A Renewed Call For Feminist Resistance to Population Control

‘When population is cast as the problem, restrictions like fertility control, heightened borders, dispossession, detention and imprisonment are posed as the solutions’
— A renewed call for feminist resistance to population control (PopDev)

It has been 25 years since the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development, recognised as catalysing a shift towards sexual and reproductive health rights (SRHR), and away from population control in family planning. However, many  policies continue to rely on population control tactics in the years since ICPD. In some countries, marginalised people continue to be forcibly sterilised.

In response, individuals and organisations from 26 countries have endorsed a statement by PopDev, calling for a social justice approach to people and the planet.

‘The idea that population reduction is the first-step to progress is a flawed assumption that can dangerously narrow SRHR, particularly when promoted as an “urgent” priority.’

The statement makes 8 demands to governments, international agencies and other social institutions. These include holding those most responsible for climate change accountable; rejecting ‘solutions’ to climate change that are based on individual consumer decisions; fighting nationalism and racism; and rejecting policies that rely on fertility control and engineering population sizes to serve development agendas.

Link:

A Renewed Call For Feminist Resistance to Population Control (Climate & Capitalism)