US Trying to Undermine Women Rights Agreements in UN

United States officials in New York are trying to dilute language and remove the term “gender” from documents at the United Nations which is perceived as a threat to international agreements on women rights.

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In the negotiations at the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) at U.N. headquarters, the U.S. said it wants to remove the term gender in the outcome document which refers to only women or girls.

At the CSW, the U.S. also refused to affirm the country’s commitment to the Beijing declaration and platform for action agreed in 1995 during the fourth world conference. The Beijing agreement, although not legally binding, has been used by activists to hold governments accountable regarding women rights.

The Beijing agreement talks of ending violence against women and eliminating female genital mutilation to women’s representation in the media and their involvement in decision-making.

Muadi Mukenge, chief of development and external relations at the reproductive health NGO Ipas said, “The US played a leadership role in the passage of Beijing, so to take a step back is regrettable. We know so many areas of Beijing have not been realized yet. There are still gaps and inequalities and it would be irresponsible for the US to take this position.”

“When the US speaks it has an impact on the global conversation. It could potentially set a precedent. We already have governments that are hostile to the consensus they agreed to previously,” Mukenge added.

“They [the US] are coming into the negotiations in a way that is very aggressive and that advances an anti-gender, anti-woman position from the very start,” Shannon Kowalski, director of advocacy and policy at the International Women’s Health Coalition said.

“One of the first things they have tried to do is block reaffirmation of Beijing and subsequent documents … trying to downplay the political importance of this document as setting out the vision for women’s human rights. They are trying to weaken commitments to that overall.”

Under the administration of the U.S. President Donald Trump, U.S. negotiators have increasingly tried to undermine agreements on women rights at the U.N., especially regarding reproductive health rights.