_WORLD WATCH______________________________
________________United
Nations_______________
Summit on children postponed
Terrorism campaign thwarts controversial meeting
The September 11 terrorist attack on New York’s World Trade Center also wreaked
havoc on UN business, causing the postponement of the controversial Child
Summit, the General Assembly, and other business, according to the Catholic
Family & Human Rights Institute (C-Fam).
On the morning of the attack, all but essential personnel were evacuated from the building. Dignitaries joined what looked like a massive exodus swarming up First Avenue on the east side of Manhattan, roughly four miles from the crash site.
The attack coincided with the opening of the General Assembly (GA), which meets from mid-September through December. Each year more than 100 heads of state fly into New York to address the GA in its opening two weeks. This activity was postponed, although the Security Council met to condemn the attacks on the US.
The day after the attack, the GA decided to postpone indefinitely the World Summit for Children, which was to convene for three days in September. The World Summit was scheduled to review the progress of national and international protection of children and to issue a resolution promising further action.
UNICEF, the lead agency in the Summit process, said it is unclear when the negotiations would resume, but suggested that the Summit would happen sometime after the beginning of the year 2002. Diplomats close to the negotiations now say the Summit may not occur as a separate event but could be concluded as a part of the regularly scheduled meeting of the GA.
At the time of the terrorist attack, negotiations over the conclusions of the World Summit were reaching a critical stage. The main point of contention was abortion. The European Union, along with Canada and a group of Latin American countries called the Rio Group, were insisting on more references in the document to “reproductive health services” —a phrase which had been widely interpreted to involve access to legal abortion. The US under the Bush administration, along with the Holy See and a large bloc of Muslim states, have insisted that a document for children should not make references to abortion.
Back to Catholic World Report November 2001 Table of Contents