Report on the 2011 UN Commission on the Status of Women

The Good and the Bad—CSW Anecdotes

• The Iraqi Delegation – As we were entering the room to begin a Family Rights Caucus meeting, a small group of Islamic people was just finishing their presentation.  We invited them to stay.  Among those who stayed were the Ambassador from Iraq and a member of the Iraqi Parliament.  They had planned to stay just a few minutes, but when they learned we were promoting the protection of the family and heard our briefings and presentations, they remained.  At the end the Ambassador thanked us profusely for organizing the event.  He then explained that the U.S. government pressures Iraq and other Islamic countries to support the sexual rights agenda we had been discussing.  He said these things are against their beliefs and customs, and he urged us to “Please get your government off our backs!”  The ambassador and/or his delegates attended all of our subsequent meetings and presentations and expressed their eagerness to work with Family Watch to protect the family.  They also invited us to a special reception hosted by the Iraqi government and to come to their country to discuss how to address their orphan problem.
  
  
  
• The Yogyakarta Principles Comic Book to Promote Sexual Rights – At two CSW side events a lesbian from Indonesia presented a new comic book that was designed to teach youth their sexual rights as outlined in the Yogyakarta Principles (click here to read our brief on this dangerous document).  The story begins with a young girl named Gina who is ill and who is shown compassion by her female teacher at school.  She begins to have romantic feelings for this teacher and then becomes devastated and depressed when this teacher suddenly moves.  Then she begins to develop feelings for another girl at school who stands up for her.  They begin a lesbian relationship, and when her father learns about it he slaps her and tells her to end it.  She secretly continues the relationship until they are older and eventually they move in with each other and live happily ever after.  The troubling part about the comic book is that it cites articles from the Yogyakarta Principles to support Gina’s lesbian behavior.  For example it cites “the right of association,” the “right to be free from torture,” and the “right to sexual expression” to justify Gina’s continual defiance of her father in continuing her lesbian relationship.
  
  
  
• Reference to “Wives” Mocked – (Excerpt from Annie Franklin’s notes) “As I walked into the informal negotiations for the agreed conclusions at CSW an African delegate was speaking.  He commented that his country would like the role of women as wives to be recognized in the paragraph they were discussing.  When he used the word “wife” there was a gasp in the room as if a dirty word had been uttered.  Guffaws and laughter rudely drowned out the delegate who was trying to finish his remarks.  I then overheard two female delegates express their disgust that the word “wife” was used at CSW and one suggested to the other that the moment was worth being posted on YouTube.”
  
  
  
• “Personal Services” – At one point the head of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) was seen angrily leaving the negotiations after the Holy See insisted that the term “personal services” be removed from a paragraph regarding domestic workers.  The Holy See opposed this term after finding a Web site on prostitution which uses the term “personal services” repeatedly to advertise prostitution.  The Holy See refused to back down, and the reference was deleted.
  
  
  
• The Most Popular Man at the UN – By far, David Olsen was the most popular man at the UN at CSW.  Only six months old and accompanied by his mother, Diana, who was one of our dedicated volunteers, David captured the attention of a number of UN delegates from countries that advocate for abortion, who could not resist stopping and smiling at him.  One pro-life delegate who saw how other delegates were responding to David asked us to circulate him everywhere so his sweet smile could soften their hearts.
  
  
• My Son’s First Experience at the UN – I had the opportunity to bring my son Tyler who took a week away from his university studies to volunteer on our CSW Family Watch team.  Besides carrying all of our materials and solving our computer and PowerPoint problems, Tyler met an interesting young woman.  He asked her what she was promoting at the UN and she responded that she promotes “premarital sex and sexual pleasure.”  She then said that women need a broad range of sexual experiences and sexual freedom in order to seek pleasure.  When she learned Tyler was planning to remain abstinent until marriage she seemed surprised that he would live that way even after attending college.   She told him she had never personally met someone like him.  This is just an example of the radical people and ideas running around at the UN. 
  

• “Why Are you Lying?” – This was the question I was asked while participating on a panel on “Have We Done Enough for Girls?”  My presentation was entitled “Preventing the Early Sexualization of Boys and Girls.”  The panel was co-sponsored by the UN Committee on UNICEF, and my message was not very well received by some attendees.  Several did not believe it was possible that UN Agencies were promoting graphic sexuality education, and many were not happy when one of the examples I gave was a UNICEF-published graphic sexuality education program.  When I brought up the International Planned Parenthood Foundation (IPPF) “Healthy, Happy, and Hot” brochure that I picked up in the back of the room at the Girl Scout meeting last year at CSW, a woman called me a liar and asked why I was making up stories.  She claimed it was likely me who also falsely reported abortion kits had been distributed at the Girl Scout meeting.  Several people walked out of my presentation, but afterward others thanked me and asked me where they could get a copy of my book and more information on the topic.
  
  
  
• “This Whole Thing is About Gender!” – A new African delegate approached us clearly upset with what was going on in the negotiations saying, “This whole thing is about gender, sexuality education and women’s sexual and reproductive rights and has nothing to do with the actual theme of the conference!” (which was ostensibly “Access and participation of women and girls to education, training, science and technology.”) 
  
  
  
• “You Must Give In!” – This same delegate then complained that the chair of the negotiations, instead of staying neutral was on the floor lobbying delegations to accept the language the EU was pushing.  He reported overhearing the Chair say to an African delegate, “Africa should give in.  You must give in.”
  
  
  
• The NEA Exposed – At a side event designed to combat “homophobia and transphobia” Diane Schneider of the U.S.-based National Education Association (NEA) bragged that she represented the largest teachers union in the United States (3.2 million members) and that the NEA is a member of Education International which has 30 million members in 173 countries and territories working in preschools up through colleges in every corner of the world.  Here are some telling comments that she made:

  “No other subject is so maltreated.  Sex-ed should not be taught as part of reproduction because this tells LGBT that their intimacy does not count.”

  She complained that opt out programs allow parents to pull out their children from sex-ed, yet the children can still get full health credit.
  She asked “How can we teach sex-ed without teaching orgasm, oral sex, masturbation?”

  She lamented that homosexuality is usually only mentioned during lessons on HIV/AIDS.

  She asked “How can we transform homophobia through education?”

  She stated, “Gender identity expression is a spectrum and not a box that houses our being . . . One needs to grow up and be an authentic self, free of society’s gender expectations . . . same with orientation.”

   “It is normal to be attracted to a variety of persons and situations.”

  “We should be without fear of sin or wrongdoing.”

• “Finally a Space that Promotes My Values” – Delegates from a number of countries and organizations that attended the Family Rights Caucus that FWI chairs expressed gratitude that there was finally a space at the UN that promoted the pro-family perspective.  Government delegates and NGO representatives from around the world signed the “I Stand for the Family” petition and joined our email list and are excited to collaborate at future UN conferences to protect the family.
  
  
  
• “I Believe God Put Us Together” – I noticed an African woman slouched in a chair in a dark room looking somewhat forlorn.  I went up to her and asked her where she was from and noticed she was wearing a government delegate’s badge.  I invited her to the Family Rights Caucus and other presentations Family Watch was sponsoring.  I was trying to read her body language as I talked about our goal to protect the family when all of the sudden she sat up straight and declared, “The Family is the most important and basic unit of society, and when the family fails nations fall.”  Her words gave me goose bumps.  She told me how she had been feeling so empty going to all of these presentations that were void of anything good, and she wondered why she had come at all.  She then expressed gratitude at learning there were some positive presentations she could attend.  She said she believed that God had put us together.  She showed up to our next Family Rights Caucus meeting and was excited to get more involved with us.
  
  
  
• Motherhood Speech Touches Hearts – I was invited, along with the ambassador of Qatar, to speak on a panel sponsored by the governments of Nigeria, Slovakia and the Universal Peace Federation.  (Click here to read my speech on “The Critical Role of Mothers.”  Click here to see the video clip on motherhood that we showed and click here to see the clip of the three Mozambique siblings as they express their sadness at losing their parents and not having a mother.  Several years after this was filmed we adopted them.)  I received an email after the speech from one of the attendees stating that she sat behind an Ambassador in attendance who was “wiping away her tears many times” during my presentation.

Random Statements Heard at CSW 2011

“Comprehensive sexuality education is not just a tool against “gender oppression” it is the key to achieving all the Millennium Development Goals by 2015.”

“We need to make sexuality education more inclusive to lessen homophobia and transphobia.”

“As educators we must teach about LGBT history.”

“Gender identity and sexual orientation should be a part of every middle school curriculum.”

“It is a distortion of human rights to claim that the unborn has rights.”

“Religious fundamentalism seeks to control sexual rights and women’s rights.”

“Why do folks choose to read the Bible with an anti-gay eye?”

“If we can change what happens in the home, we can change what happens in the world.”  Jill Greer, Director of International Planned Parenthood.

“The right wing has a firm grasp of the media.”

An LGBT activist was heard lamenting at an International Planned Parenthood side event:  “The CSW is flooded with those pro-life, pro-family people.  They are everywhere.  In fact there could be some in this very room!”  (Guess what?  She was right!)

 “Comprehensive sexuality education is not about health it is about transforming society.”

 

A Special Thanks to Presenters at Family Watch Sponsored Events:

Annie Franklin, FWI’s Director of UN Activities, moderated Family Rights Caucus Meetings and our side event “Saving Lives: Empowering Girls Through Education on Maternal Mortality and Abortion.  She also presented Family Watch’s brief on “The Myths Surrounding Maternal Mortality and Abortion” and moderated the side event for the Franklin Covey Institute that Family Watch cosponsored, “Empowering Boys and Girls with the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.” 

Sean Covey, best-selling author and president of the FranklinCovey Institute, gave a very well-received presentation at one of the CSW side events Family Watch organized.  He presented the Institute's revolutionary "The Leader in Me" program that is producing phenomenal results in schools in both developed and developing countries.  At least one Ambassador and a number of UN delegates from around the world including a group from Russia showed great interest in the this promising program, which teaches children leadership skills that can lift them out of poverty.

Suzanne Fernandes from the United Kingdom, shared her experience at a Family Rights Caucus meeting on her success in organizing parents in the UK to fight the kind of inappropriate sexuality education that had sexualized some of her 13-year-old son’s friends.

Theresa Okafor, Director of the Foundation of African Culture and Heritage in Nigeria, spoke on “Cultural Imperialism: How the West is Weakening the African Family and Culture” at a Family Rights Caucus meeting and also made a presentation “Maternal Mortality and Abortion: An African Perspective” at our jointly sponsored side event panel.

Donna Harrison, president of the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists, presented at our co-sponsored side event that provided extensive information on the misinformation regarding maternal mortality that is used to promote abortion, including the tactic of equating legal abortion as “safe” abortion and how statistics regarding maternal mortality are manipulated to promote abortion.

Jacob Stewart, our legal intern from George Washington University Law School, provided legal analysis and critical language suggestions to UN delegates on the main document under negotiation.  He was also the main author of our brief on maternal mortality and abortion presented by Annie Franklin and helped prepare our PowerPoint presentations.

A critical part of our success at the UN are our “core volunteers” who perform a wide range of key tasks at these conferences, including monitoring presentations at government-sponsored and nongovernmental-sponsored events, attending negotiating sessions, helping advertise our side event seminars and Family Caucus meetings, networking with government and NGO representatives at CSW among many other important tasks large and small.  We are grateful to these volunteers from around the world!