2002: Ottawa, Canada

The first International Parliamentarians’ Conference on the Implementation of the ICPD Programme of Action (IPCI/ICPD) was held in Ottawa, Canada, in 2002. The conference, held at the Canadian Parliament, brought together 103 elected representatives from 72 countries and territories, along with secretariats of national, regional and global parliamentary groups, panellists and resource persons, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF).

The Ottawa conference established, for the first time, a global system of regular monitoring and follow-up of the ICPD for parliamentarians. It was designed to be the first in a series of conferences to be held every two years addressing the same two themes that are central to ICPD: resource mobilization and the creation of an enabling environment for population and development. The location of the conference would – as a general rule - rotate between the Asia and the Pacific, the African, the Arab, the Inter-European and the Inter-American regions.