Heroes come from all walks for life; from the young child who is quick witted enough to dial 911 when his mom is choking to those in combat who die everyday for our freedom and liberty. Rarely does one find heroes in the political arena. Even if an act of courage exists, it is usually hidden from the average person. Last Friday, a balcony full of men and women witnessed true valor from one lone delegate as he fought for principle and honor during the last battle in the last hour of the 53rd session of the Commission on the Status of Women in Conference room 2 in the New York United Nations building.
Our new-found friend and family ally was literally surrounded by hordes of delegates and committee leaders who fully expected him to break under the weight of their intimidation and deceit. Days of negotiations into the wee hours of the morning and into the last day of conference were proof that “abortion services” language was not acceptable to a few delegates and so no consensus existed by the deadline of 6 pm on Friday the 13th.
The Chairman of the CSW Bureau, the administrative body of the Commission, announced that Vice Chairman, Mr. Ara Margarian from Armania, who had chaired the week of informal meetings, came up with 40 paragraphs of consensus language on his own. These forty paragraphs were areas where consensus among the delegates could not be found. (The Agreed Outcome Document started as 5 pages, morphed into 25 pages because of the “new” language proposed by delegates, and ended at a manageable 10 pages – thanks to Mr. Margarian.)
The final document was then dispersed as delegates were told they had 2 minutes to read the language and either agree or dissent. The UN process is generally governed by consensus instead of majority rules. This means that one dissenter can stop an entire process if he or she is adamant enough.
In this case, the document that was sent around to the delegates had “technical” errors that involved policy distinctions different then what was proposed earlier in the day. The outspoken delegate from a small middle-eastern nation refused to agree to the “package deal”. He was quoted as saying, “Our delegation regrets we cannot accept these Agreed Conclusions. Two or three paragraphs are not acceptable. We showed flexibility. We request others be flexible as well”.
Another small middle-eastern nation voiced its concern with the process and complained that elements of which it was concerned were not included into the document. Further the lone delegate noted, “I am one person and other countries have many delegates. I need more than 2 minutes to review the document.”
At this point, the bureau and other delegates surrounded the delegate who announced he could not accept the Agreed Conclusion. First two or three approached him, and then several more joined the circle. Before too long, over 30 delegates encircled the small-framed man who dared to reject the “package deal”. It was a sight to see. As the group was embroiled in a private discussion occurring on the floor, pressure built as one by one, delegates stood to announce they were flexible and even though they did not get everything they wanted in the Agreed Conclusions, they were willing to accept it. Nations urged the dissenter to find a way to agree.
The entire block of African nations (53 in total) were willing to stay into the night to find resolution. India was, too. Most of the other nations, including the U.S., EU, Canada were not so generous. They wanted to approve and move on.
Eventually, Mr. Margarian found the resolution…everyone agreed and the balcony broke into cheers; and some tears. The lone delegate who had taken on the entire body of CSW nations stood and calmly spoke in broken English, “Our concern was not taken up…now it has. We agree.”
The final Agreed Conclusion is truly not perfect. After all, it comes from a process that is flawed with too much influence from those that want to see the patriarchal family destroyed. However, without our small nation friends standing firm, it could have been worse – far worse.
Labels: bravery, courage, CSW, international policy, politics, reproductive rights, United Nations
