By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, March 21 -- It was past 11 pm on Friday night but the UN Commission on the Status of Women had not wrapped up its work. At issue was a line in the Malawi sponsored resolution on HIV and AIDS about encouraging "delay of sexual debut." A reference to reducing the number of partners had already been removed.
There were other disputes, as delegates told Inner City Press, about reproductive rights, family diversity and a new one: sovereignty.
A Western diplomat complained to Inner City Press that "the vast majority of countries agree to the language from last year." But of course something is different this year: Ukraine, and Crimea. (Click here for an article on Beacon Reader.)
A pro-choice Arab delegate told Inner City Press that the hard-liners on reproductive rights were Qatar, which sponsored a stealth event on Syria earlier on Friday, covered here, and Sudan. Inner City Press asked a Sudanese diplomat who said no, its position was on behalf of the African Group.
The original source scoffed, Sudan wants to pick up political support on Darfur and Abyei by being the lead on this culture war issue. And perhaps it is so: this is the UN.
In the house, or basement Conference Room 3 in this case, were Permanent Representatives from such countries and Norway and Switzerland, the Philippines and Egypt. There was the deputy of Nigeria, usually upstairs in the Security Council, and a young delegate from South Sudan.
It was a classic and telling UN moment, including the fact that the scribes of the UN Correspondents Association, whose president Pamela Falk and sidekick Evelyn Leopoldrepeatedly demanded the first question this month about the CSW, were nowhere to be seen.
There were hard working internal journalists, including a "Green P" -- non resident -- and one resident correspondent from Egypt. There was a single wire service reporter who believes in the issue. There was Inner City Press, and there was the Free UN Coalition for Access. This is how and where the real work of the UN gets done. But the scams and censorship continues upstairs. Watch this site.
There were hard working internal journalists, including a "Green P" -- non resident -- and one resident correspondent from Egypt. There was a single wire service reporter who believes in the issue. There was Inner City Press, and there was the Free UN Coalition for Access. This is how and where the real work of the UN gets done. But the scams and censorship continues upstairs. Watch this site.
