Argentinean bishops say CEDAW a threat to sovereignty

Buenos Aires, Argentina, Dec 14, 2006 / 22:00 pm

The executive committee of the Bishops’ Conference of Argentina has issued a strong statement criticizing the government’s recent decision to ratify the U.N.’s Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), saying it has “compromised the juridical sovereignty of Argentina.”

The bishops point out that the Church’s statements, “far from affecting the legitimate promotion of women, seek to support it and secure it.  We are sorry we have not been heeded and that the vote by lawmakers was not preceded by a mature, serene, debate devoid of ideological pressures.”

The CEDAW, the bishops note, does not promote women but rather serves as a cover “for promoting negative changes in the culture of our people.”  

“We are referring concretely to the defense of human life from the moment of conception; to the family founded upon matrimony, understood as the stable union between a man and a woman; to maternity , which expresses a unique and irreplaceable vocation for women in society,” the bishops state.

They also warn that the Convention’s recommendations regarding the legalization of abortion and the refusal to grant conscientious objection to health care professionals have become reality in various countries.  “This organism also considers motherhood as a cultural stereotype and has even recommended doing away with ‘Mother’s Day’ and with those policies that protect pregnancy and motherhood.”

“We offer this reflection to our people and their leaders with the hope that the cultural identity of Argentina and the moral demands of the values in question are not compromised by the consequences that other countries have experiences,” the bishops said in conclusion.