Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Pro-Life Victory in RIO+20 Negotiations


The Rio+20 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development commences today in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The three-day meeting of world leaders is the culmination of months of work dedicated to the RIO+20 conference, also known as the “Earth Summit.”

The outcome document for the conference (known as 'The Future We Want') has been a major battleground for months with numerous attempts to insert anti-life measures including abortion and population control under the guise of so-called 'reproductive rights' or 'reproductive health services'. The finally agreed text, to be signed by heads of state on Friday however has dropped references to either 'reproductive rights' or 'reproductive health services'. See UN report

This pro-life success was won by a group of countries together with the Holy See, among others including Russia, Poland and several Latin American countries.

Pro-abortion groups, furious at the result are initiating a variety of actions aimed at amending the finally agreed text before it is signed on Friday. Some groups have been attacking the involvement of the Holy See in the negotiations, others are demanding that negotiations be reopened while others still are mobilizing youth groups to demonstrate in favour of amending final text.