Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07STATE160488
2007-11-27 15:43:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Secretary of State
Cable title:  

REVISED INSTRUCTIONS -- UNGA THIRD COMMITTEE

Tags:  AORC UN UNGA KWMN SOCI 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXYZ0007
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHC #0488 3311554
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 271543Z NOV 07
FM SECSTATE WASHDC
TO RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK IMMEDIATE 0000
INFO RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA IMMEDIATE 0000
UNCLAS STATE 160488 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: AORC UN UNGA KWMN SOCI
SUBJECT: REVISED INSTRUCTIONS -- UNGA THIRD COMMITTEE
RESOLUTION ON "FOLLOW-UP TO THE FOURTH WORLD CONFERENCE ON
WOMEN AND FULL IMPLEMENTATION OF THE BEIJING DECLARATION
AND PLATFORM FOR ACTION AND THE OUTCOME OF THE
TWENTY-THIRD SPECIAL SESSION OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY."

REF: STATE 158405.

UNCLAS STATE 160488

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: AORC UN UNGA KWMN SOCI
SUBJECT: REVISED INSTRUCTIONS -- UNGA THIRD COMMITTEE
RESOLUTION ON "FOLLOW-UP TO THE FOURTH WORLD CONFERENCE ON
WOMEN AND FULL IMPLEMENTATION OF THE BEIJING DECLARATION
AND PLATFORM FOR ACTION AND THE OUTCOME OF THE
TWENTY-THIRD SPECIAL SESSION OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY."

REF: STATE 158405.


1. This instruction cable replaces State 158405. After
sending State 158405, USDEL learned that the Beijing
follow-up text is not a resolution, but a Chair's text.
Unlike resolutions, Chair's texts cannot be voted. But a
member state that disagrees with part or all of the text does
have the options of 1) blocking consensus; or 2) allowing
the measure to be adopted by consensus but disassociating
from consensus with respect to all or part of the resolution
with an Explanation of Position.



2. Paragraphs of concern.

-- OP 2 reaffirms the Beijing Women's Conference and its
five-year follow-ups.

-- OP 3 " ... welcomes the contributions of the Committee on
the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women."

-- OP 5 "Calls upon States parties to comply fully with their
obligations under the Convention on the Elimination of All
Forms of Discrimination against Women and the Optional
Protocol thereto and to take into consideration the
concluding comments as well as the general recommendations of
the Committee ...".

-- OP 7(h) reads: "Incorporating gender perspectives and
human rights in health-sector policies, programmes and
research activities, paying attention to women's and girls'
specific needs and priorities, ensuring women's right to the
highest attainable standard of health and their access to
affordable and adequate health-care services, including
sexual, reproductive and maternal health care and lifesaving
obstetric care, in accordance with the Programme of Action of
the International Conference on Population and Development,
and recognizing that the lack of economic empowerment and
independence has increased women's vulnerability to a range
of negative consequences, involving the risk of contracting
HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis and other poverty-related
diseases."

-- OP 7(i) reads: Eliminating gender inequalities,
gender-based abuse and violence; increasing the capacity of
women and adolescent girls to protect themselves from the
risk of HIV infection, principally through the provision of

health care and services, including, inter alia, sexual and
reproductive health, and the provision of full access to
comprehensive information and education; ensuring that women
can exercise their right to have control over, and decide
freely and responsibly on, matters related to their sexuality
in order to increase their ability to protect themselves from
HIV infection, including their sexual and reproductive
health, free of coercion, discrimination and violence; and
taking all necessary measures to create an enabling
environment for the empowerment of women and to strengthen
their economic independence, while, in this context,
reiterating the importance of the role of men and boys in
achieving gender equality."

This paragraph contains the phrase "sexual and reproductive
health," which requires an EOP from the U.S. Although this
paragraph contains a variant of "reproductive health
services," the U.S. can accept this language. The paragraph
concerns protection from HIV/AIDS infection, and abortion is
not a way to protect oneself from HIV/AIDS. the wording of
OP 7(i) is drawn from the HIV/AIDS Political Declaration.



3. Mission is instructed to disassociate from consensus on
the paragraphs cited above and deliver an Explanation of
Position. Mission can draw from the points below for the
U.S. EOP.


BEGIN POINTS.


For OP 2.

-- The U.S. understands that references to the Beijing
Declaration and Platform for Action and their five and ten
year reviews do not create any rights and, in particular, do
not create or recognize a right to abortion. They cannot be
interpreted to constitute support, endorsement, or promotion
of abortion.


For OP 3.

-- OP 3 of the resolution " ... welcomes the contributions of
the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against
Women." We regard this as an acknowledgment of the CEDAW
Committee's efforts on Beijing implementation rather than an
endorsement of specific pronouncements or recommendations.


For OP 5.

-- OP 5 calls upon States Parties to CEDAW, inter alia, "to
take into consideration the concluding comments as well as
the general recommendations of the Committee." While the
U.S. acknowledges the important work of the CEDAW Committee
in some areas, we have concerns about the Committee's
recommendations in other areas.


For OP 7(h) and OP 7(i).

-- The U.S. understands that there is international consensus
that the term "sexual and reproductive health" does not
include abortion or constitute support, endorsement, or
promotion of abortion or the use of abortifacients.

-- The wording in OP 7(h) contain a variant of the phrase
"reproductive health services." The U.S. does not accept
this term because there is ambiguity in its meaning.



END POINTS.
RICE