Beware: 50th Anniversary of Universal Declaration Begins / Kyoto Agreement Dead on Arrival in US Senate

By Austin Ruse

     (NEW YORK – C-FAM) US First Lady Hillary Clinton joined the UN diplomatic community Wednesday morning to commemorate the signing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Mrs. Clinton, along with, Hennadiy Udovenko — President of the General Assembly, and Dr. Nafis Sadik — Executive Director, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and others, began what will be a year long celebration. 
           
     Speaking to a packed audience of diplomats, staff, press and NGOs in the chamber of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) at UN Headquarters, Mrs. Clinton sounded the main theme for the coming year. "Human rights are women's rights and women's rights are human rights." Among many items, Mrs. Clinton called for an international loosening of divorce laws, and freedom from what she termed forced childbearing.  
           
     Warming to Mrs. Clinton's themes, Dr. Sadik told the crowd the "human right to health…has a special significance for women. Denial of their reproductive rights causes the deaths of millions of women each year and avoidable illness and disability to many more. For millions of women, sexual and reproductive rights make the difference between life and death." Dr. Sadik did not explain how she arrived at these calculations. 
           
     For some time feminist activists have attempted to list abortion and contraception as human rights within the panoply of binding international instruments. The coming celebration of the Universal Declaration will see an aggressive renewal of these efforts.

 

Kyoto Agreement Dead on Arrival in US Senate   
        

     (NEW YORK – C-FAM) The United States makes up about 4% of the world's population and contributes something on the order of 20% of so-called greenhouse gases. Moreover, the US is the only remaining super-power. Therefore, it is an article of faith among those supporting stiff Kyoto measures that any agreement without the United States is a useless document. 
           
     Not long ago the US Senate, exercising its Constitutional role of advice and consent in making international agreements, voted 95 to zero in saying they would not ratify the Kyoto treaty if it did not include all the nations of the world. The treaty excludes most of the developing world including China and India.  Key Senators say the treaty is dead. 
           
     Because he heads the executive branch of the US government, President Clinton will probably exercise his executive authority and implement the treaty on federal agencies. Administration officials point out that the federal government is the single greatest user of energy in the America. The Administration, however, says they will not submit the treatyfor ratification until it meets the standards set forth by the Senate.  
           
     Appearing on the American political talk show Cross Fire, Kansas Senator Pat Roberts showed why future passage of the treaty remains dim. He produced a diagram of the "Structure of a Potential International Greenhouse Gas Permit Trading Market."  It looks like an international regulatory nightmare. Moreover, he produced a recommended list of ways to reduce agricultural emissions. One of them is to "regulate animal density." They want to tell Farmer Brown how many cows he can keep.
 

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