The Archbishop
Bernardino Auza is the Apostolic Nuncio and Permanent Observer of the Holy See
to the United Nations and pronounced his speech in the context of a 8 June 2016 explaining
the position of the Holy See on the Political Declaration, “On the Fast-Track
to accelerate the fight against HIV and to End the AIDS Epidemic by 2030.”
Mr. President,
My delegation is wholeheartedly in support of
efforts to intensify our collective commitment to end the AIDS epidemic by 2030
and to accelerate and scale up the fight against HIV internationally, which is
the primary aim of this declaration. We recognize that this goal will not be
achieved without meeting the needs of those most vulnerable to infection and
especially of those that continue to lack access to prevention, treatment and
health care services due to discrimination, stigmatization, and poverty.
However, while
discrimination and stigmatization must be combatted, it is of vital importance
to distinguish between policies that discriminate and stigmatize unjustly and
those put in place to discourage risk-taking behaviors and to encourage
responsible and healthy relationships, especially among youth. In this regard,
the Holy See continues to call attention to the undeniable fact that the only
safe and completely reliable method of preventing the sexual transmission of
HIV is abstinence before marriage and respect and mutual fidelity within
marriage.
The Holy See, in
conformity with its nature and particular mission, especially keeping in mind
the work of the Catholic Church in the field confronting HIV and the AIDS
epidemic, wishes to make the following reservations on some of the concepts
used in this Political Declaration:
Regarding the terms “sexual and
reproductive health”, “sexual and reproductive health-care services”, and
“reproductive rights”, the Holy See considers these terms as applying to a
holistic concept of health. The Holy See does not consider abortion, access to
abortion, or access to abortifacients as a dimension of these terms.
With
reference to the terms “contraception”, “commodities”, “condom use” and any
other terms regarding family-planning services and regulation of fertility
concepts in the document, the Holy See reaffirms its well-known position
concerning those family-planning methods which the Catholic Church considers
morally acceptable and, on the other hand, family-planning services which do
not respect the freedom of spouses, human dignity and the human rights of those
concerned.
In
relation to paragraphs 1 and 2 of this Statement of Position, the Holy See
reiterates its statement and reservations as set out clearly and more fully in
the Report of the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development,
and the Report of the 1995 Fourth World Conference and their respective
follow-up Conferences. In particular, my delegation understands, in accordance
with the ICPD 1.15, that no new rights or human rights were created, that
recourse to abortion may never to be had for purposes of family planning
(7.24), and that abortion is a matter to be determined in accordance with
national legislation (8.25).
With
reference to “gender”, the Holy See understands the term to be grounded in the
biological sexual identity and difference that is male or female. Regarding the
concept of “gender norms” the Holy See does not recognize the idea that gender
is socially constructed, rather gender recognizes the objective identity of the
human person as born male or female.
With
respect to “comprehensive education” or “information” on sexual and
reproductive health, the Holy See reiterates the “primary responsibility” and
the “prior rights” of parents when it comes to the education and upbringing of
their children, as enshrined, inter alia, in the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child. In that sense, the Holy
See wishes to underline the centrality of the family, as well as the role and
rights and duties of parents to educate their children.
The Holy See would kindly request that these reservations
be made particularly in relation to paragraphs 14, 15, 33, 39, 41, 47, 60 (e)
and (f), 61(c), (d), (j), and (l), 62 (a) and (c).
