Leading Article: Women's rights and population control

THE HOLY See made a valuable contribution to the United Nations Conference on Population and Development yesterday by saying that it 'publicly acknowledges that there are obvious problems with population growth'. This statement serves two purposes. First, it confounds those who seek to use the Vatican's opposition to artificial birth control in support of the argument that population is not a problem. It also makes clear that Pope John Paul II is not blind to the consequences of an ever-growing birth rate.

The Pope is right to insist on the spiritual value of every individual and to deplore solutions to unchecked population growth which neglect ethics, education and a moral framework. That said, delegates must not allow the Vatican's haggling over the conference text to impede the discussion of practical policies. The language and terms of the Cairo document are matters of transient concern. But the real decisions of the conference may affect billions of lives over the next decade.

Nor should the political squabble involving Islamic activists and the Vatican be allowed to detract from the serious business of development and education. To be sure, the whole issue is incendiary. A Cairo newspaper yesterday accused Norway's Prime Minister, Gro Harlem Brundtland, of 'a disgusting and obscene assault on religion and morals'. Her offence was to advocate the decriminalisation of abortion. An Egyptian fundamentalist leader, Mahmoud Hamaya, gave a clear insight into radical Islamic perceptions when he said that 'limiting our population serves the aims of western Zionist imperialism'. This is an impression more widely shared in the Third World than many like to admit.

Evidently there can be no simplistic approach either to the population 'numbers game' or to its remedies. The compulsory birth control imposed in China is unacceptable. So is the neglect in parts of Africa or Latin America. Vice President Al Gore of the United States yesterday sought to return a measure of equanimity to the debate by emphasising four necessities: availability of contraception, an increase in child survival to encourage smaller families, the education and empowerment of women, and economic development.

To pursue all of these simultaneously would be a tall order. But there are realistic aims to which all governments, regardless of cultural or religious imperatives, may subscribe. The president of the World Bank, Lewis Preston, yesterday told the conference that health care and education for women were vital. He said that nearly 100 million girls are denied any schooling, while it is known that birth rates decline when women are given access to education. 'The goal of universal primary education is something that we can - and must - achieve within the next generation,' he said. Amen to that.