Priority Measures

Reinforce the public policies and actions needed to eradicate poverty and break the cycles of exclusion and inequality as a condition for achieving development in the region.

Apply a human rights approach with a gender and intercultural perspective in addressing population and development issues, and step up efforts to recognize, promote and uphold relevant goals in order to eliminate inequalities and foster social inclusion.

Build and strengthen national and subnational public institutions with responsibility for population and development issues, and ensure that they function in an integral and sustainable manner with the active participation of non-governmental stakeholders.

Ensure full integration of population dynamics into sustainable development planning, sectoral policies and public policies and programmes in general ―in particular in development and land-use planning― at national and subnational levels, drawing on sociodemographic knowledge and information and harnessing technological advances.

Pursue sustainable development as a means of securing now and in the future human well-being for all peoples on an equitable basis, and ensuring that the linkages between population, resources, the environment and development are fully recognized, appropriately administered and maintained in a harmonious and dynamic balance with a thriving biodiversity and healthy ecosystems

Guarantee sustainable production and consumption patterns and avoid exacerbating the undesirable climate change phenomena brought about by human activity.

Guarantee for all boys, girls, adolescents and young people, without any form of discrimination, the chance to live a life free from poverty and violence, and to enjoy protection and exercise of their human rights, a range of opportunities and access to health, education and social protection.

Guarantee also the existence of mechanisms for the effective participation, without any form of discrimination, of adolescents and young people in public debate, in decision-making and in all policy and programme phases, in particular on matters that affect them directly, and strengthen institutional mechanisms for youth.

Invest in youth, through specific public policies and differentiated access, especially through the provision, without discrimination, of universal, free, public, secular, high-quality, intercultural education in order to ensure that this stage of life is full and satisfactory, to enable them to develop as autonomous individuals with a sense of responsibility and solidarity and with the ability to tackle creatively the challenges of the twenty-first century.

Promote and invest in labour and employment policies and special training programmes for youth to boost personal and collective capabilities and initiative and to enable them to reconcile studies and work activities, without precarious working conditions and guaranteeing equal opportunities and treatment.

Ensure the effective implementation from early childhood of comprehensive sexuality education programmes, recognizing the emotional dimension of human relationships, with respect for the evolving capacity of boys and girls and the informed decisions of adolescents and young people regarding their sexuality, from a participatory, intercultural, gender-sensitive, and human rights perspective.

Implement comprehensive, timely, good-quality sexual health and reproductive health programmes for adolescents and young people, including youth-friendly sexual health and reproductive health services with a gender, human rights, intergenerational and intercultural perspective, which guarantee access to safe and effective modern contraceptive methods, respecting the principles of confidentiality and privacy, to enable adolescents and young people to exercise their sexual rights and reproductive rights, to have a responsible, pleasurable and healthy sex life, avoid early and unwanted pregnancies, the transmission of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections, and to take free, informed and responsible decisions regarding their sexual and reproductive life and the exercise of their sexual orientation.

Introduce or strengthen policies and programmes to prevent pregnant adolescents and young mothers from dropping out of school.

Prioritize the prevention of pregnancy among adolescents and eliminate unsafe abortion through comprehensive education on emotional development and sexuality, and timely and confidential access to good-quality information, counselling, technologies and services, including emergency oral contraception without a prescription and male and female condoms.

Design intersectoral strategies to help young women avoid subsequent pregnancies, including antenatal, childbirth and post-partum care, access to contraceptive methods, protection, support and justice.

Guarantee for boys, girls, adolescents and young people the opportunities and the basis for harmonious coexistence and a life free from violence, through intersectoral strategies to address the factors that disrupt harmony in the community and foment violence, to provide education from early childhood that promotes tolerance, an appreciation for diversity, mutual respect and respect for human rights, conflict resolution and peace, and to ensure protection, timely access to justice and compensation for victims.

Guarantee also reliable statistical data, disaggregated by sex, age, migration status, race and ethnicity, cultural variables and geographical location, with regard to education, health, in particular sexual health and reproductive health, employment and the participation of adolescents and young people.

Formulate policies with a gender perspective to ensure a good quality of life in old age, not only for urban dwellers, but also for those who live in rural and forest areas.

Design and implement public policies, plans and programmes —at all political and administrative levels— that take into account changes in the age structure, in particular population ageing, and the opportunities and challenges associated with these changes over the medium and long term.

Design policies at the national, federal and local levels to guarantee quality of life, the development of potential and the full participation of older persons, taking account of the need for intellectual, emotional and physical interaction and the different situation of men and women, with emphasis on the groups that are most susceptible to discrimination, such as older persons with disabilities, those without economic resources or pension coverage, or those who live alone or lack a support network.

Ensure the inclusion and equitable participation of older persons in the design and application of policies, plans and programmes that concern them.

Eradicate the multiple forms of discrimination that affect older persons, including all forms of violence against older women and men, taking into account the obligations of States with respect to ageing with dignity and rights.

Establish or consolidate human rights programmes to tackle and eliminate violence against older persons in the public and private spheres.

Give the highest priority to older persons in plans for disaster prevention, mitigation and relief, including disaster preparedness, relief worker training on emergency prevention and response and the availability of goods and services.

Formulate policies to take advantage of the unique opportunity provided by the demographic dividend and that include coordinated investments in education and health and the creation of decent work on the basis of intergenerational solidarity.

Bring health policies into line with the challenges of the varied and changing epidemiological profile arising from ageing and the epidemiological transition, reinforcing the fight to eradicate communicable diseases and implementing actions for the prevention and treatment of chronic diseases traditionally referred to as non-communicable, but now known to be strongly influenced by conditions of social and economic vulnerability in the early years of life, and ensure that these policies take into account gender, age, regional, ethnic and socioeconomic specificities.

Include older persons as a priority focus of public policy and as fundamental stakeholders in the formulation and implementation of policies aiming to improve the quality of life of older persons.

Foster policies to encourage individuals to save during their active, productive life so that in the long run they can enjoy a decent old age.

Foster the development of and access to palliative care, to ensure a dignified, painless death.

Promote the development of allowances and services relating to social security, health and education in the social protection systems targeting older persons to improve their quality of life, economic security and social justice.

Include care in social protection systems, through allowances, social and health-care services and economic benefits that maximize autonomy, in particular for older persons, and guarantee the rights, dignity and well-being of families and older persons, including the right to a dignified death with proper care, without any form of discrimination or violence.

Extend social protection and social security systems, with a gender perspective, to include those women who have devoted their lives to productive work, whether as domestic workers, women in rural areas or informal workers.

Promote, protect and guarantee sexual health and rights and reproductive rights in order to contribute to the fulfilment of persons and to social justice in a society free from all forms of discrimination and violence.

Promote policies that enable persons to exercise their sexual rights, which embrace the right to a safe and full sex life, as well as the right to take free, informed, voluntary and responsible decisions on their sexuality, sexual orientation and gender identity, without coercion, discrimination or violence, and that guarantee the right to information and the means necessary for their sexual health and reproductive health.

Review legislation, standards and practices that restrict access to sexual and reproductive health services, including the provision of comprehensive user-friendly services for adolescents and youth, and guarantee access to full information on all of the service options available to all persons, without any form of discrimination, in order to ensure that the highest international standards of protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms are met in the region.

Design policies and programmes to eradicate discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in the exercise of sexual rights and the manifestations thereof.

Guarantee universal access to good-quality sexual health and reproductive health services, bearing in mind the specific needs of men and women, adolescents and young people, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender persons, older persons and persons with disabilities, with special attention to vulnerable persons, persons living in rural and remote areas and to the promotion of citizen participation in the follow-up to commitments.

Promote the prevention and timely detection of and guarantee universal access to comprehensive treatment for HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted infections and eliminate the stigma and discrimination to which persons living with the virus are often subjected.

Strengthen measures for detection of HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections in pregnant women and for prevention of the vertical transmission of the virus.

Eliminate preventable cases of maternal morbidity and mortality, including, within the set of integrated benefits of sexual health and reproductive health services, measures for preventing and avoiding unsafe abortion, including sexual health and reproductive health education, access to modern and effective contraceptive methods, counselling and comprehensive care in cases of unwanted and unaccepted pregnancy, as well as comprehensive post-abortion care, where necessary, on the basis of a risk- and harm-reduction strategy.

Promote prevention and self-care programmes for the sexual health and reproductive health of men.

Ensure, in those cases where abortion is legal or decriminalized under the relevant national legislation, the availability of safe, good-quality abortion services for women with unwanted and unaccepted pregnancies, and urge all other States to consider amending their laws, regulations, strategies and public policies relating to the voluntary termination of pregnancy in order to protect the lives and health of women and adolescent girls, improve their quality of life, and reduce the number of abortions.

Ensure that all women have effective access to comprehensive health care during the reproductive process and specifically to skilled, institutional, compassionate obstetric care and to the best possible maternal health services during pregnancy, childbirth and the puerperium, as well as to services that include the termination of pregnancy in those cases where the law provides for such services, and guarantee universal access to assisted fertility treatments.

Guarantee effective access to a wide range of culturally relevant, scientifically sound, modern contraceptive methods, including emergency oral contraception.

Formulate plans for strengthening mechanisms for detecting problems during pregnancy, including at the preconception stage, improve the quality of antenatal care to include an intercultural perspective, guarantee the provision of a safe supply of blood for care during pregnancy, childbirth and the post-partum and puerperium period, and enhance compassionate care during delivery and birth and comprehensive perinatal care, bearing in mind the needs of women, boys, girls and families.

Guarantee sufficient financial, human and technological resources in order to provide universal access to sexual health care and reproductive health care for all women, men, adolescents, young people, older persons and persons with disabilities without any form of discrimination.

Fulfil the commitment to strengthen institutional machineries in order to build development policies with equality that will guarantee the autonomy of women and gender equality, and give these machineries the autonomy and the necessary human and financial resources to enable them to have a cross-cutting impact on the structure of the State, recognizing the strategic role that they play and establishing them at the highest level.

Fulfil the commitment to increase and enhance opportunities for the equal participation of women in adopting and implementing policies in all spheres of public authority and in high-level decision-making.

Take steps to promote and strengthen the preparation, implementation and accountability of gender-sensitive budgets, in order to achieve equal spending in the public sector, the inclusion of the principles of gender equality in the different stages of planning, budgeting and meeting the specific social needs of women and men.

Fulfil the commitment to promote and ensure gender mainstreaming and its intersection with perspectives on race, ethnicity, age, social class and disability status in all public policies, especially in economic and cultural policies, and coordination between branches of government and social stakeholders, including organizations of young, Afro-descendent or indigenous women, to ensure gender equality.

Promote parity and other mechanisms to ensure access to power in electoral systems as a precondition for democracy and a target for eradicating the structural exclusion of women in society, which affects mainly those in vulnerable situations, by training women leaders.

Adopt legislative measures and institutional reforms to prevent, punish and eradicate political and administrative harassment of women who reach decision-making positions through electoral means or by appointment at national and local levels, as well as in political parties and movements.

Develop and strengthen policies and universal care services based on the highest human rights standards, from a gender equality and intergenerational perspective, in order to share the delivery of services between the State, the private sector, civil society, families and households and between men and women and facilitate dialogue and coordination between all the parties involved.

Promote legislation and design and strengthen public policies on equality in the labour market in order to eliminate gender discrimination and asymmetries in relation to access to decent employment, job security, wages and decision-making on labour issues, as well as to recognize the productive value of unpaid domestic work and care work.

Strengthen the participation of women in high-level and decision-making positions in companies and support the training of men and women during hours that are compatible with their family life, and encourage businesswomen to adopt leadership roles.

Establish mechanisms for preventing sexual and other forms of harassment and violence against women and men, especially in the workplace and educational settings, as well as for filing relevant complaints and punishing such practices.

Enforce existing policies and adopt, on the one hand, preventative and punitive measures, and on the other measures for protecting and caring for women in order to eradicate all forms of violence, including forced sterilization and stigma against women in public and private spheres and especially the gender-motivated violent murder of girls and women, and ensure effective and universal access to fundamental services for all victims and survivors of gender-based violence, with special attention to women in high-risk situations, such as older women, pregnant women, women with disabilities, culturally diverse groups, sex workers, women living with HIV/AIDS, lesbian, bisexual and transgender women, Afro-descendent, indigenous and migrant women, women living in border areas, asylum-seekers and victims of trafficking.

Reaffirm the commitment and political will of Latin America and the Caribbean, at the highest level, to combat and eliminate all forms of discrimination and violence against women, including domestic violence and femicide/feminicide, and actively promote awareness-raising regarding gender mainstreaming among law enforcement personnel.

Broaden the access available to men, including boys, adolescents and young men, to sexual and reproductive health-related information, counselling and services and promote the equal participation of men in care work through programmes for raising men’s awareness of gender equality, and foster the development of new masculinities.

Develop and strengthen plans and programmes for addressing disparities in the representation and performance of boys and young men in the education system, especially in the English-speaking Caribbean.

Ensure the sharing of responsibility between the State, the private sector, the community, families, women and men for unpaid domestic and care work, incorporating care into social protection systems through allowances, services and benefits that maximize women’s autonomy and guarantee their rights, dignity, well-being and enjoyment of free time.

Improve statistical systems, official indicators and administrative records, mainstreaming the gender perspective and advancing towards the full recognition of women’s economic and social contribution to the development of society.

Strengthen the capacity of countries to prepare and disseminate the gender statistics needed for the formulation of public policies on gender equality and the empowerment of women.

Consider measuring the care economy using specialized accounts and the creation of satellite accounts on unpaid work, and the incorporation of such accounts in the system of national accounts.

Implement, with the support of available technologies, multisectoral, comprehensive, integrated, coordinated, interdisciplinary and accessible services, programmes and actions targeting women that are sustainable at all levels, include specialized and confidential care in cases of violence, have sufficient resources available and that bring together sectors such as the police, the judiciary, medical and psychological services and evaluation, including sexual and reproductive health services, as well as opportunities for training and generating earnings, with a view to promoting women’s autonomy in all its forms.

Ensure that international migration issues, including migration regularization policies are fully incorporated into global, regional and national post-2015 development agendas and strategies.

Provide assistance and protection to migrants regardless of their migration status, especially vulnerable groups, with full respect for their rights and in accordance with the provisions of the International Convention on the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families and those of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, highlighting the need to afford them comprehensive attention in countries of transit and destination.

Prepare comprehensive global and regional strategies to prevent infringement of the human rights of migrants, as well as to take advantage of the benefits and face the challenges arising from migration, including those relating to remittances and skilled migration in high-demand sectors, as well as the differential participation of men and women and the transnationalization of care.

Promote the signing of bilateral and multilateral social security conventions to enable migrant workers to accumulate years of service.

Incorporate principles of consistency and reciprocity in dealing with the various situations faced by emigrants from the countries in the region, at all stages of the migration process, whether at the intraregional level or outside the region.

Achieve concrete results through dialogue and international cooperation relating to migration, human rights and development in regional forums as well as in forums linked to other regions of the world, in particular North America and the European Union, with a view to reducing existing asymmetries in this area and asserting the interests of Latin American and Caribbean countries.

Protect decisively the human rights of all migrants, avoiding any form of criminalization of migration, and guarantee migrants access to basic social services in education and health, including sexual health and reproductive health, where appropriate, regardless of their migration status, with special attention to highly vulnerable groups, including unaccompanied minors, displaced persons in an irregular situation, women who are victims of violence, victims of trafficking, returnees and forcibly displaced asylum-seekers.

Give priority, in each country, to strengthening coordination channels between sectors and between countries, to reinforcing intergovernmental cooperation mechanisms in order to guarantee the exercise of the human rights of all migrants, regardless of their migration status, from a gender-based perspective.

Strengthen cooperation between countries of origin, transit and destination to address the causes and challenges of irregular migration, so as to generate safe, orderly, humane migration conditions through bilateral arrangements for labour force mobility and ensure protection of the human rights of migrants.

Develop more closely coordinated, integrated and cohesive territories by designing and executing territorial and urban management plans, policies and instruments, administered in a participatory manner and based on a people-centred approach with a gender and human rights perspective and a vision of sustainability and environmental risk management.

Promote the development and well-being of people in all territories without any form of discrimination, and provide full access to basic social services and equal opportunities for populations whether they live in urban or rural areas, in small, intermediate or large cities or in isolated areas or small rural settlements.

Expand and improve the processes of decentralization, deconcentration and participatory planning at the subnational and local levels, with emphasis on availability, accessibility and the quality of basic services, education and health, including sexual health and reproductive health and the prevention of violence against girls, adolescents and women.

Design programmes to promote peaceful coexistence, continuing education, creative leisure pursuits, mental health and citizen security for the population in their territories in order to prevent the current social problems associated with issues such as poverty, social exclusion, the abusive use and trafficking of drugs, and gender-based violence.

Formulate development strategies for city systems to encompass territorial planning and environmental sustainability, promoting energy transition and sustainable production and consumption processes, taking into consideration social and environmental externalities, within a human rights framework, in order to promote sustainable and inclusive urban development, and strengthen all segments of such systems, including intermediate and small cities.

Plan and manage territorial and urban development, from a human rights and gender perspective, by formulating mobility, population settlement and activity location policies that contemplate, among their objectives, avoiding the use of vulnerable and protected areas and preventing and mitigating the impact of socioenvironmental disasters and combating the environmental vulnerability of those living in poverty and ethnic and racial groups who are subject to discrimination, as well as climate change mitigation and adaptation.

Formulate and implement strategies and policies that respond fully to situations of vulnerability to natural disasters, with a multidimensional protection focus before, during and after such events.

Promote inclusive development of natural resources, avoiding the social and environmental damage that this may cause.

Promote the use of georeferenced, sociodemographic analysis, disaggregated by sex, race and ethnicity, to improve territorial planning and environmental risk management.

Respect and implement the provisions of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, as well as Convention No. 169 of the International Labour Organization on indigenous and tribal peoples —and call on those countries that have not already done so to sign it and ratify it— adapting legal frameworks and formulating the policies necessary for their implementation, with the full participation of these peoples, including indigenous peoples that live in cities.

Consider the special demographic dynamic of indigenous peoples in public policy design, with special emphasis on indigenous peoples threatened with extinction, those who have no contact with the outside world, those living in voluntary isolation or that are in a phase of initial contact, and respect their right to self-determination.

Guarantee indigenous peoples’ right to health, including sexual rights and reproductive rights, and their right to their own traditional medicines and health practices, especially as regards reducing maternal and child mortality considering their socio-territorial and cultural specificities as well as the structural factors that hinder the exercise of this right.

Respect and guarantee the territorial rights of indigenous peoples, including those of peoples living in voluntary isolation and those in the initial phase of contact, with special attention to the challenges presented by extractive industries and other major global investments, mobility and forced displacements, and design policies that facilitate free, prior and informed consultation on matters that affect these peoples, pursuant to the provisions of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Adopt, in conjunction with indigenous peoples, the measures needed to ensure that indigenous women, boys, girls, adolescents and young people enjoy protection from and full guarantees against all forms of violence and discrimination, and take measures to ensure the restitution of rights.

Guarantee indigenous peoples’ right to communication and information, ensuring that national statistics respect the principle of self-identification, as well as the generation of knowledge and reliable and timely information on indigenous peoples through participatory processes, with reference to their requirements and international recommendations relating to these issues.

Participate actively and at the highest possible level, with provision for the inclusion of indigenous peoples in national delegations, in the United Nations General Assembly high-level meeting entitled the World Conference on Indigenous Peoples, to be held in September 2014, as well as in other relevant international forums.

Respect and implement the provisions of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action adopted at the World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, by adapting the legal frameworks and formulating the policies necessary for their implementation, with the full participation of Afro-descendent persons.

Address gender, racial, ethnic and intergenerational inequalities, bearing in mind the way these dimensions overlap in situations of discrimination affecting women, especially young Afro-descendent women.

Consider the special demographic and sociocultural dynamics of Afro-descendent populations in the design and implementation of public policies, ensuring their full participation and the development of disaggregated statistics.

Ensure that Afro-descendent persons, in particular Afro-descendent girls, adolescents and women, can exercise the right to health, especially the right to sexual health and reproductive health, taking into account the specific socioterritorial and cultural features and the structural factors, such as racism, that hinder the exercise of their rights.

Promote the development of Afro-descendent populations by implementing public policies, establishing standards and creating institutions to guide and carry forward affirmative action policies, plans and programmes at the sectoral level, whereby the principles of equality and non-discrimination can be incorporated into all levels of government, with organized civil society participating throughout the process of design, implementation and evaluation of those instruments.

Ensure that policies and programmes are in place to raise the living standards of Afro-descendent women, by fully enforcing their rights, in particular their sexual rights and reproductive rights.

Generate knowledge and reliable and timely information with a gender perspective and disaggregated by sex, age and socioeconomic status, among other variables, on Afro-descendent populations through participatory processes, paying attention to the international requirements and recommendations relating to the issue.