prevent inhabitants of 
     poorer countries from improving their quality of life and, at 
     the same time, have deleterious repercussions for the 
     standard of living in more affluent regions; and
       Whereas, the 1994 International Conference on Population 
     and Development in Cairo, Egypt crafted a 20-year Program of 
     Action for achieving a more equitable balance between the 
     world's population, environment and resources, that was duly 
     approved by 180 nations, including the United States; now
       Therefore, I, John G. Rowland, Governor of the State of 
     Connecticut, urge all citizens of this State to support the 
     purpose and the spirit of the Cairo Program of Action, and 
     call upon all governments and private organizations to do 
     their utmost to implement that document, particularly the 
     goals and objectives therein aimed at providing universal 
     access to family planning information, education and 
     services, as well as the elimination of poverty, illiteracy, 
     unemployment, social disintegration and gender discrimination 
     that have been reinforced by the 1995 United Nations 
     International Conference of Social Development, endorsed by 
     118 world leaders in 1995, and by the 1995 United Nations 
     Fourth World Conference on Women.

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