Why religious leaders are jittery about the ICPD Conference

A recent meeting called to brief religious leaders on the agenda of the upcoming International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD+25) in Nairobi turned acrimonious. Whereas the organisers of the summit had assumed the faith community – Christians, Muslims, and Hindus – would readily support the conference, it turned out that the religious leaders were unhappy on several fronts.

At the centre of the disagreement were two critical issues – the agenda and the registration. On the summit agenda, the faith community was deeply sceptical on the real purpose of the conference. Whereas the summit has been sold as an innocent, indeed critical forum to discuss key factors on population development and control, the faith community views this as a mere facade for entrenching unacceptable practices into national and international laws. The clergy are of the view that several of the commitments to be adopted at this controversial conference are to advance abortion, homosexuality and other illegitimate practices.