CAIRO, March 2, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Discussions on issues related to women rights continued in the UN headquarters in New York, with the United States sponsoring a last minute’s proposed amendment barring the recognition of abortion as a human right.

The deliberations, that started Monday, February 28 and are to continue till March 11, fall within the 49th Session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW).

The CSW reviews and appraises progress towards implementing the goals set forth in the Fourth World Conference on Women held in Beijing in 1995.

Even before the session went underway, the CSW attempted last week to pass by consensus a short declaration that would have nations reaffirm the Beijing platform.

But the United States proposed an amendment that would reaffirm the documents only “while reaffirming that they do not create any new international human rights, and that they do not include the right to abortion,” according to The Associated Press.

United Families International (UFI), a conservative NGO, has told IslamOnline.net in e-mails that the Arab and Muslim countries that usually support the pro-family agenda have not supported this amendment.

A member of the Coalition of Islamic Organizations (CIO), a group of Muslim NGOs participating in the conference, explained to IslamOnline.net Tuesday, March 1, why the US amendment is not receiving the usual support from Arab and Muslim countries.

There had been a “gentlemen’s agreement that this [conference] would be non-controversial.” An Egyptian delegate had explained, she said, that this amendment would open a “Pandora’s box,” opening the door to every country putting in its own special interests.

The European Union would then try to put in a more liberal view. The delegates, the CIO member said, want to “get this over with.”

She further said that some delegations think the United States “isn’t serious” or they would have been lobbying and would have proposed the amendment sooner. “Maybe the US is waiting for other ideas to get proposed,” she said.

The CIO member further said that her NGO is supporting the US-proposed amendment.

While the Beijing Declaration does not promote abortion as a human right, it has widely been interpreted as such by many countries. The United States wants to clarify that position, through the proposed amendment.

The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and the CEDAW Committee that sees to its enforcement promote laws and policies that contradict Islamic Shari`ah.

Islam prohibits abortion except when the mother's life is at stake.

High level representatives from over 100 nations and thousands of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are attending the session, which will run until March 11.

Conservative Muslim and Christian NGOs say that the Beijing documents and CEDAW weaken the family by taking women out of the context of their roles within families.