There are times when we at UFI report on things and we wonder: “Do people really believe what we say about the anti-family, anti-life agenda at the UN?” “Do people think we are just overreacting or even making this stuff up?”
Then along comes another voice to bear witness to what is occurring. This time the witness comes from an unexpected place…the country of Belgium. It comes from a woman who was in attendance at this year’s Commission on the Status of Women (CSW). We marveled as we read her account of what occurred there and realized that we had an unexpected friend in the negotiating room, but we didn’t know it at the time. Dr. Alexandra Cohen is her name and she’s a member of the Belgian House of Representatives. You can read the full account of her CSW experience here.
Dr. Cohen’s words echo ours as we reported on the U.S. delegation at CSW and their antics to push a resolution that included language to push abortion rights.
“The resolution was submitted by the new administration of the United States which wanted to make its mark on the UN conference with a very liberal text that included contraception and abortion as means to be promoted and funded by the UN (and by governments at all levels) in efforts to reduce maternal mortality around the world. The Obama administration wanted to enter the world of “women’s rights” apparatchiks and lobbyists with a flourish and immediately take the lead in the feminist cause. Hillary Clinton was returning to the US specially to be present when the resolution, a top priority for the new administration, was officially tabled and accepted on the last day of the conference. Clearly the mood was to be one of triumph. The chair [from the U.S. delegation] was a hard, impatient woman who led the meetings aggressively and would have rammed her text down the negotiators’ throats if she could.”
Dr. Cohen also gives insights into the actual negotiation process and the “cast of characters” involved.
“The discussions constituted a veritable battle; a battle of words, psychology and endurance. The aim of the US and its allies was to gain ground on the ideological battlefield by including references to “sexual and reproductive rights” in the text, i.e. to include the right to unlimited access to contraception and abortion in the recommendations of the UN (on maternal mortality!) to the governments of the world. Switzerland, Sweden, Canada and Australia were extremely diligent in this respect. Their relationship with the chair was of an amicable nature and the chair smiled upon them each time she gave them the floor. The Turkish representative could have been a hardcore feminist in the Europe of the seventies; the chair welcomed her as a shining star in the firmament of the women’s rights universe. At one point she advised the group to accept an amendment suggested by Turkey with the words “Turkey has been extremely helpful, so don’t oppose them here.” Turkey was also helpful in opposing the alliance of Iran, Qatar and Syria, who wished to adapt some of the wording relating to girls and to marriage. They were given the floor with an air of impatience. The liberals resented the fact that the “pro-lifers”, whom they spoke of with anger and hatred, had enlisted their help. Among the assembled national delegates the pro-lifers were few. The representatives of the Holy See, Costa Rica and Chile opposed the repeated attempts of the chair and her allies to introduce terminology which referred implicitly or explicitly to abortion.”
The “pro-lifers” that Dr. Cohen references include United Families International representatives and other members of the pro-family coalition. And, yes, “the liberals” are angry with us and hate us. Why? Because we are there to thwart their agenda. We remain grateful to those brave countries that stand on the side of family and life. UFI will continue to be at UN negotiations to help craft language, monitor and educate, and to give support.
Thank you, Dr. Cohen, for shining some more light on the often malignant practices of the UN. Be sure to read her words in their entirety.