Due to a threat of veto by the United States of America, a long agreed phrase was removed from the United Nations resolution on sexual violence in conflict because President Donald Trump’s administration saw it as a code for abortion according to the diplomats at the United Nations headquarters.
The resolution which was cut referred to the need for U.N. bodies and donors to give timely “sexual and reproductive health” assistance to survivors of sexual violence in conflict.
The veto threat by the U.S. comes on the heels of a string of policy reversals that some UN diplomats believe has been driven by U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, a conservative Christian who staunchly opposes abortion rights.
The Trump administration also cut U.S. funding in 2017 for the U.N. Population Fund because according to the views of the Trump administration it “supports, or participates in the management of, a program of coercive abortion or involuntary sterilization.” However, the United Nations said that was an inaccurate perception.
The text that did end up getting adopted by the Security Council on Tuesday simply reaffirms the council’s commitment to the 2009 and 2013 resolutions. A reference to the work of the International Criminal Court in fighting the most serious crimes against women and girls was also subsequently watered-down to win over Washington, which is not a member of the institution.
In 2018 the Trump administration unsuccessfully tried to remove language on sexual and reproductive health from several General Assembly resolutions .It then failed again in a similar campaign last month during the annual U.N. Commission on the Status of Women meeting.