Christian Unity and Dialogue04 Apr 12

International Anglican Women’s Network – No agreed conclusions to UNCSW56

The word is finally out – there will be no agreed conclusions to UNCSW56 – an enormous disappointment to all who came in good faith, and worked tirelessly to try to ensure that there might be some consensus..

It seems the disagreement focused on reproductive rights and the unacceptability of placing the word equality immediately after gender. That anyone’s health, but women’s in particular, should be dictated by religious beliefs is horrifying. Should not everyone’s health, especially women & girls’, be first & foremost about the best possible medical care available?

Last Friday, when the lack of agreement was final, the Norwegian Ambassador made an impassioned but succinct speech decrying the way in which ‘moral values had been invoked’  – to deprive women of their human rights and opportunities. That, she said, was ‘the real Moral Hazard of our time!’

It feels as if we’re going backwards – after the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) in 1979, the Beijing Platform for Action (BPfA) in 1995, and four World Conferences on Women, we are here.

The Liberian Chairwoman, Marjon Kamara, said: “I will not hide my great disappointment that we have found ourselves in this position.  If we really want to tell the truth about it, I’m not sure that we all came with a spirit of compromise.” You can read the full statement here:

www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2012/wom1905.doc.htm

I am wondering what steps women of faith now take to work through this impasse. Which denominations might speak out against what has happened? What does this mean for the Millennium Development Goals?