New York City, N.Y., Nov 8, 2019 / 12:01 pm
The Holy See will not participate in next week's Nairobi Summit, its mission to the UN announced Friday, saying next week's international gathering is too focused on "reproductive rights".
The Nov. 12-14 Nairobi Summit is sponsored by the UN Population Fund and the governments of Kenya and Denmark, and it marks the 25th anniversary of the International Conference on Population and Development, which was held in Cairo.
Its program includes five themes, among which are "Universal access to sexual and reproductive health and rights as a part of universal health coverage" and "Upholding the right to sexual and reproductive health care even in humanitarian and fragile contexts."
"The organizers' decision … to focus the conference on a few controversial and divisive issues that do not enjoy international consensus and that do not reflect accurately the broader population and development agenda outlined by the ICPD, is regrettable," the Permanent Observer Mission of the Holy See to the United Nations said Nov. 8.