Pro-life groups under wraps
UN body restricts representation

The UN Children’s Fund has announced a plan that will severely restrict non-governmental (NGO) lobbyists at the upcoming 10-year review of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, according to the Catholic Family & Human Rights Institute. Pro-life lobbyists believe the clampdown is aimed specifically at them.

UNICEF has announced that only two representatives of an NGO may participate at any one time in the governmental meeting. Given the small number of approved pro-life NGOs accredited by UN bodies, this limit would severely restrict the number of pro-lifers who can lobby the delegates.

The relationship between UN agencies and pro-life lobbyists has always been uneasy. Many UN bureaucrats and pro-abortion NGOs view pro-life lobbyists as interlopers, who come to the UN only to stop the progress of women’s rights. Attacks from “reproductive rights” supporters at the UN upon pro-life lobbyists have continued for years.

In the winter of 1998, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) sponsored a governmental meeting in The Hague to prepare for the 5-year review of the Cairo Conference on Population and Development. More than 800 NGOs were allowed to participate, but only six pro-life groups were allowed in the conference. Organizers admitted that UNFPA had placed a quota on pro-life groups.

The pressure seems to be increasing after the unexpected pro-life victories at Beijing+5 last spring. Even though outnumbered roughly 7,000 to 30 at the Special Session of the General Assembly, pro-lifers found enough governmental support to stop a wide range of agenda items that would have advanced abortion on demand.