(11)    Tue 20 Jun 95 17:33
By: Robin Murray-o'hair
To: All
Re: Catholic Church/UN Conf. On Women
St:
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ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH STARTS ATTACK ON U.N. CONFERENCE ON WOMEN

On Tuesday, June 20, Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro- Valls
launched the first church attack on the upcoming U.N. Conference
on Women, to be held September 4-15 in Beijing. At a news
conference, he claimed that the 120-page draft document under
consideration by the conference  would "impose on all the women
of the world a particular social philosophy that belongs only to
some sectors of western countries." He particular drew attention
to the fact that the words "gender" and "sex" are used more often
in the document than the words "mother" or "motherhood," thus
creating an unbalanced view of the role of women.

In much of the world, women still have lower legal status than
men, lacking the right to divorce, hold property, or practice
birth control in many countries. In some nations, young girls
undergo genital mutilation. And most importantly, women and
infants suffer the most from starvation and lack of medical care
all over the globe.

But what's the only right that the Vatican feels the U.N. should
seek for women? "Laws should guarantee women even the fundamental
right to be mothers. Furthermore laws . . . should create
conditions to promote motherhood."

Pity the Vatican can't sell off a few of the pope's crown jewels
to help create conditions to promote  maternal and infant health.

Last year, the Vatican, which has permanent observer status at
the U.N., enlisted the aid of Muslim states, including Libya, in
its opposition to U.N. statements seeking the right of women to
equality in inheritance, education, and medical care.
Navarro-Valls claimed that there would be no similar
Muslim-Vatican alliance at this conference because of
"substantial differences."

The pope himself has made two public references to the conference
during the last month, saying that there is a "misconception that
the role of motherhood is oppressive to women."

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