The US told the UN General Assembly it strongly supports a UN plan adopted 10 years ago to promote every woman's right to education, health care, and to make choices about childbearing -- on the understanding that it doesn't promote abortion.
Sichan Siv, the US ambassador to the UN Economic and Social Council, said a key US concern that the plan was being used to promote abortion was allayed at regional review meetings where country after country said they did not believe it "promotes, endorses, or supports abortion."
A decade after the landmark International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo, known as the ICPD, the General Assembly held a day-long session Thursday to promote implementation of the 20-year blueprint adopted by the 179 nations that attended the UN gathering.
On Wednesday, the UN was presented with a statement signed by more than 250 global leaders in all fields -- including 85 heads of state and government -- endorsing the Cairo plan. But President George W. Bush's administration refused to sign because the statement mentions "sexual rights."
Siv told the General Assembly the US is firmly committed "to advancing the well-being of women and their families."
With the understanding that countries should not use the Cairo agenda to support abortion, "we are pleased to continue to offer our strong support for ICPD and its program of action," he said.
Abortion was an issue at the 1994 Cairo conference, but the platform states that abortion should not be used as a method of family planning. It also states that unsafe abortion should be treated as a public health issue, and that women who have abortions should not be treated as criminals.
Siv said the US is advancing the Cairo goals in many ways -- by supporting girls' education and political participation and microcredit programs for women, and by spending more than US$475 million annually over the last four years to finance maternal health, family planning and reproductive health programs.
The Bush administration promotes sexual abstinence for young people.
Siv said "the promotion of behavior change -- encouraging abstinence and fidelity -- is integral to our fight against HIV/AIDS."
But Mona Sahlin, Sweden's minister for democracy, integration and gender equality issues, told the General Assembly "the reality shows us that the promotion of abstinence doesn't work."
Without naming any countries or individuals, she said, "too many actors today promote abstinence."
"Young people need to have means to protect themselves from unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections, including HIV/AIDS," Sahlin said. "They need sex education as well as condoms and other contraceptives."
The Cairo conference put issues "that used to be taboo" on the global agenda, especially sexual and reproductive health and rights, adolescent sexuality, gender-based violence, and harmful traditional practices "such as female genital mutilation," she said.
"All people should be able to have a satisfying and safe sex life," Sahlin said.
The Cairo program of action -- which former U.S. President Bill Clinton's administration played a key role in drafting -- states that women have the "right to make decisions concerning reproduction, free of discrimination, coercion and violence as expressed in human rights documents." But it doesn't specifically mention "sexual rights."
Sexual rights were mentioned a year later, however, in the platform of action adopted by over 180 countries including the US at the 1995 UN conference in Beijing.
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