Friday Fax: UN News

Chaos and Ideology Reign at UN Conference on Youth in Mexico

By Samantha Singson,
Austin Ruse,
Terrence McKeegan, J.D.

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LEÓN, MEXICO, August 26 (C-FAM) Early reports from participants at the World Youth Conference that commenced this week in León, Mexico are that the conference is the scene of ideological rigidity and yet almost total chaos. There seem to be four conferences going on at once, one for youth, one for governments, one for parliamentarians, and one called the Global Interactive Forum.

A measure of the chaos at the governmental forum is that early yesterday it was announced the president of Mexico would appear and speak. The room gathered, quieted, music played, and then nothing happened and no one explained anything. The president never appeared, at least as of this writing.

The governmental meeting is supposed to produce an outcome document. Yesterday a document was distributed that, according to pro-life sources in the room, was quite good but that turned out was quite unofficial. According to C-FAM’s UN Blog, “The unofficial document included a call for the promotion of sexual abstinence” and “the promotion of values in the family.” This so enraged organizers that one of them grabbed the microphone and made an urgent denunciation of the “phony” declaration. A representative from International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) then took the microphone and demanded that organizers take control of the conference and prevent “infiltration.”

According to organizers, the unauthorized document does not reflect the views or the discussions being held at the conference. Organizers urged participants who had received the document to throw them out to prevent confusion before the governments begin negotiating today.

It is reported today that governmental negotiators are becoming increasingly frustrated with what are supposed to be actual negotiations. At afternoon breakout sessions yesterday afternoon, delegates came prepared with suggested amendments for the draft document, entitled the Declaration of Guanajuato, that is supposed to be finalized on Friday. At the working group on "gender equality," the moderator explained that discussions were not intended for amending the document, but for broad discussion on the theme.

One delegate pushed back and asked for clarification as to where and when governments would be able to give their input. The moderator did not know and said that a separate drafting committee would be handling that. Another government delegate fired back asking, "Then who is allowed to participate and who is not?" The delegate pointed out the disorganization and complained that delegations were not even sure which draft of the document they were supposed to be working on. When the moderator again said that this was a broad discussion and not for specific language suggestions, an African delegate retorted, "Then what are we supposed to do? Why are we even here?"

Things were a little better at the conference attended by young people. According to several participants and organizers, there are only 300 youth designated as "delegates" with voting privileges in the Non-governmental Organization (NGO) Meeting. Nearly all of these delegates have had their travel and expenses paid for by the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), which is further skewing the discussions and proposed recommendations that will be presented to the Government Forum toward a pro-sexual rights, pro-abortion agenda.

The three hundred youth delegates met Tuesday night under the auspices of various adult groups including the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS) to hammer out a statement for youth that would be sent to the governmental delegations. One observer of the youth track said the document “is just about the most radical thing anyone ever saw.” Participants say the document may now be appended to the actual governmental document soon to be under negotiation. This will cause grave concern to the more conservative governments attending the conference.

UN Bureaucracy Campaigns for Homosexual Adoption in Mexico

By Amanda Pawloski
Co-authored by Dianelle Martinez

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NEW YORK, August 26 (C-FAM) In the midst of a controversial judicial consideration of homosexual adoption earlier this month, the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights ran an ad campaign that appeared to support the effort to overturn Mexico City’s law against homosexual adoption. According (to) the website of the Office of High Commission, an estimated 5 million people a day carried subway tickets with the message, “Embrace diversity; End discrimination.” The purpose of the campaign was to remind citizens of Mexico City that they “are entitled to the full range of human rights.”

In addition to this campaign, the Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights Kyung-wha Kang told a Mexico City women’s conference, “Marriage between same-sex individuals is a right which includes the possibility of adopting children.” Kang also said the “UN has always been in favor of the full enjoyment of the rights of all people, regardless of their sexual orientation.”

Present at the same conference was Minister Olga Sánchez Cordero, a member of Mexico City’s Supreme Court of the Nation (SCJN), which was then considering whether to uphold legislation passed last December recognizing same-sex marriages and allowing homosexual adoption. Shortly thereafter the Supreme Court voted 9-2 to uphold the laws allowing homosexual adoption.

Legal experts point out that the United Nations has never decided that sexual orientation is a part of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights or any other UN treaty on human rights. In fact, the issue has never been brought before the General Assembly for consideration. Some treaty monitoring bodies have flirted with the idea but they do not have the authority to change treaties.

In Mexico City, the Federal Legislative District Assembly passed legislation earlier this year to recognize same-sex marriages in the municipal district of Mexico City. Shortly after, Arturo Chavez Chavez, of the Attorney General’s Office filed a lawsuit before the SCJN, declaring that the reform “violates constitutional provisions which protect the family and the rights of children.” Led by the National Action Party, Mexican states including Baja California and Jalisco, also filed suits against the same-sex legislation.

The SCJN has now upheld the rights of same-sex couples to marry and adopt in Mexico City, and ruled that those marriages should be recognized in all of Mexico’s 31 states. So far, none of the other states have passed similar legislation, and a few states have even vowed not to recognize homosexual marriages performed in Mexico City. The entire debate has been embroiled in controversy and some have publicly claimed that officials may have been bribed to vote in favor of homosexual rights.

Though the UN has never declared what Deputy Kang asserted in Mexico about homosexual rights, homosexual marriage or homosexual adoption, it is highly unlikely Kang will be reprimanded or even criticized. As one UN expert pointed out, “No UN member state is as powerful as even a single UN bureaucrat. The UN bureaucracy ignores the Member States and the General Assembly with impunity. The bureaucracy and the agencies do as they want, when they want, and how they want. Those paying the bills, the Member States, can just go jump in a lake.”