U.S. participation in U.N. meet uncertain

By Sridhar Krishnaswami

UNITED NATIONS, SEPT. 10. With the heated United Nations conference on racism now formally out of the way, the focus is on the United States whether the Bush administration will choose to participate in two other conferences in New York, on children and the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.

If there was only one thing consistent with the Bush administration vis-a-vis the recently concluded Durban conference it was in its clear message that it will not be a party to any hate language and would not mind walking out of the process. This it did and if there was expressions of disappointment over the stance of Washington, the Republican administration certainly did not give the impression that it lost much sleep on this account.

Next week, the focus is on children. One hundred delegations including some 70 Heads of State and Government are getting together here to discuss the future of the world's future. Here again, the Bush administration has started making the point that its participation is pegged to references on abortion.

The conference organisers have taken pains to say that the final document has nothing to do with abortion rather about ``the health of kids, education of kids, child protection, child labour, HIV/AIDS''. But the State Department wants to ensure that the language in the final declaration did not support or advance the idea of abortion.

The special session of the United Nations General Assembly on Children will be taking place between Sept. 19 and 21 and is seen as a follow-up to the 1990 World Summit for Children where a number of commitments had been made. This year, aside from an evaluation of the past decade on children, the focus is on child soldiers, ending the trafficking in children and child labour. If all goes well, the U.S. will have a Cabinet level representation.

What the Bush administration is concerned about are references to ``reproductive health services'' which it sees as a code word for abortion. But many argue that Washington is being excessively concerned about things that are of a routine nature.

``Abortion isn't part of anything that UNICEF has been involved in. We don't recommend it. We don't engage in it. We don't offer it. We don't tell people they should have it'', says the head of the U.N. Children's Fund, Ms Carol Bellamy. And if this statement does not allay the fears of the U.S., nothing else could.

The conference on ``kids'' is only one item that is meriting attention here as far as the Bush administration is concerned. There is a lot of interest on whether or not the U.S. will be attending the conference on the CTBT which is beginning in New York on Sept. 25. The first impression is that even if the administration chooses to attend, it would probably be at a very low level.

The Bush administration's position on the CTBT has been known for a very long time - it has very little use for the treaty and has no plans whatsoever to present it to the Senate again, with or without modifications, for ratification.

The perception is that this Republican administration will do everything it can to speed up the demise of the CTBT, a treaty signed by the then President, Mr. Bill Clinton, in 1996 but one that he could not get through the Senate.

The State Department and the Pentagon are apparently at odds over participation in the CTBT conference. The Department of Defence wants the Bush administration to boycott the meeting but those at Foggy Bottom prefer to send a ``low level'' foreign service officer to attend the meeting. Given the high profile manner in which this administration has taken on the missile defence system and the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, the future of the CTBT - including whether or not to ``unsign'' the treaty - ranks pretty low in Washington's priorities.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : International
Previous : Blair ally denounces secrecy laws
Next     : Rise in teenage violence in Japan