UNICEF Stifles Debate Over New Document for Child Summit

By Austin Ruse | 2001

     (NEW YORK – C-FAM) UN governmental delegations are frustrated this week in New York. They came to UN headquarters to negotiate a document and were told they couldn't. This week's unscheduled "intersessional" is a meeting in the process leading to a Special Session of the UN General Assembly which will deal with children's issues.

     The purpose of any UN conference process is the production of a document, which is painstakingly negotiated over weeks, line-by-line and word-by-word. The negotiating sessions are frequently rowdy affairs lasting for days late into the night. It appears UNICEF is attempting to avoid this messiness by producing a document that governments will not be allowed to negotiate, only rubber-stamp.

     UNICEF first produced a document for a week-long meeting last January. The Member States essentially rejected the document so UNICEF produced another one, which began circulating a month ago. The frustration of governments was apparent this week when many of them produced extensively amended versions of the UNICEF draft, none of which were considered. UNICEF's expectations of a non-negotiated document will likely be frustrated since chances are slim it can produce something that all UN Members will simply agree to.

     Part of the problem is the secretive way the document is being drafted. It is being written by a group of UNICEF staffers, along with members of the UN Secretariat and a group called the "Bureau," which is five UN member states acting as an organizing committee for the conference. Governments are allowed to advise the drafting group but in the end the group can do what it likes. Some groups of states have more power than others. A member of the UN Secretariat said the European Union carries more weight than any other single entity.

     Even though the document was not negotiated, the battle lines for the next round of meetings were clearly drawn. One of the central issues is how closely to tie the new document to the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The Special Session on Children is intended to "review" progress made in implementing the controversial Convention, but many states do not want the new document to be tied to it. Going even further, the European Union is pushing very hard for what is known as a "rights based approach," which some believe is code for a whole range of radical social policy.

     A new grouping of "like-minded" states has gathered to counter EU proposals. It consists of seventeen Muslim countries that are calling for more rights for parents and a stronger hand for the family. The US and the Holy See are also supporting the rights of parents and the family. The Rio Group, made up of the Spanish-speaking countries of Latin America, has called for the document to include expansion of abortion rights for adolescents. Given the wide range of opinion and the volatility of the issues, a non-negotiated document is expected to be a non-starter and member states worry that this meeting and the last have been a waste of time. UNICEF and the Bureau will produce another document next week and have called for another session the last week in May.

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