UN This Week Jan 1- 5
Happy New Year! The UN Monitor has been on Christmas and New Year break but we are back at reporting on everything pro (or anti) life and family at the UN. We hope that this new year will bring more victories on our issues than we’ve seen so far and that our UN Monitor project will encourage more and more young people to stay alert about pro-life and pro-family developments in the multilateral forum!
Is the UN Worth It?
The US presidential election is quickly approaching and the Republican primary candidates have quite a lot to say about the UN. Devex reported that, if elected, Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis pledged to significantly withdraw funding from the UN. A discussion on the overall relevance of the UN would rightfully beg for a lengthier paper but below are a couple of points that are worth keeping in mind on this question- with the overall conclusion that Republicans are rightfully concerned about the UN.
In some respects, the UN achieved what no other organization did- it fosters constant communication among the 193 member states and offers countries, no matter how small, a platform to speak up. Maintaining a unified, predictable system where diplomatic representatives from all 193 nations can meet and discuss their national perspectives on any given topic is no easy task. Scheduling and carrying out meetings, ensuring live translations in the 6 official UN languages with live stream broadcasting available to anyone with internet connection, and so on takes time, effort, and resources. Such transparency, although not absolute, is certainly better than having none at all. The existence of this forum is an achievement.
Yet, this is only a procedural win. Republican candidates are rightfully concerned about the substance of what is happening at the UN. There is no doubt that the work of many UN Agencies and the UN Secretariat is truly hostile to social conservatism. As C-Fam consistently reported over the past couple of decades, UN agencies streamline progressive ideas and turn them into normative frameworks for countries to follow. In many cases, UN agencies depart from the original mandate of the UN and end up working on issues that are truly harmful to the dignity of the person, such as the redefinition of family and creating an international right to abortion.
At times, certain progressive UN member states attempt to create an appearance of widespread international support for progressive causes. They achieve this by incorporating peripheral provisions related to issues like sexual orientation within resolutions focused on broader topics such as the promotion of fair elections. When traditional member states oppose these resolutions due to their objections to the respective progressive language, it might create the impression that they are against fair elections. In response, these member states may vote in favor of the resolution but issue statements to clarify their non-support for the included clause on sexual orientation, for example. However, progressive member states will disregard those statements and claim that the voting is illustrative of support of the sexual orientation clause. For example, the Biden Administration shared the following “wins” of 2023 at the UN:
“At the UN, the United States continued to lead efforts to advocate for LGBTQI+ issues. In the Economic and Social Council, the United States worked to preserve language on sexual orientation and gender identity in the text for a resolution on elections; more than 80 percent of the UN members voted in favor of the resolution during the December General Assembly plenary.”
“USUN played a critical role in the first-ever official meeting on access to sexual and reproductive health (SRH) for persons with disabilities during the 2023 Conference of States Parties for the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), USUN played a critical role in securing a reference to SRH in the biannual resolution, which was adopted by consensus.”
Given these and many other examples of progressive values funneled throughout the UN system, there is no wonder why many Republicans wish to significantly cut UN funding.
C-Fam Friday Fax
Analysis by Stefano Gennarini: UN Rights Experts Take Side with Pimps Against Prostituted Women. Read it here.
Rebecca Oas reports that international abortion groups will fail women given the choice.
Other News
17 women’s organizations sent a letter to UN Women expressing concern over the appointment of a biological male as the UN Women UK Champion. Interesting to note is that these organizations are by no means of conservative inclinations. Many are progressive women and LGB groups raising concerns over this trend of elevating transgender people to leadership roles in women’s spaces. More on this story here.
