Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-06-15-Speech-4-115"
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"en.20000615.3.4-115"2
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"The final document from the Beijing + 5 conference which has just ended in New York is a victory for women. After very acrimonious negotiations, realism in appreciating the needs of women and respect for their dignity carried the day. But there was strong political pressure from the United States, Japan and the European Union, and strong ideological pressure from feminist NGOs generously financed by the Western countries.
How, for instance, can the pressure exercised by the European Union on Nicaragua and Poland be justified? How can so-called ‘sexual and reproductive rights’ be weighed against development aid or deadlines for joining the European Union? The pressure on the poorest countries was so great that dozens of members of the American Congress and national or European Members of Parliament officially dissociated themselves from their delegations, expressly condemning their positions.
Along the same lines, it is a real education to note that, although they are all officially specialised in the position of women, the NGOs with the largest financial resources for political communication systematically militate in favour of notions of ‘reproductive health’ to the detriment of more serious and urgent needs, thus offering unfailing support to the European and American delegations.
In any case, if this conference was ultimately a success for women all over the world, that was mainly thanks to the realism and resistance of the poorest countries, which were able to by-pass Western ideological polemics about sexuality to promote practical measures against poverty – like ‘micro-credit’, against international trafficking in women and against lack of education and medical provision.
If the voice of the poorest countries was finally able to make itself heard last Saturday around 4 a.m. despite pressure of all kinds, we owe that to respect for essential principles, the only guarantees of realistic and moderate international policy, I mean the principles of national sovereignty and equality between States.
In this case, the UN showed renewed respect for the rules of consensus after ignoring them for such a long time, and that respect made it possible to focus the negotiations on the real needs of women. We are glad the European Union has applauded this victory for women and respect for national sovereignty by adopting the final document."@en1
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