quote:

---

...The U.N. meeting, with at least 100 government delegations, 80 ministers from Afghanistan to Peru, as well as 6,000 activists, is analyzing progress and setbacks since the Fourth World Conference on Women in 1995.

Rather than producing a lengthy document, the organizers decided to keep controversies in check by writing a short declaration that reaffirms and pledges implementation of the 150-page platform of action agreed to in Beijing.

But, to the dismay of key delegates, the United States submitted amendments at a negotiating session Friday, declaring that the Beijing conference did not create "any new international human rights" and did not include the right to abortion.

In Beijing, abortion was treated as a health issue, with the platform saying it should be safe where it was legal and criminal action should not be taken against women who underwent the procedure.

Negotiations on the current document will continue on the fringe of the conference that includes at least 200 separate events over 14 days...

---

[ 01 March 2005: Message edited by: Contrarian ]

quote:

---

...The UN's commission on the status of women had drafted a brief declaration reaffirming support for the Beijing declaration, and calling for further effort to implement its recommendations.

Organisers had hoped that informal discussions last week would reach a consensus on the draft, leaving the next fortnight clear for government officials and women's activists to hold more substantive talks on advancing economic equality and political participation, and fighting violence against women.

But those hopes were crushed in a closed-door session late last week when Washington demanded the declaration reaffirm its support for the declarations made in Beijing 10 years ago only if "they do not include the right to abortion"...

---

quote:

---

...The stand left America almost entirely isolated at the pre-conference sessions. According to officials who were at the meetings, only the Vatican observer supported Washington's hard line...

---

quote:

---

...Private talks were under way yesterday to persuade Washington to reverse its stand. Although there are expectations that the US will eventually relent, several officials accused the US of igniting the controversy - and sabotaging the conference - to try to score points with Bush supporters on the Christian right...

---

[ 01 March 2005: Message edited by: Contrarian ]

quote:

---

...Meanwhile, the US amendment will open the door to abortion bans, the aide pointed out.

The UN-sponsored World Conference on Women in Beijing set eight millennium goals, including cutting poverty by half by 2015.

Four other goals, based on recommendations from the Beijing conference, specifically affected women: universal access to primary education; promotion of gender equality; reduction of infant mortality; and improving women's health.

...[Annan] recommended improving girls' access to secondary as well as primary education, guaranteeing sexual and reproductive health and rights as well as property and inheritance rights and increasing women's share of seats in national parliaments and local government...

---

[ 03 March 2005: Message edited by: Contrarian ]

quote:

---

"The purpose of this Session of the Commission on the Status of Women - the UN body charged specifically with advancing the status of women - is to reaffirm the Beijing Platform for Action, not to move backward or undermine it," the statement said.

---

quote:

---

The U.S. government, under intense pressure from other nations and women's advocates at home and abroad, dropped its demand that a U.N. declaration on women's equality state that there is no international right to abortion.

Women's groups welcomed the move with caution late Thursday, describing it as a first step toward resolving controversy over abortion, an issue that overshadowed the first week of talks in New York to review and advance work to implement a 1995 international agreement to strive for equality between the sexes.

However, Washington stuck to its guns in insisting that the declaration adopted at the end of the U.N. Commission on the Status of Women's Feb. 28-Mar.11 sessions not ''create any new international human rights.'' ...

---

quote:

---

...Equality Now marked the 10th anniversary of Beijing's landmark platform of action to achieve equality for women by examining discriminatory laws in 45 countries that it highlighted five years ago. It found that only 13 countries had repealed or amended these laws...

---

quote:

---

Jeers and catcalls greeted the top U.S. delegate to a global women's conference on Friday as she stressed Washington's opposition to abortion and support for sexual abstinence and fidelity...

...The loudest catcalls, unusual at the world body, came when she articulated U.S. policy on AIDS prevention for adolescents: "We emphasize the value of the ABC -- abstinence, be faithful, and correct and consistent condom use where appropriate -- approach in comprehensive strategies to combat the spread of HIV/AIDS and the promotion of abstinence as the healthiest and most responsible choice for adolescents."...

... Despite U.S. lobbying, support for Washington's abortion stance was limited to the Vatican, Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Panama...

... Delegates from the European Union, Asia and Africa forcefully opposed the U.S. position.

"The text of Beijing is unequivocally clear. We should not spend hours splitting hairs over phrases that mean the same thing," said New Zealand's U.N. Ambassador Don Mackay, speaking for his country, Canada and Australia. He said the Beijing document included a woman's right to control her sexuality...

---

How great, and how corrupting. And how depressing.

quote:

---

...This was shabby and mischievous. For one thing, the Beijing statement was nonbinding. For another, the Beijing negotiators had tried to anticipate controversy by recognizing unsafe abortions as a serious public health issue while leaving the question of legality up to each nation...

...An apology is due from the United States delegation for the weeklong disruption it caused. So is a fresh spirit of cooperation and a less rigid insistence on dictating global strategy.

---