Panel on Urban Ills OKs Strategy for 21st Century

More than 170 countries adopted a blueprint Friday night for tackling 21st century urban problems after they resolved a dispute over women’s health and reproductive rights.

In the end, negotiators agreed to reaffirm the results of the 1994 U.N. population conference in Cairo and the further-reaching 1995 U.N. women’s conference in Beijing. They also retained language on reproductive and sexual health and family planning.

Delegates met behind closed doors trying to reach a consensus before the 12-day U.N. conference on cities ended at midnight. Conference Secretary-General Wally N’Dow and U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Henry G. Cisneros helped break a deadlock.

In a last-minute move that stunned delegates, the United States threatened to vote against the main conference document unless Arab nations agreed to drop apparent criticisms of Israel. The United States warned that such criticisms could disrupt the Middle East peace process.

Also delaying consensus was a Cuban proposal that all states renounce “coercive economic measures”--a reference to a recently tightened U.S. embargo on Cuba. The proposal was not eliminated but the phrasing was changed to neutral language that was acceptable to the Americans.

N’Dow said there was agreement on the rest of the 113-page agenda to tackle cities’ lack of housing and explosive growth.

The conference demonstrated, he said, “that the resources exist to put a roof over the head and bring safe water and sanitation, for less than $100 per person, to every man, woman and child on this planet.”