Egypt defends Islamic states in Beijing

By Santi WE Soekanto

BEIJING (JP): Egypt came to the defense yesterday of the Islamic states, which have been accused of hampering negotiations at the ongoing United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women.

Egyptian delegation head Merwat Tallawy told a press conference that Islamic states, especially Iran, have been cooperative in deliberations over the draft Platform for Action and the Beijing Declaration.

Delegations from some Islamic states have reportedly interfered with meetings because of their refusal to budge from their positions on several issues, including sexual rights. Some parties have gone so far as to accuse them of "collaborating" with the Holy See in campaigning against abortion and against statements in the documents which could be interpreted as condoning homosexuality.

Tallawy said that the media had misrepresented Islam, so that the religion is very often associated with terrorism, extremism and violence and the West sees it as a threat.

Tallawy, who is also Egyptian ambassador to Japan, said that until conditions improve and settle down, the world will go on seeing extremism everywhere. "We see it in the United States and in Japan, which used to be a very peaceful place," she said. "This extremism is not always related to Islam."

Difficult

"Why are they picking on Islam? It's difficult to answer...Misinterpretation, terrorism," she said. She added that Islam was actually very just and tolerant and could fit in into any society.

"We'd like our partners in the conference to understand, and treat Islam with respect, and not too readily accept the wrong image of Islam, because this is actually a religion of tolerance," she said.

Tallawy also took issue with the notion that Islamic teachings oppress women and are against "equality" and development for them.

Meanwhile, greater progress has been reported from the negotiations in the working groups in charge of deliberating the draft Platform for Action and Beijing Declaration.

Conference spokeswoman Irena Freudenschuss-Reichl said the meetings had agreed to drop the word "universal" from the expression "universal human rights".

"There's the feeling that the usage of 'universal' will actually weaken the concept, because it would mean that there are human rights which are not universal in nature," she said.

On the term "sexual orientation," however, not much progress has been made and delegations are still debating over it.

By yesterday morning, agreement had been reached on the removal of over 280 brackets, well down from the original 438. Issues in brackets are those in the conference documents about which there is no consensus.

Among the still unresolved issues are "resources," "equity" and "religion and cultural values."

Disagreement over the term "resources" revolves around the difference between "new and additional resources" or "adequate" or "sufficient" resources. The developing countries are demanding that the term "new resources" be used. They argue that the expression implies commitment, particularly on the part of developed countries, to provide fresh fund for women's advancement programs.

The European Union, however, is maintaining that the establishment of "gender consideration in development programs" does not mean more money. Instead, it will mean that women in developing countries will benefit more from existing aid.

Cristina Alberdi, representative of the latest EU head, Spain, has said there will be "no more" development aid, a statement which has drawn strong criticism from representatives of the developing countries.