WYA Newsletters | February 2005
28 February 2005
Dear Friends,
Today begins the 49th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women. Young people from Latin America, Europe, Asia, Africa and North America have traveled to New York to join the World Youth Alliance in providing a voice that will speak on behalf of the dignity of the human person, and the unique dignity of woman at this 10 year review of the Beijing 4th World Conference on Women.
Over the next two weeks, we will be reporting on the conference on our website: www.wya.net. We look forward to your feedback and ideas about the conference.
For a culture of life,
The World Youth Alliance
World Youth Alliance applauds UN Declaration on Cloning
After 3 years of negotiations on cloning, the UN last week adopted an international declaration which "called upon [Member States] to prohibit all forms of human cloning inasmuch as they are incompatible with human dignity and the protection of human life.” The 6th Committee of the Economic and Social Council voted 71 in favor to 35 against – with 43 abstentions – to pass the text along to the General Assembly for formal adoption.
Instrumental in the adoption of the resolution were serious concerns that cloning procedures would lead to the exploitation of women. The final declaration was sponsored by Honduras, after previous proposals from both Italy and Belgium were unsuccessful at achieving consensus. Many developing nations were afraid that women from poorer countries would be used in order to provide the enormous number of eggs needed for cloning. Cloning procedures involve dangerous procedures that require the harvesting of eggs from women.
The World Youth Alliance sees this as a positive step forward. Though a declaration does not have the legal weight of a convention, it can prove to be very influential in policy. The adoption of this resolution should encourage countries to ban human cloning in national legislation. Our members have worked hard at the UN level and will continue to work hard at the cultural level to demonstrate that human cloning is incompatible with human dignity. This declaration sets an international standard, and we hope it is received as a challenge by member states such as the UK, which recently granted another license to conduct human cloning for research purposes. In addition, the resolution called for wealthier nations to direct funds to "pressing global issues such as HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, which affect particularly the developing countries.
“Most significantly this victory represents a major victory for women,” said Cambridge educated Emilia Klepacka. “It calls on countries to avoid the exploitation of women and ensures that women from poorer nations are not paid for the procurement of eggs.” In the United Kingdom, the HFEA (human fertilization and embryology authority) has been drawing up plans to pay women up to £1,000 for eggs, due to chronic shortages. This declaration ensures that such practices in the future will be discouraged and condemns the utilization of any genetic engineering plans which threaten human dignity.
Women and Development Essay Contest: Roundtable Discussion
The World Youth Alliance invited the selected winners of the Women and Development Essay to participate in a Roundtable Discussion held on the opening day of the Beijing +10 Conference. Hosted in Candle 79, a restaurant on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, the WYA staff, conference participants, essayists and two keynote speakers discussed microfinance, civil society participation in the United Nations, and heard the presentations of the essayists. The event was a wonderful start for WYA’s participation in the Conference.
49th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women: Beijing +10
28 February to 11 March 2005
For the next two weeks, delegates and NGOs will gather at the United Nations for the “Review and Appraisal of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and the Outcome Document of the 23rd Special Session of the General Assembly”.
As the international community gathers for this conference on Women, the World Youth Alliance staff and members from around the world will be taking part in the conference through training, side events, attendance at meetings, written essays and statements, etc.
Please refer to the WYA website (www.wya.net) for daily reports on the conference, as well as copies of Esperanza! (the WYA Conference journal) as it is distributed.
Much of the conference itself may be viewed by telecast at: www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/Review
Six: A Birthday Around the Corner
When I was One,
I had just begun.
When I was Two,
I was nearly new.
When I was Three,
I was hardly Me.
When I was Four,
I was not much more.
When I was Five,
I was just alive.
But now I am Six, I'm as clever as clever.
So I think I'll be six now for ever and ever.
-from Now We Are Six, by AA Milne
On March 9, the World Youth Alliance will celebrate its 6th Birthday Party at the Metropolitan Club in New York City.
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