Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1376560
9 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 23 MAY 2021 NEWS Vatican critics balk at UN health role co-sponsored by Malta NICOLE MEILAK MALTA has co-sponsored a draft resolution that will see the Vatican City take on a more active role in United Nations health talks, much to the alarm of reproductive and sexual rights advocates across the world. The resolution, pushed by Ita- ly, aims to formalise the status of the Holy See at the World Health Assembly (WHA), which is the governing body of the World Health Organisation (WHO). Foreign minister Evarist Bar- tolo confirmed that Malta had co-sponsored the Italian reso- lution, together with a majority of EU member states. "The Holy See shall not have the right to vote or to put forward candi- dates and will not have addition- al rights conferred to it other than those it already enjoys at the General Assembly." The UN Resolution 58/314 al- lows the Holy See, in its capac- ity as an Observer State, to par- ticipate in the work of the UN General Assembly, including the right to participate in the gen- eral debate of the UNGA and to co-sponsor draft resolutions that make reference to the Holy See. However, it does not have the right to vote or to put forward candidates in the UNGA. Italy's draft resolution attempts to transfer these same rights to the WHA, raising concerns among reproductive and sexual rights advocates. Jessica Stern, executive direc- tor of the LGBTIQ rights group OutRight Action International, was quoted by the openDemoc- racy media platform explaining the sharp contrast between the WHO's mission to support the health of all, and the Vatican's exclusionary position towards sexual minorities. "The WHO is no place for religiously based exclusion, especially in the midst of a pandemic which has dispro- portionately harmed those who are most vulnerable, including LGBTIQ people and women," she said. Catholics for Choice president Jamie Manson added that the Vatican had repeatedly tried to thwart progess on women's and LGBT rights at the UN. "[Church doctrine] has life or death consequences, particularly in the poorest parts of the global south. It's very serious," Manson said. While the resolution as it stands not does not grant voting rights to the Holy See, the secretary of the European Parliamentary Forum on Sexual and Reproduc- tive Rights, Neil Datta, argued that the Vatican will use this UN body to obstruct further pro- gress on sexual and reproductive rights. "With such an institu- tionalised status at the WHA, as opposed to courtesy invitations, the Holy See could start acting here as it does elsewhere in the UN and that could cause trou- ble for sexual and reproductive rights," Datta warned. The Vatican received heavy critcism from the UN human rights committee in a 2014 re- port that called out its attitudes toward homosexuality, con- traception and abortion. Un- der Canon 1398, the Catholic Church opposes all forms of abortion procedures, with any person procuring a complete abortion subject to excommuni- cation from the Church, barring them from receiving the Eucha- rist while stilling binding them to attend Mass. However, acts that indirectly result in abortion, such as the removal of a cancerous womb or in cases of ovarian cancer, are recognised as morally legitimate acts so long as the procedure is aimed solely at preserving the woman's life. Here, Malta adopts a strict- er law, criminalising abortions even if it is done to preserve the life of the mother.