Volume 3, Number 16

March 10, 2000

Pro-Family Lobbyists Having Major Impact at UN Beijing+5 Conference

By Austin Ruse

     (NEW YORK - C-FAM) Wearing bright red "Motherhood" buttons, dozens of pro-family lobbyists are having an outsized impact on the five-year review of the Beijing Women's Conference that began this week at UN headquarters in New York.

     Radical feminists connected to the European Parliament have complained that "fundamentalist" youth have taken over the conference "youth caucus." Some European delegations have complained about the great number of pro-family lobbyists working the conference room floor.

     A report issued by the pro-abortion Center for Reproductive Law and Policy published a list of "radical right organizations at Beijing+5," a list which includes Catholic Family & Human Rights Institute, REAL Women of Canada, Human Life International and Concerned Women for America. The report claims the goal of pro-family forces is to "undermine the Beijing Platform's consensus regarding (women's rights)."

     The conference opened on Monday and almost immediately ground to a snail's pace. The western industrial states have significantly increased the size of the draft document by loading it up with amendments, many of them objectionable to the generally more conservative Arab states. The Group of 77, the negotiating bloc of the developing world, has been behind closed doors for most of the week trying to reach agreement on the draft document and the numerous western amendments. The G-77 is expected to fight most of the radical amendments from the western nations.

     The western states are attempting to include "sexual orientation" into the document. This attempt has caused a near riot within the G-77, pitting several new liberal governments of Latin America against the Arab states. One of the problems for pro-family lobbyists is the recent electoral changes in Latin America that have seen pro-life presidents in Argentina and Guatemala replaced by those who are more liberal.

     Pro-family lobbyists are wearing "Motherhood" buttons because they see the draft document as an attempt to force women out of the home and into the work force. Among other things, the document calls for a 35% quota of women in the military and strict quotas for women in elected positions. The word "motherhood" does not appear in the document.

     The document is also replete with references to "reproductive rights," always the most divisive issue at UN conferences. Pro-life lobbyists are most alarmed by the attempt of the Canadian government to equate reproductive "rights" with human rights. This could have the effect of forcing governments to change their laws on abortion. The Canadians are also calling for abortion "rights" for girls.

     The atmosphere of the meeting is tense, sometimes hostile. Pro-life lobbyists have been turned out of NGO meetings that are supposed to be open. Pro-lifers have not been allowed to speak in numerous meetings. And radical feminist NGOs are spreading the rumor that the red "Motherhood" buttons are worn in support of

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