The Beijing+5 Preparatory Committee (PrepCom) ended March 17 almost where it began. Little progress was made on the document which was to have been completed at this session and presented to the UN General Assembly on women in June. An “intersessional” meeting is expected to be held sometime in May to complete the unfinished document.
Delegates from around the world gathered in New York from February 28-March 17 for the PrepCom. The meeting, held at United Nations headquarters, had a mandate to write a document measuring the progress made in the last five years in the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action, which called for equality for all women. The Platform of Action was the product of the Fourth World Conference on Women held in Beijing, PRC, in September 1995.
Almost immediately, negotiations slowed to a snail’s pace. Time and again, a paragraph would be discussed in the negotiating group for an hour or more, before lack of consensus necessitated setting it aside for later discussion.
National Sovereignty Threatened, ‘Sexual Rights’ Advanced
The entire notion of national sovereignty underlies much of the disagreement at the UN. The Group of 77 and China (G77), a negotiating group made up of 136 nations in the developing world, were insistent that national sovereignty be protected and attempted to introduce language supporting it into the beginning of the Beijing+5 document. But the proposal was fiercely opposed by the European Union and JUSCANZ, a negotiating bloc made of up of Japan, the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. Despite having been told by the General Assembly not to re-write the Beijing Platform for Action, new radical language was introduced into the document by the EU and JUSCANZ, including references to sexual orientation and sexual rights. The notion of “sexual rights” was rejected both at the original Beijing conference, as well as the Cairo+5 conference held last year. Many developing nations oppose the introduction of this language which they believe would lead to pressure on them to change or relax their laws on abortion.
The introduction of these elements by the EU and JUSCANZ led to stalled negotiations, as the G77 had to meet within their negotiating group to reach a common stance on these issues. Chaired by the Nigerian delegate, this negotiating bloc encompasses widely divergent views, with disagreements arising between Arab states, and several more liberal delegations from Latin America. Many times negotiations had to be stopped to allow time for the G77 to hold a closed meeting and come to an agreement.
Controversial Proposals
Controversial proposals in the document were bracketed and left for discussion on the second reading of the document. These parts would then be deleted, or left in the document without bracketing. In the latter case, countries which still disagree can put a “reservation” on that section of the document. To countries with strenuous objections, however, this is an imperfect solution, UN conference documents are always presented as consensus documents, with the implication that all countries in the world have agreed on the language. Also, upon the printing and distribution of UN documents, the reservations are generally left off, and forgotten.
For this reason, the delegation from the Holy See insisted, on several occasions, on inserting language to refer back to, not the Platform for Action, but the report of the Beijing conference. The Beijing Platform for Action is circulated without the reservations that are in the conference report.
Pressure Point
The document produced by the Beijing+5 conference, unlike a UN treaty, is a non-binding document. It can, however, be used to pressure countries around the world to accept notions of sexual and reproductive rights that are inimical to their religion and their culture. The committees responsible for enforcing UN treaties use the language agreed upon in other UN documents to interpret treaties.
‘Glacial’ Process
By the beginning of the second week, it became increasingly clear that there would not be time for a second look at the document. One observer described the negotiation process as “glacial.” The chairperson of working group II (which was negotiating the fourth section of the document on actions and initiatives) expressed his frustration on more than one occasion at the length of time it was taking to read through the document.
Behind the Scenes Activity
If little was happening in the negotiations, the flurry of activity outside the conference room made up for it. Pro-family lobbyists were present in great numbers at the PrepCom, to the chagrin of radical feminists. Drawing attention to the lack of mention of motherhood in the document by their bright red “motherhood” buttons, they created a stir as they lobbied delegates on the floor, and attended numerous caucus meetings throughout the two-week meeting. On several occasions, pro-family lobbyists were denied opportunity to speak at caucus meetings, or meetings were abruptly canceled when they attempted to attend.
World Youth Alliance
Especially active was a large group of youth from 20 nations representing the World Youth Alliance, a youth organization which focuses on true issues of concern for youth, including protection of national sovereignty, access to basic health care and true development. When the facilitators of the UN Youth Caucus realized that the World Youth Alliance was a majority within the group, they dropped discussions of sexual and reproductive health and focused instead on issues on which there was some “common ground.” These included youth participation in the UN, funding for youth NGOs and the difficulties youth around the world face in obtaining a US visa to attend UN meetings.
Intersessional Will Follow
With the close of the plenary session on March 17, the Beijing+5 PrepCom ended, with no agreement on many key passages in the document. An intersessional meeting will now be necessary to complete the work of this conference. This imposes a hardship on developing nations where there may be difficulty in funding a delegation for an additional meeting.
Two weeks of negotiations ended in a stalemate. Western nations continue to insist on radical language extending sexual and reproductive rights. The developing nations of the world hope to protect their national sovereignty and the right of their nations to legislate such issues as abortion. It remains to be seen what the “consensus” will be.
Sarah Dateno is PRI’s Executive Assistant to the President. She attended the Beijing+5 PrepCom in New York.
