Return to MisInformation Blog.

UPDATE - 'America's Commitment' to International Agreements on Women's Rights

May 6, 2004

International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), Cairo

The United States' commitment to the ICPD has been wavering. In a 2002 Population Conference in Bangkok, the United States refused to reaffirm its commitment to the ICPD unless all references to sexual rights and to reproductive services were deleted. It also asked that the term "consistent condom use" be removed from a list of measures to prevent HIV/AIDS.[1] Geeta Rao Gupta, head of the International Center for Research on Women (NCRW Member Center), says of these actions: "Prioritizing political agendas and ideological opinions that grow out of the misguided morality of a few over scientific evidence and public health imperatives is not just wrong - it is fatal. It can cost tens of millions of lives." [2]

In March 2004, at a regional meeting of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean in Santiago, Chile, the United States was the only one of the 38 countries present to oppose a declaration of support for the ICPD. In both cases, instead of focusing on critical health issues and issues of women's empowerment, the United States has remained focused on its opposition to references to the terms "reproductive health" and "sexual health" and to "abortion."[3] See below for references to two of the sections targeted by the current administration.

The importance of the United States' commitment to the ICPD should not be underestimated. The document is a product of the negotiations of over 20,000 government officials, NGOs, and reproductive health activists who gathered in Cairo, Egypt for the United Nations' ICPD in 1994. The document was signed by the United States, along with 179 member states, and was a breakthrough in population policy, highlighting both the reproductive health and reproductive rights of women and alluding to the empowerment of women throughout. The objectives of the Program of Action include: "to achieve equality and equity based on a harmonious partnership between men and women and enable women to realize their full potential; to ensure the enhancement of women's contributions to sustainable development through their full involvement in policy- and decision-making; and to ensure that all women are provided with the education necessary for them to meet their basic human needs and to exercise their human rights."[4]

Paragraph 7, section 2 of the Program of Action defines reproductive health as:

. . . a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity, in all matters relating to the reproductive system and to its functions and processes.

Where abortion is mentioned in the document (Paragraph 8, section 25), it is clearly acknowledged that:

In no case should abortion be promoted as a method of family planning [and] . . .. In circumstances in which abortion is not against the law, such abortion should be safe. [Author's emphasis]

Fourth World Conference on Women, Beijing

In a further blow to the advancement of women, in March 2004, the United States' representative to the United Nations refused to reaffirm (a routine action, taken by all parties to international conventions) the Beijing Platform for Action at the Commission on the Status of Women conference held at the United Nations in New York, arguing that the United States would not give "blanket support" to the Platform for Action, "particularly those parts of the Platform supporting abortion."[5] In fact, the Beijing Platform does not "support abortion," but rather reaffirms the language on abortion as cited in paragraph 8, section 25 of the ICPD Program of Action (see above). Insofar as abortion is addressed by the Beijing Platform, it is addressed in terms of the abolition of "unsafe abortions" and it is acknowledged that abortion should in no circumstances be used as a form of birth control.

This action undermines an important commitment by the United States to further the advancement of women. In 1995, government officials, NGOs and women's rights organizations from around the world gathered in Beijing for the fourth United Nations' conference on women. The goals of the Conference - "forward looking strategies" - are outlined in the Beijing Platform for Action, a call to governments to protect and advance the rights and well-being of women around the world. The United States pledged itself to this cause, agreeing to work towards the 12 "Strategic Objectives and Actions" - ranging from "Women and Poverty" to "Women and the Environment." The government agreed to tackle the problem of "insufficient mechanisms at all levels to promote the advancement of women." In 2000, the United States produced a report entitled America's Commitment: Women 2000 which documented its progress in promoting the advancement of women. The document highlighted the programs and departments that had been formed specifically to promote the advancement of women. MISSING reported on the lack of a document of this type since that date, also arguing that many of the programs set up to deal with these issues were no longer available - "missing."

The full text of the Beijing Platform for Action is available at:
http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/beijing/platform/plat1.htm

Sections of the Beijing Platform dealing with women's health are available at:
http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/beijing/platform/health.htm#object3

ICPD Program of Action Available at:
http://www.iisd.ca/Cairo/program/p00000.html

For updated information on the ICPD and United States' involvement, see Planned Parenthood Federation of America (NCRW Member Center):
http://www.plannedparenthood.org/global/education/viewer.asp?ID=500

For more information on the March 2004 UN Commission on the Status of Women, see the Center for Women's Global Research (NCRW Member Center):
http://www.cwgl.rutgers.edu/globalcenter/policy/csw04/index.html

For information on the International Center for Research on Women see:
http://www.icrw.org

Endnotes

1. Population Action International. (2002, December 17). U.S. Stance Roundly Rejected by Delegations to Bangkok Population Conference. Available at: http://www.populationaction.org/news/press/news_121702_bangkokICPD.htm. [Return to text]

2. Geeta Rao Gupta. (Forthcoming). Globalization and Women's Vulnerability in the HIV/AIDS Epidemic. Peace Review: Journal of Social Justice. Volume 16, Number 1. [Return to text]

3. U.S. Newswire. (2004, March 12). Historic Victory for Sexual and Reproductive Rights at ECLAC Conference. www.usnewswire.com. [Return to text]

4. Official website for the ICPD: http://www.iisd.ca/vol06/0639028e.html. [Return to text]

5. United Nations. (2004, March 11). Women's Commission Approves Draft Resolution on Palestinian Women, Hostage Taking, Afghan Women, Instraw. Available at: www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2004/wom1446.doc.htm. [Return to text]

Return to MisInformation Blog.