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SCOPEOFTHEOPERATIONALGUIDE
This document is the contribution of the PresidingOfficers of theRegional Conference onPopulation and
Development inLatinAmerica and theCaribbean to the second session of theRegional Conference, to be
held inMexico City, on 6-9October 2015). It is a technical tool intended to provide the LatinAmerican
and Caribbean countries with specific guidelines for implementing the prioritymeasures
1
set forth in the
Montevideo Consensus on Population and Development, and offers relevant inputs for monitoring that
implementation at the national and regional levels.
The operational guide is a tool aimed at promoting the practical implementation of the
Montevideo Consensus on Population and Development, which is in turn constitutes regional follow-up
to the Cairo Programme of Action beyond 2014. Consistentlywith general principle 3 of theMontevideo
Consensus, every country has the sovereign right to decidewhether or not to apply the recommendations
contained in the Cairo Programme of Action and in the Consensus, subject to its national laws and
development priorities and in amanner consistent with universally agreed international human rights.
As a general principle, the possible lines of action, goals and indicators set forth in this
operational guide are not intended to be comprehensive; rather, they correspond to measures, goals and
indicators that could be adapted and complemented at the national level, depending on the specific
circumstances in each country.
In particular, noted by the Presiding Officers in agreement 13 adopted at their second meeting in
Santiago, the indicators contained in the operational guide need to be revised, specified further and aligned
with the indicators that emerge from the process related to the sustainable development goals and the
follow-up to the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development
beyond 2014. Accordingly the Presiding Officers also recommended in that agreement that the Regional
Conference, create a working group to this end at its second session, which should also take into account
also the indicators for regional follow-up to theMontevideoConsensus onPopulation andDevelopment.
The first section hereafter, on background, offers more detailed information about the scope of
the operational guide and the process of preparing its contents.
1
Referred to in theMontevideoConsensus as “priority actions”.
