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Summary: UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - A
contentious U.N. summit on children
concluded early on Saturday with the
adoption of a final document marked
by a conservative U.S. stamp on
matters of adolescent sexuality and
the death penalty.
UN Children's Forum Concludes After Bitter Debate
By REUTERS
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - A contentious U.N. summit on
children concluded early on Saturday with the adoption of a final
document marked by a conservative U.S. stamp on matters of
adolescent sexuality and the death penalty.
Representatives from more than 180 countries agreed on 21 new
goals in the broad areas of health, education, combating AIDS
and protecting children against abuse, exploitation and violence.
Throughout this week's meeting, the United States kept to a
conservative line, pushing abstinence as the preferred approach
to sex education, opposing any hint of abortion for adolescents
and balking at the terms of a global treaty on children's rights
that prohibits the execution of children.
This meant Washington was in line with the Vatican and Islamic
nations on the thorniest issues of the conference. Opposing them
were almost all Europeans and most Latin Americans.
Sichan Siv, the U.S. ambassador for U.N. social and economic
affairs, emphasized repeatedly the Bush administration stand
against abortion, which is legal in the United States.
``Safe motherhood in no way includes abortion or abortion
services,'' he said. He also stressed ``abstinence, monogamy,
fidelity and partner reduction.''
Canadian diplomat Gilbert Laurin voiced his delegation's
disappointment with the final outcome.
``We would like to register our dissatisfaction with the debate
that ensued over the issue of sexual and reproductive health,''
Laurin said at the summit's close. ``This is a critical issue to the
health, survival and well-being of children around the world. This
document falls significantly short.''
He criticized attempts during negotiations to back away from long-
standing commitments in this area made in previous major U.N.
conferences on population and women, and said Canada would
stick to the earlier language.
Spain's U.N. ambassador, Inocencio Arias, who represents the
European Union, said the document did not ``fully reflect''
commitments on reproductive health for adolescents agreed in a
previous U.N. conference in 1990.
Carol Bellamy, executive director of the conference's organizer,
the U.N. Children's Fund (UNICEF), was conciliatory in her
remarks: ``No one wants to fail our children. When it comes to
their health and welfare, there is really very little difference
among nations.''
REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH
The final document jettisoned the term ``reproductive health
services,'' which some Bush administration delegates said implied
abortion. The new wording is ``reproductive health.''
On the death penalty, Washington objected to language barring
execution of those under 18, saying this violates the rights of
states that permit it. The final document finessed this point,
allowing the United States to avoid committing itself to abolishing
capital punishment for juveniles.
In a concession to Islamic nations, delegates agreed to allow a
paragraph on families to include differences on ''cultural and
traditional'' practices. This formulation in the past has been a
veiled reference to customs allowing husbands to control wives
and family planning.
As the grown-ups wrangled, hundreds of children who attended
the conference aimed to keep the issues alive as they headed for
home.
``I'm going to tell people back home about the outcome and new
resolution and that there is hope,'' said Wilmot Wingko, 16, of
Liberia. ``Words are easier said than done but I think we have
taken a step by (the officials) listening to kids talk about their
own feelings in their own words.''
``Our responsibility is to pressure the governments of the
countries, to help in the plans and tell other people about this
session,'' said Belen Gutierrez, 17, of Mexico.
More than 60 presidents and prime ministers, mainly from
developing nations, as well as a host of other high-ranking
officials, attended the meeting. For the first time, some 560
children were allowed to participate as delegates at a U.N.
summit, while 1,700 representatives from nongovernmental
groups participated in events surrounding the conference.
Association: New York Times