LATIN AMERICAN & CARIBBEAN DEMOGRAPHIC CENTRE - CELADE

CELADE's Origin and Institutionalization Process

At the beginning of the 1950 decade the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) agreed (Resolution 571-XIX) to request the Secretary General to study the possibility of establishing, in the less developed regions of the world, centres for the study of population problems and for the training of personnel specialized in demographic analysis. This initiative was favourably received by the Governments and those concerned with population studies. The ECOSOC recommendation was followed, thus resulting in the establishment of regional centres in Bombay, Cairo and Santiago, Chile.

An Agreement between the United Nations and the Government of Chile on the Provision of Technical Assistance for the Establishment of a Latin American Demographic Centre was signed on 13 August 1957 for that purpose.

The above instrument stated that the Agreement would in principle be in force during the years 1957 through 1960, that is, for a period which would permit delivery of three training courses. Its objectives were the following: 1. The organization of courses on demographic analysis techniques, with the purpose of training students from Latin American countries and promoting the establishing of similar courses in said countries. 2. The initiation of studies on demographic issues, taking advantage of the available information sources and/or field studies. 3. The provision, to Latin American governments or their agencies, of advisory services on demographic issues.

This Agreement foresaw the constitution of a Governing Board, with the following functions:

1. To consider the Centre's research and training programmes, providing the corresponding guidance 2. to acknowledge and examine reports prepared by the Centre's Director and to formulate recommendations on his (her) proposals.

Hence, in August 1957, a selected group of demographers with international experience gathered in order to start CELADE activities.

Later on, through a Resolution by the Chilean Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Santiago, September 1960) it was made known to the Resident Representative of the United Nations Technical Assistance Board in Santiago that the Government had resolved to request the extension of the above mentioned Agreement for another four-year period. The Agreement would start on the first of January, 1961 and remain in force until the year 1964, inclusive. The corresponding negotiations ended in materializing this request.

The United Nations General Assembly unanimously adopted, in December 1996, Resolution 2211 (XXI). It acknowledged the countries' sovereignity to formulate and promote their own population policies and invited ECOSOC, the Population Commission, the Regional Economic Commissions and the specialized agencies to continue supporting the development and strenghtening of national and regional entities in the population field, especially with regard to training, research and technical assistance activities. On the basis of said Resolution and starting in 1967, CELADE began operating on the financial support of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

The ECLAC's Committee of the Whole at its Tenth Extraordinary Session (March 1975) (Resolution 346, AC.68) marked the culmination of the definition process of CELADE's institutional framework, by deciding to provide that CELADE, an autonomous organization under the auspices of ECLAC,be incorporated in the latter's system as a permanent institution with its own identity, entrusting it with the execution of ECLAC's Regional Population Programme. It was also stated that the objetives of the Regional Population Programme would be to help Latin American and Caribbean countries increase their self-sufficiency and mutual cooperation in the population field, at the same time furnishing technical cooperation and services concerning information, technology and related subjects which are more efficiently provided at the regional level.