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Consensus eludes U.N. meet on women

(Ammu Joseph writes

from New York)

Even as the stalemate in the United Nations Security Council over the proposed war on Iraq continued to draw worldwide attention, another more low-profile drama unfolded in the basement of the U.N. headquarters here on Friday. The 47th session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) was "suspended" yesterday in the absence of consensus on the "agreed conclusions" relating to women's human rights and the elimination of all forms of violence against women and girls. Most delegates and observers appeared shocked at this unusual and unseemly end to the two-week CSW session.

The final document, which had emerged after several drafts had been slowly and laboriously debated and negotiated over the past fortnight, was presented for adoption by the Commission only half-an-hour before the session was to close.

The delegate from Iran promptly registered his Government's objection to the paragraph that read: "Condemn violence against women and refrain from invoking any custom, tradition or religious consideration to avoid their obligations with respect to its elimination, as set out in the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against women." He was immediately supported by delegates from Egypt and Sudan. They pointed out that they had been opposed to the content of the paragraph since the beginning of the negotiations and that compromise solutions proposed by them as well as two other delegations, including the United States, had not been taken into considerations in the final draft.

They were not prepared to have their reservations on the paragraph officially recorded once the document had been adopted by consensus in its entirety. Nor were other delegations willing to drop the paragraph so that the rest of the document could be adopted by consensus. The deadlock was further complicated by the Tunisian chairperson of the session, who was clearly unwilling to allow further debate on the contentious paragraph and seemed reluctant to explore alternative routes out of the impasse, including the options offered by the legal advisor whose opinion had been sought by the delegate from Brazil who had headed the drafting committee. Instead, after prolonged confabulations, the chair chose to abruptly "suspend" the session, curtly stating that delegates would be informed about a fresh date for the resumption of work on the document.

By that time most delegates based in home countries, as well as representatives of many non-governmental organisations from around the world, who had come to New York to participate in the CSW, will not be around to keep a watch on the document.

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