UN This Week: Nov 6-9
Member States Statements
The Permanent Mission of Egypt🇪🇬 to the UN delivered a statement on the importance of the family at a General Assembly meeting this week:
“In times of crises and in support of future generations, the family remains the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the state.”
UN Bodies and Agencies
On Tuesday, the Human Rights Council presented its report to the UN General Assembly which features language on “sexual and reproductive health care.” This umbrella term is used and promoted by some progressive governments and agencies to include abortion although this understanding has no basis in international law.
On Thursday, the UN General Assembly and the UN Security Council voted to elect five judges to the International Court of Justice.
Here are the appointees:
Aurescu Bogdan (Romania)
Charlesworth Hilary (Australia)
Sarah Cleveland (USA)
Gomez Robledo Juan Manuel (Mexico)
Tladi Dire (South Africa)
The result is thought of as a loss for the pro-life movement. Prior to the vote, more than 300 pro-life organizations have collectively signed a petition expressing their opposition to Sarah Cleveland's appointment. The concern stems from her reputation as a pro-abortion globalist and judicial activist and anticipations over how it will instruct her rulings.
The General Assembly's Social Policy Committee (the Third Committee) took action on a resolution entitled Rights of Indigenous Peoples. While many nations support the pathos of the resolution, several member states, including Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Holy See commented on the inclusion of the term “multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination.” This is a term of art used by some UN agencies to promote moral relativism on homosexuality and transgenderism and to push against a conservative understanding of the family.
“The expression [multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination] lacks a definition that is agreed among governments, landing itself to an interpretation that reduces the human person to particular characteristics and categorizes individuals according to artificial and selective criteria that are not universally acknowledged, undermining the universality of human rights.”
-The Holy See
“We reserve the reference to multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination. Apart from not being a universally accepted reference, we see the limitations posed by the term only to ensure protection for certain categories of discrimination. We believe all discrimination must never be tolerated and remain firm in our highest commitment to eradication of discrimination in all its forms.”
-Indonesia
Thought-Provoking Quotes
“To argue that the only alternative to “safe” abortion is “unsafe” abortion means accepting at face value that the child’s life is not worth trying to save, too.”
This quote is excerpted from Rebecca Oas’ Why Comprehensive Sexuality Education is Not the Answer. This paper is a great read for anyone interested in a thorough exploration of why the narrative depicting abortion as a life-saving or life-preserving procedure is misleading.
C-Fam Friday Fax
Stefano Gennarini shares how the Biden administration is trying to censor opponents using artificial intelligence;
UN Human Rights Treaty Bodies Continue to Violate their Mandates, Rebecca Oas reports;
Other News
A look into the situation in Gaza will reveal that the "reproductive" health most needed in emergency situations is not abortion, as we are usually told, but assistance in delivering babies. Women ask for support to "bring joy and life" into this world. Although access to abortion is often discussed by UN agencies as essential, especially in emergency settings, reality on the ground seems to tell a different story. UNFPA (the United Nations Population Fund) shared several news reports on the situation in Gaza and almost exclusively talked about the women’s outcry for delivery support. The UN reporting can be found here .
