EU Humiliates USA and Russia at UN

By Stefano Gennarini, J.D. | November 13, 2020

The European Union dominates international social policy, uncontested. It is a reality that the United States and Russia can’t ignore.

Earlier today the formerly uncontested superpowers were humiliated in a series of votes on amendments they proposed to UN agreements about issues affecting women during the COVID-19 pandemic. The U.S. sought to qualify or delete references to “sexual and reproductive health” in the resolutions. Russia sought minimal amendments to bolster support for General Assembly agreements. The entire meeting can be seen via UN webcast.

Over 100 nations sided with the European Union against the U.S. and Russian amendments. The U.S. could only muster 24 votes  to add a modest qualifier “adopted by the General Assembly” to language understood by the UN system to refer to agreements adopted regionally outside the UN General Assembly and that promote abortion. The most votes Russia had in favor of its amendments was 33.

Germany delivered statements on behalf of the European Union. With a condescending tone, the German ambassador to the UN, Christoph Heusgen, derided the U.S. efforts to qualify or delete references to “sexual and reproductive health.” He presented their efforts as if they were in bad faith. He said the U.S. was upsetting the delicate balance of previous UN agreements.

While the diplomatic efforts of the U.S. in this field have not always been consistent, and there has been plenty of sabotage to Trump’s pro-life diplomacy from career U.S. diplomats (more on this in the Friday Fax next week), still, the only explanation for the margin with which the European Union is besting the U.S. State Department at the UN is the complete dominance of the European Union on social issues in multilateral policy.

It is worth noting in this context that neither Poland nor Hungary, who joined the Geneva Consensus Declaration in October, a joint ministerial declaration of world leaders against a human right to abortion, supported the U.S. pro-life amendments. Both Poland and Hungary sided with the European Union on the topic of sexual and reproductive health. And they let Germany speak for them in the General Assmebly.

If and when Biden takes over at the White House he will likely align the U.S. government with the Germans and the European Union.

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