UFI at the United Nations
Victory for Families at Commission for Social Development
By E. Douglas Clark, UFI's Director of International Policy
February 23, 2007
For 10 days during the first half of February, I represented United Families International at U.N. headquarters in New York at the Commission for Social Development. It is the body charged with implementing the Program of Action produced at the 1995 World Summit for Social Development in Copenhagen, Denmark. The ambitious aims of that Program are set forth in the opening lines of its Declaration:
For the first time in history, at the invitation of the United Nations, we gather as heads of State and Government to recognize the significance of social development and human well-being for all and to give to these goals the highest priority both now and into the twenty-first century.
We acknowledge that the people of the world have shown in different ways an urgent need to address profound social problems, especially poverty, unemployment and social exclusion, that affect every country. It is our task to address both their underlying and structural causes and their distressing consequences in order to reduce uncertainty and insecurity in the life of people.
We acknowledge that our societies must respond more effectively to the material and spiritual needs of individuals, their families and the communities in which they live throughout our diverse countries and regions. We must do so not only as a matter of urgency but also as a matter of sustained and unshakeable commitment through the years ahead.
The theme of this year's Commission was “Promoting full employment and decent work for all,” certainly an urgent need and noble endeavor. In the wake of several opening statements mentioning the plight of families, we had occasion to remind delegates of the commitment to families in prior U.N. documents and meetings. “Strengthen the Family, Strengthen the World” was the title of a resource we prepared and made available to delegates (see below).
Ironically, however, as the meeting proceeded, we discovered that the agenda included a supplement to the “World Programme of Action for Youth,” a document that was thrust on the delegates late in the game and that sought to make abortion -- “reproductive health services” -- universally available to every young girl (aged 15-24) worldwide. Once again, the forces pushing a radical social agenda to harm children and families had intruded on a UN forum that should have been focused entirely on addressing pressing needs. And again we discovered that those forces included representatives from European NGOs (non-governmental organizations) that were actually part of the EU delegations and whose expenses were paid by the governments.
Accordingly, our great challenge was to encourage the strengthening of families while countering the proposed abortion provision. The challenge was compounded by what appeared to be a strategic effort to include such language in a document that otherwise addressed legitimate needs but was being railroaded through at the last minute, with little opportunity for full discussion and debate. In that context, the result turned out to be truly amazing, marking yet another occasion when United Families International has played a key role in protecting families and children from the incessant assault at the United Nations. For in the end the offensive abortion language was diluted so as to render it meaningless, while the protection of families was the focus of several provisions of the document. And the representative of Syria issued this powerful statement acknowledging the central role of the family: “I should like to put on record that the Syrian Arab Republic will address the concepts contained in ‘the supplement to the world programme of action for youth' in full accordance with ethical, cultural and religious concepts and convictions of our society in order to serve the unit of the family, and in order to enhance prosperity in our societies.”
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