We Reject The Agenda of UN!

Thu Al-Kedah 1^st, 1436 H

Corresponding to August 15^th, 2015

Statement on behalf of Muslim Scholars’ Associations and Islamic Organizations, on the New Agenda for the UN General Assembly Special Session, to be held in Sept. 25- 27, 2015, titled:

“TRANSFORMING OUR WORLD: THE 2030 AGENDA FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT”

Praise be to Allah, and prayer and peace be upon the final Messenger of Allah; Muhammad, and upon his family and companions and all those who follow his noble guidance until the Day of Judgment.

The whole world is looking forward to the New Agenda, which the United Nations and its bodies announced launching in the high-level meeting of the General Assembly, to be held in New York from 25 to 27 September 2015, titled “TRANSFORMING OUR WORLD: THE 2030 AGENDA FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT”. The Preamble of the new Agenda stated that: “We are resolved to free the human race from the tyranny of poverty and want and to heal and secure our planet. We are determined to take the bold and transformative steps which are urgently needed to shift the world onto a sustainable and resilient path. As we embark on this collective journey, we pledge that no one will be left behind”.

Although the New Agenda contains many important developmental items, it regrettably still involves the same contentious and controversial issues which have been replicated in all the previous relevant UN documents concerning development, population, women, etc., which resulted the impossibility of the full implementation of those documents as a result of the objections and reluctance of many governments and peoples on those issues[1]. Therefore the impossibility of the full implementation of the new Agenda remains a reality, although item (5) claims that it is: “…accepted by all countries and applicable to all”.

The main reservations of Muslim Scholars’ Associations & Islamic Organizations on the New Agenda are as follows:

First: the insistence on providing sexual and reproductive health services for all, universally, including for family planning, information and education^[2](regardless of and with no mention of the age or marital status), and “the integration of reproductive health into national strategies and programs”^[3], “as agreed in accordance with the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development and the Beijing Platform for Action and the outcome documents of their review conferences”^[4].

And thus the unmarried, as well as children and adolescents get all the information and services which enable them to prevent pregnancy, which is considered a green light for practicing adultery, especially with the reference to the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development[5], which stipulated that “sexually active adolescents will require special family-planning information, counselling and services, and those who become pregnant will require special support from their families and communities during pregnancy and early child care. Adolescents must be fully involved in the planning, implementation and evaluation of such information and services with proper regard for parental guidance and responsibilities”.^[6]

It is worth mentioning that the Secretary-General’s report encourages countries which “provide comprehensive sexuality education^[7], including learning about consent and respectful and equal relationships, is also being provided by states to address violence against girls in schools.^[8]

In addition to the international pressure for legalizing abortion, the report of the International Conference on Human Rights entitled “ICPD Beyond 2014”, which was held in the Netherlands, July 2013, has condemned “the existence of criminal laws against sexual and reproductive rights, including laws criminalizing same-sex consensual relations, adultery, sex work, undocumented migrants, people living with HIV, access to information about sexuality, and access to safe[9] abortion services”.^[10] The conference stressed the need to ensure people’s access to the widest possible range of contraceptive methods, including emergency contraception, as well as to safe abortion services. The need to provide adolescents and youth with comprehensive sexuality education was emphasized^[11].

While these documents consider restricting “sexual freedoms for all” ashuman rights violation, they turn a blind eye to the flagrant violations such as killing, burning, and systematic rape, torture, and arbitrary arrests which happen regularly to Muslim women and girls in many parts of the world, such as Syria, Palestine, Iraq, Burma, Egypt, and Central Africa where girls are deprived of the most basic human rights—namely the right to life.

Second: Adoption of Gay rights through the application of “Gender^[12]Equality”, and stressing on its integration within the global system of human rights. Also stressing the link between Gender equality and achieving sustainable development;

The Secretary-General’s reports show the continued support of the United Nations to gay rights, and the determination of the removal of all obstacles to those rights. The most recent reports is the one titled: “The Road to Dignity by 2030: Ending Poverty, Transforming All Lives and Protecting the Planet” which states: “An enabling environment under the rule of law must be secured for the free, active and meaningful engagement of civil society and of advocates, reflecting the voices of women, minorities, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender groups…”[13]. The repeated support of the Secretary-General to “Gay Rights” is quite clear in several reports and on several occasions[14].

The integration of “gender equality” in the New Agenda over several paths^[15], also specified in goal (5) of the sustainable development goals (SDGs) which stipulates: “Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls”, indicates that the issue of gender equality and subsequent approval of gay rights, is a core issue that the UN is targeting to resolve globally through this “New Agenda”. ^[16] Which is emphasized under the title “New Agenda” that: The systematic mainstreaming of a gender perspective in the implementation of the Agenda is crucial[17].

Before the UN General Assembly Special Session is held, several events were held by LGBTs simultaneously all over the world, which were covered by media and the social media networks, to deliver a clear message that homosexuality has become a reality, and gays have all the right to choose their gender identities and their sexual orientation, under the protection of international law, and within the international human rights system^[18].

On the other hand, the “New Agenda” calls for banning 3 different types of marriage: child marriage, early marriage and forced[19] marriage[20]. Since, according to UN conventions, childhood ends at 18; then “early marriage” is meant to start after the age of 18. This means that the “New Agenda” calls for banning marriage not only for teens (under 18) but also for youth while at the same time advocating adultery and homosexuality as human rights and fundamental freedoms for all!

This question then imposes itself: “What will society benefit by banning marriage for teens and youth while allowing them to commit adultery and homosexuality under the law?”

Third: Claiming to change laws and legislations (including family laws) considering any difference in legislation as “discriminatory laws”[21], in order to apply complete and full equality:

Islam guarantees equality for women in all spheres of life while at the same time maintains the distinction between men and women in terms of responsibilities and rights within the family ensuring their complementary roles which guaranties family cohesion and supports the family’s role in building a strong and healthy community.

While the New Agenda demands bypassing all attributes and applying complete and full equality, then changing all laws and legislation that respect such attributes labeling them as “discriminatory laws”, the Muslim Scholars’ Associations & Islamic Organizations cannot accept any demand that may threaten the family’s cohesion. The New Agenda’s demand of changing “discriminatory laws” includes:

• Complete equality in marriage and divorce legislations. ^[22]
• The abolition of guardianship, and the abolition of stewardship and replace them with full partnership and equal sharing in all family responsibilities[23].
• Equality in inheritance which New Agenda includes within its claims of equality in the Goals: (1.4) and (5.a) of the Sustainable Development Goals [SDGs] and is also emphasized by the Secretary-General of the United Nations in several reports[24].
• Gender Equality means all (genders) are equal (straight and gay) in rights and obligations. As the wife inherits her husband, a gay may also inherit his/her partner. Also, their adopted children, may inherit them. The gay couple will also receive all social guarantees, securities and safeguards received by straight couples, etc.

Forth: The international mandate to implement the New Agenda by 2030. This mandate is repeated frequently. For example, the Report of the International Conference on Human Rights “ICPD Beyond 2014” “reaffirmed that rights related to sexuality and reproduction are universal human rights, to which all people are entitled irrespective of race, sex, ethnicity, religion, political or other opinion, or any other status; that all States have obligations to ensure these rights..”[25].

The New Agenda also states that: “the Agenda will be implemented in a manner that is consistent with the rights and obligations of states under international law[26], and “will guide the decisions we take over the next fifteen years”.[27] In a clear contradiction with items (10, 30, 38) in the Agenda which states that: “The New Agenda is guided by the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations”, while the UN Charter states that: “Nothing contained in the present Charter shall authorize the United Nations to intervene in matters which are essentially within the domestic jurisdiction of any state”[28]

While at the same paragraph where the Agenda states: “respecting national policies and priorities”, it also states that: “The SDGs and targets are integrated and indivisible, global in nature and universally applicable”[29]. This means that there should not be any reservations on any of those goals, even if they are conflicted with religions or with basic values and morals, without which Nations collapse and that what makes “respecting RELIGIONS, national policies and priorities” conditional to fully achieving the SDGs.

Likewise, what is stipulated in Goal (16.10) of the SDGs: “protect fundamental freedoms, in accordance with national legislation and international agreements”, is self-contrasting, because the term “Basic freedoms” is so broad that it includes, according to the New Agenda and the reports and documents which it recalls:  sexual freedom, freedom to choose “gender identity” and “sexual orientation”, which is in contradiction to many countries’ national legislations!

Under this extreme contradiction, it is impossible to combine “fundamental freedoms” from the international perspective, and “national legislations” in one frame unless they become compatible.

So, will the conservative countries change their national laws to conform to the international conventions, or, will the United Nations decide to respect the cultural diversity of the peoples of the earth, and their right to formulate their own national laws?

Demands of Muslim Scholars’ Associations & Islamic Organizations:

First: We ask the United Nations Organization and its subsidiary bodies to respect the will of the people and the moral and ethical organizations upon which they are based and that effectively keep international peace and security.

Second: Islamic nations are urged to take a united and decisive stand about the international documents related to population and women and children and to reject all what is contrary to Islamic legislation in the document “TRANSFORMING OUR WORLD: THE 2030 AGENDA FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT” or any subsequent documents laid for discussion or signature.

Third: Strengthening government’s positions to adhere to the reservations and preserve religious identity and national sovereignty.

Fourth: The United Nations Organization is requested to take serious steps and processes to remove actual violence toward women and girls in all areas where they are exposed, like: murder, arson, arrests, torture, and systematic rape.

The Statement is issued by the following Scholar’s Associations & Islamic Organizations: