A quarterly international newsletter on sexuality, sexual health, and sexuality education.
Volume 4, Issue 1 - Spring 2005
Doha International Conference for the Family Articulates a Far-Right Vision
On November 29-30, in Doha, Qatar, over a thousand governmental leaders, academics, religious groups, nongovernmental organizations, and members of civil society assembled for the Doha International Conference for the Family, an international forum to discuss and summarize efforts over the past year to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the International Year of the Family. Unfortunately, this conference was not as positive for the world's families as it might seem.
Part of an international effort to rollback progress on a broad range of human rights issues, the conference brought together a who's who of far-right organizations. The organizing committee included representatives from the World Family Policy Center at Brigham Young University, the Family Research Council, the Catholic Family and Human Rights Foundation and CARE, Inc., working in conjunction with the government of Qatar. Under this vocal and experienced (and primarily U.S.-based) far-right direction, the conference promoted a narrow view of family.
The conference resulted in the Doha Declaration, a document that far-right advocates will use to promote their monolithic, unrealistic vision of family within United Nations' documents and proceedings.
The Planning Phase
Plans for the Doha International Conference got underway in May 2003 when the Permanent Representative of Qatar to the United Nations, Nassir Al-Nasser, began seeking partnership for an event in celebration of the 2004 International Year of the Family.
The Ambassador visited the World Family Policy Center (WFPC) at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah.1 The University established the WFPC "to provide balanced, pro-family input and effectively educate the United Nations System on moral, religious and other value-based issues."2 WFPC believes the U.N. has continued to grow in importance, and is concerned that advocates "hostile to the traditional family, and religious and cultural values" have undue influence on the United Nations.3 It believes these advocates pressure the U. N. to "adopt legal norms that pose serious threats to family stability, parental rights and religious liberty."4 To advance its agenda, WFPC secured accreditation and special consultative status to the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) of the United Nations and supports those nations and NGOs that "promote a positive, pro-family culture and counter the growing threats to religion and international family stability."5
WFPC partnered with the government of Qatar, and organized the Doha conference under the patronage of Her Highness Sheikha Mozah bint Nasser Al-Misned, Consort of his Highness of the Emir of Qatar, and President of the Supreme Council for Family Affairs, a government institution which purports to promote the rights of women and children. Al-Misned's speech opened the conference and set out an understanding of the family construct that would be recognized by the Doha conference. She professed a "firm belief in the sacredness of the family." She said, "all divine laws have blessed this sacred institution, forging a strong bond between males and females which conforms to human nature in bearing and raising new generations that contribute to building civilizations."6 She also warned against trying to "redefine the concept of family in a manner contrary to religious precepts."7 She said that, "all peoples should stand firmly in the face of destructive calls targeting the unity and concept of family, which contradict the three monotheistic religions and the conscience of humankind."8
Ties to the Bush Administration
Similar rhetoric has been typical of the U.S. Administration under President George W. Bush, and, not surprisingly, the Bush Administration used the Doha Conference as a platform to promote this narrow vision of "family" and undermine reproductive rights and health. Representing the U.S. government, Wade Horn, the Assistant Secretary for Children and Families, said in his speech, "we believe the government, within appropriate limits, should work to support and strengthen families by respecting the prerogatives of families, encouraging healthy marriages, and supporting all families that need assistance."9 He also said that "public policy ought to strengthen healthy marriages and, where possible, the two-parent family."10 Horn is a vocal advocate for the Administration's "Healthy Marriage Initiative," a federally funded program to promote heterosexual marriage.11 The program has been heavily criticized for its antiquated idea of family as well as its unwillingness to acknowledge that many marriages should end due to factors such as domestic violence.
Conservative Leaders Weigh In
Alongside Horn, religious leaders such as Pope Shenoda III, Supreme President of the Egyptian Coptic Church, Orthodox Jewish Rabbi Daniel Lapin, and Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo of the Catholic Church presented similar, far-right messages. Lapin, the founder and president of Toward Tradition, a faith-based conservative non-profit in the United States, told the press: "secularism's ferocious assault on the traditional family through organizations like The United Nations, the ACLU [American Civil Liberties Union], and even Congressman Henry Waxman's ill-chosen remarks this week,12 is doomed to fail. Too many people from too many different backgrounds all care far too much about the traditional family for these attacks to succeed. Opponents of traditional family fatally underestimate the determination of its advocates."13
Cardinal Alfonzo Lopez Trujillo, President of the Pontifical Council for the Family, criticized same-sex civil unions in a panel entitled "The Complementarities of Men and Women - Building on the Strengths of Mothers and Fathers." He explained "proposing same-sex unions as an alternative to marriage, and inventing new, unacceptable notions of marriage to the point of accepting the adoption of children, are grave signs of dehumanization."14 Also on the panel was Dr. Yusef al-Qaradawi who presented from a fundamentalist Islamic perspective.15 Al-Qaradwi caused controversy last year when he visited Britain because of comments he made about wife-beating, which he said should be done "lightly," and his comments about the death penalty for sodomy.16 Despite the diversity of faith traditions among the speakers, their far-right political beliefs were quite similar yet nonetheless largely outside of today's mainstream social thinking.
Other speakers included conservative academics from around the world such as Dr. Gary Becker, an economics professor at the University of Chicago and Nobel Prize winner, who echoed many of his fellow speakers' skepticism over family planning and spoke about how a large population in modern economies will stimulate economic growth. Many political leaders also addressed the conference, including Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, Former Prime Minister of Malaysia; Mrs. Faith Innerarity, Director of Social Security, Ministry of Labour and Social Security, in Jamaica; and H.E. Mrs. Nawara Jaafar, the Minister of Family Affairs in Algeria.
Conservative organizations in the United States were omnipresent at the conference. For example, Dr. William L. Saunders, Senior Fellow and Director at the Center for Human Life and Bioethics at the Family Research Council helped organize the conference and spoke about education and the child. In addition, Dr. Allan C. Carlson, the President of the Howard Center for Family, Religion and Society in the United States of America gave a presentation entitled "Legal and Religious Foundations for the Third Millennium."17 Officials from the United Nations also attended the conference, including a UNICEF delegation led by Mr. Thomas McDermott, Regional Director of Middle East and North Africa and Mr. Xinggen Wang, Special Advisor, Office of the Executive Director from UNICEF New York.18 Ambassador Ibrahim Gambarl, the Under-Secretary General of the United Nations and Special Advisor to Africa spoke during a plenary session.
Conference Outcomes
The conference culminated in the adoption of "The Doha Declaration," which ostensibly reaffirms Article 16(3) of Universal Declaration of Human Rights: "The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society, and is entitled to protection by society and the state."19 The Doha Declaration, however, subtly sets forth the group's opposition to family planning and abortion as well as its support for traditional marriage between a man and a woman. It states, "we recognize the inherent dignity of the human person and note that the child, by reason of his physical and mental immaturity, needs special safeguards and care before as well as after birth.... Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person."20 It also states the need to, "evaluate and reassess government population policies, particularly in countries with below replacement birthrates" and to "reaffirm the importance of faith and religious and ethical beliefs in maintaining family stability and social progress."21
The Doha Declaration articulates many of the major positions of far-right organizations in the United States. The document illustrates support for an anti-choice, anti-family planning, anti-marriage equality agenda as well as support of fundamentalist religiosity and a traditional family structure. The conference and Doha Declaration lend a sense of international validity to these perspectives.
This document, representing some consensus among the far right, will likely be used as a tool for conservatives to systematically dismantle the current international human rights framework that has begun to recognize the need for comprehensive sexual and reproductive rights, women's rights, and the rights of young people. Richard Wilkins, the Director at the World Family Policy Center and the primary organizer of the event, said, "this is the most significant development in international family law of the past 50 years."22 He added that "mounting evidence attests that the survival of society depends upon the positive social, cultural and economic outcomes that flow from a man learning to live with a woman and a woman learning to live with a man in a committed marital relationship."23
In addition, the Qatar government announced its intention to establish an international Institute for Study of the Family which "will be coordinated with appropriate governmental and other entities dedicated to researching, supporting and implementing the Doha Declaration."24
United Nations Recognition
The Doha conference served as a critical step in the efforts of the international opposition to family pluralism and diversity. At the same time, far-right leadership in the United States has been working to increase their influence on the United Nations, as evident with the creation of the World Family Policy Center. Despite historically scoffing at the U.N., by working with likeminded leaders and NGOs, these far-right organizations are succeeding in gaining increased involvement and influence at the United Nations.
The international opposition movement to family diversity pushed for public recognition of the Doha Conference by the United Nations. In response, in the General Assembly Resolution 58:15 entitled "Preparations for and observance of the tenth anniversary of the International Year of the Family in 2004," the U.N. welcomed "the decision of the State of Qatar to host an international conference to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the International Year of the Family in November 2004."25 The resolution also included the text of the Doha Declaration.
The resolution was adopted without a vote; however a number of states, including the European Union, Norway, Switzerland, Canada, Australia, Iceland, Liechtenstein, and New Zealand, voiced objections and disassociated themselves from the consensus. The primary reason cited was "the omission of language, previously accepted at international levels, which recognized that the family structure could take various forms."26
Global Response
Many organizations expressed concern about the conference. In addition to securing a place for far-right rhetoric, the Conference also showcased the growing links between the Christian Right (largely in the U.S.) and Conservative Muslims, along with the Vatican and other conservative sects. This connection is particularly relevant in the context of the United Nations where the United States policies are beginning to become increasingly more in line with the fundamentalist Muslim countries in the Middle East and the Vatican and less like the secular progressive European countries.
Prior to the conference, seventeen organizations that have expertise in international human rights and public health issues, with a particular focus on sexual and reproductive health and rights, wrote the government of Qatar expressing their concern that the Doha Conference sought to undermine global progress on health and development by turning back the clock on gender equality and reproductive rights. They argued that the policies advocated by these far right groups surrounding sexual and reproductive health harm real people, primarily women and children, in the poorest parts of the world.
References
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The Doha Declaration and the International Conference on Population and Development Contrasted The far-right organizations and individuals who convened the Doha International Conference for the Family are attempting to insert the Doha Declaration (Doha), into international law and policy. Doha, however, addresses issues already spoken to by other international documents. In particular, Doha stands in direct opposition to the Programme of Action (PoA) adopted by 180 countries at the United Nations International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD, also commonly referred to as Cairo) in 1994. Both documents quote the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: "the family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society."1 From this point, however, they diverge. By contrasting Doha and the ICPD-PoA and taking a closer look at several key points such as family composition, well-being of individual members of families, and reproductive health, it becomes clear that Doha is an attempt to promote a narrow vision of family and that the Doha document is intended as an advocacy tool to undermine current international efforts at poverty reduction, HIV-prevention, and related initiatives Composition of the Family Family is not specifically defined in Doha, but a close reading of the text in light of the ideologies of the drafting parties reveals a limited and unrealistic idea of what constitutes a family. The only family members referred to in the document are husband, wife, and children, suggesting that only two-parent, heterosexual, nuclear families are entitled to the rights and protections expressed by the document. Doha then calls on "all governments, international organizations and members of civil society at all levels to take action to protect the family." The actions in the Declaration include:
The ICPD-PoA, on the other hand, explicitly acknowledges the wide-range of possible family systems, while noting that trends in urbanization and migration, as well as poverty and conflict, negatively affect family formation and well-being. In addition, it notes: "traditional notions of gender-based division of parental and domestic functions and participation in the paid labour force do not reflect current realities and aspirations, as more and more women in all parts of the world take up paid employment outside the home."5 This consensus document acknowledges that single-parent families, widows, orphans, and street children are in need of specialized support.6 It goes on to call for governments:
Well-being of Individual Members within the Family Doha has a lot to say about governments' duties to the family as a whole but pays far less attention to the individuals who make up families. While some of the recommendations address individuals, women and men are only supported if they are behaving in accordance with "traditional family" roles. Such recommendations include the following:
On their face, these recommendations appear to be in line with much of international law, including ICPD. Within the context of the promotion of the traditional family, however, these assertions beg further explanation. For example, the call to "condemn and remedy abuse" does not necessarily translate into the right and ability to leave abusive marriages. In practice, far-right organizations, such as those sponsoring the Doha conference, tend to encourage reconciliation even in domestic violence situations. Likewise, terminology such as "essential roles" alludes to stereotypical gender roles for women and men within marriage. In contrast, the ICPD applies human rights within the family as well. It calls for governments to develop policies that are "fully responsive to the diverse and changing needs and to the rights of families and their individual members, and provide necessary support and protection, particularly to the most vulnerable families and the most vulnerable family members"11 and to "develop the capacity to monitor the impact of social and economic decisions and actions on the well-being of families, on the status of women within families, and on the ability of families to meet the basic needs of their members."12 Reproductive Health The most glaring difference between Doha and ICPD-PoA is the way each addresses abortion. Doha is clearly an anti-choice document. It grants full rights prior to birth: "We recognize the inherent dignity of the human person and note that the child, by reason of his physical and mental immaturity, needs special safeguards and care before as well as after birth. Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person."13 [emphasis added] The document also states the need to "evaluate and reassess government policies to ensure that the inherent dignity of human beings is recognized and protected throughout all stages of life." [emphasis added] Since all stages of life had been defined to include those prior to birth, this appears to be a not-so-subtle attack on women's rights to abortion. Under ICPD, rights do not attach until after birth: "all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights."14 [emphasis added] Furthermore, ICPD calls on governments to consider the consequences of unsafe abortion on women's health. It states that governments should "deal with the health impact of unsafe abortion as a major public health concern."15 Doha, on the other hand, does nothing to address unsafe abortion. In fact, Doha is mostly silent on reproductive health, including family planning. It only says that governments should "evaluate and reassess government population policies, particularly in countries with below replacement birthrates."16 This comment, alluding to unfounded concern for depopulation and a negative appraisal of family planning policies, is the direct opposite of concern for people's ability to freely and responsibly plan whether and when they have children. Conclusion As illustrated by ICPD, the international community has worked to offer a sophisticated analysis of the problems facing families and to create appropriate, multi-faceted strategies to begin addressing them. Doha is clearly an attempt by conservative forces to undermine this progress. Ironically, Doha's rhetoric is appealing because of its greatest weakness: it over-simplifies both the problems and the work necessary to address them. References
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