A major fight broke out in the UN General Assembly Third Committee this week that pitted traditional countries over against powerful Western governments on the questions of abortion, homosexuality, and transgender ideology.
The debate occurred during consideration of a resolution on “violence against women.”
Western delegates were in shock as traditional countries upended the adoption of the UN resolution. What should have been a routine adoption of a progressive UN resolution like many others turned into a procedural slugfest of amendments and politicized rhetoric.
Guatemala proposed the deletion of an entire paragraph about sexual and reproductive health because it ambiguously linked “access to safe abortion” to human rights. The amendment failed, but 36 delegations supported it. The Ambassador of Guatemala said her country protected human life from conception and that “abortion is not codified in any treaty.”
The Russian Federation, Egypt, Libya, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia and Yemen proposed amendments to replace language on “multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination” and “women in all their diversity” which received support from up to 61 countries.
Traditional countries said the broad support for the amendments, even if they failed, proved that powerful Western governments were not conducting negotiations in good faith, and they were deliberately ignoring any views different from their own. The argument is that in the tradition of the UN, documents are arrived at by consensus, something that was obviously and abundantly missing in the violence against women resolution.
“The amendments prove that our point of view is realistic,” said a delegate from Egypt, who called on Western governments to uphold “real multilateralism.” Consensus can be reached, she insisted, if Western countries would only stop fueling division and seek unity instead.
A delegate from Indonesia said the amendments were a “solid reflection that parts of the draft resolution have not enjoyed consensus” and called on Western delegations to adopt a different spirit “to move forward together.”
Several delegations from Asia and Africa complained that the main sponsors of the EU-backed resolution abandoned long-standing diplomatic conventions to ram the resolution through the General Assembly with controversial terms promoting abortion, homosexuality, and transgender ideology.
The ambiguous terms which include “multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination”, “women in all their diversity”, “control over sexuality”, and “safe abortion” were controversial in previous UN negotiations because the UN system uses these terms to promote abortion and LGBT rights, but France and the Netherlands insisted on including the terms in the resolution over the objections of traditional countries.
More egregiously, they did not circulate the final draft of the resolution before it was introduced for adoption in the General Assembly, a common diplomatic courtesy designed to give delegations sufficient notice and time to prepare an official response.
A delegate from Malaysia called these “irresponsible actions” and said they would “severely undermine” international human rights.
The delegate from Nigeria said the sponsors of the resolution had shown a “blatant disregard and contempt” for opposing views.
This was not the first time that Western delegations tried this tactic in the General Assembly. Last year, delegations were similarly blind-sided by a U.S.-sponsored resolution that included the phrase “sexual orientation and gender identity.”
European countries, Nordics, and the United States retorted that the negotiations had been “open, transparent, and inclusive” and that the final resolution represented a “balance” of all the views expressed in negotiations. They accused traditional countries of sabotage, and of not doing enough to fight violence against women.
Guatemala, the Russian Federation, Egypt, Indonesia, Sudan, Iraq, Senegal, Iran, Eritrea, Malaysia, Libya, Nicaragua, Mali, Pakistan, Belarus, Bangladesh, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Gambia, Yemen, Nigeria, Mauritania, the Holy See, and Saudi Arabia on behalf of UAE, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait made interventions to uphold the sovereign right of nations to defend the unborn and the family against controversial social policies.
Hungary and Poland, favorites of American conservatives, continue to disappoint.
Poland abstained from supporting the amendments to take out the controversial language. Hungary, on the other hand, voted in favor of the controversial “woke” language.
The above comes from a Nov. 11 story on C-Fam.
Pope Francis has rightly condemned this ideological imperialism being forced on other nations by our country and the EU. Sometimes it amounts to “no aid from us to your country unless you betray your nation’s values, culture and religion.” It is disappointing to see the lack of back bone in Hungary and Poland. Saint John Paul, pray for our confused world.
I agree. I think that was displayed in The Holy See “made interventions to uphold the sovereign right of nations to defend the unborn and the family against controversial social policies.”
They should also fight US companies Pfizer and Moderna for pushing the Covid vaccines. Both companies are now studying long-term adverse health effects, such as myocarditis, in the vaccinated. We were told the vaccines were safe and effective. Turns out they were neither. Of course, the news media waited to report that until after the election because the media exist to protect Democrats and help them win elections. Everything is rigged and rotten in America. But hey, I’m unvaccinated, so I’ll still be around when the self-righteous, sanctimonious vaccinated have dropped dead.
Better to die in humility and obedience than to live in pride and rebellion.
Do you know about the night the stars fell in 1833 and the meteorologist who actually gathered data rather than make assumptions based on the limited knowledge of the time?
I will put it this way, you have been around when some of the self-righteous, sanctimonious vaccinated have dropped dead, others did not know any better and did the best they could. I can understand your anger as I faced the same. I was blessed that I had a doctor who got me vaxed with a vaccine not tainted by abortion perhaps because my health directive states that I want no abortion tainted treatment. It seems to have kept me well, along with healthy eating and sanitizing. As far as those who were innocently caught up in this, let us not gloat for “There but for the grace of God go we”.
The LGBT stuff really needs to be classified under “medically abnormal,” “mental illness,” or “disability.” Such issues should never be viewed falsely as “normal.” No government should falsely cater to, encourage, enable, or support these LGBT deviant behaviors, illnesses, and disabilities. Any man who tells the government that he has fantasies of being a woman– and demands to be classified as a woman on his birth certificate, Social Security card and info, passport, or any other documents– should be firmly told, “NO.” Don’t play games, don’t play “dress up.” Grow up! And go see a psychiatrist– if you must!
Time and past time that the UN was gone.
Pope Francis described the UN as impotent earlier this year. Despite good intentions, it’s become a tool of idealogues and despots and has failed in almost every mission of peace-keeping, the reason for its founding. And, we pay for 22 percent of the UN regular budget and 28 percent of the peacekeeping budget. Why are we paying our enemies to work against American values and interests and giving them a stage from which to verbally bash us?
As you know, the UN started in San Francisco. Let’s end it in New York.
Zoom calls between nations would be no less effective and much less expensive. Let UN ambassadors all work remotely. Keep ’em safe!