A reader asked, "How can U.N. documents affect me — in the United States of America?"First, if the document is an international treaty — ratified by two thirds of the U.S. Senate — it can have the full force of law (unless found to be unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court).Second, the language in a U.N. document can contribute toward "customary international law" — which can influence domestic court decisions and promote legislative consideration. If the same language occurs in several U.N. documents, it contributes toward a stronger "custom" — especially if the language comes from "consensus" documents negotiated by official country delegates.Third, it can be the impetus for public activism promoting social change.For example, I attended the UN Habitat II conference in Istanbul, in 1996. There was a strong international push at that conference to recognize same-sex marriage (although it was defeated at that conference). During the same month, the U.S. Congress passed the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which clearly defined marriage between a man and a woman in federal public policy. Now, 13 years later, the U.S. Supreme Court , in Lawrence vs. Texas, referred to international norms in a decision to overturn Texas sodomy laws. And, the Obama Administration recently announced the intent to repeal DOMA.Several U.N. agencies are guided by the language in U.N. conference documents and have commissions that meet every year to evaluate compliance by individual countries that have signed the document.The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund can use conference documents (not treaties) to prevent loans to non-compliant countries.When I was in Pakistan in 2000, some government officials said that the World Bank would not loan money to Pakistan until they could show definite progress toward reducing their population. This was guided by the Platform of Action from the Beijing Fourth World Conference on Women. (This is not a treaty.)Several U.N. treaties have been signed by U.S. presidents but have not been ratified by the Senate. Two that could have a significant impact on U.S. domestic law are The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women and The Convention on the Rights of the Child.And, there is a strong international push to make abortion an "international human right."However, this has been stalled by delegations from "pro-life countries." At the original International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo, a representative of Ireland said, "It is important that the final text should not be open to the interpretation that this conference is in any way seeking to promote abortion or in any way to impose abortion upon countries or individuals. In Ireland, as in very many other countries ... our Constitution provides that the state acknowledge the right to life of the unborn."Ireland, the Philippines, several South American countries and several Muslim countries still consider the protection of human life as a priority. However, the pro-life representatives of these countries were excluded in a recent U.N. conference reviewing Cario documents. Sometimes it is a very undemocratic process.
E-mail: susanroylance@yahoo.com