Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, September 1, 1994 TAG: 9409010081
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-13 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: CAIRO, EGYPT LENGTH: Medium
They disputed claims Wednesday that the conference action plan endorsed abortion, homosexuality and promiscuity. They said critics, such as Muslim fundamentalists and the Vatican, were reading things into it for political purposes.
``Various areas of misinformation attributed to the document ... are not there,'' U.N. spokesman Stirling Scruggs told a news conference.
Still, criticism was not stilled. Lebanon announced it was not coming, and Pakistani officials said Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto might withdraw as head of her country's delegation.
Saudi Arabia's top Islamic scholars said the conference program ``contravenes Islam and all heavenly teachings by the prophets, is against the nature of man, is immoral and is heretic.'' They called on Muslims to boycott the meeting.
Vatican officials have launched their own campaign against proposals related to artificial birth control and abortion, and the Holy See has been in contact with Iran and Libya to coordinate strategy on contentious issues.
In a news conference Wednesday, papal spokesman Joaquin Navarro defended the Vatican's common cause with Muslim fundamentalists, saying, ``It's not strange in any way if representatives of other religions might have felt a confluence with the Holy See.''
More than 155 nations and 1,200 nongovernmental groups are expected to send delegations to the U.N. International Conference on Population and Development.
The program they will discuss is designed to curb the world's spiraling population, increasing by 90 million people a year, and encourage economic development.
Lebanon was the third Muslim nation to announce it would not send a delegation.
Lebanese President Elias Hariri did not say why, but Hariri has close ties to Saudi Arabia, which announced this week it would not attend. Sudan also has said it will boycott.
Jordan announced Wednesday that it would attend despite calls for a boycott from the kingdom's powerful Muslim fundamentalists and other groups.
If Bhutto pulls out, all three female prime ministers from Muslim nations would be absent from the conference. Tansu Ciller of Turkey and Khaleda Zia of Bangladesh already have canceled, but both countries still are sending delegations.
At Wednesday's Cairo news conference, U.N. spokesman Ayman el-Amir listed improving the lot of women, creating equality for men and women, and enriching the lives of all families as among the meeting's aims.
Scruggs denied that the document's comments on abortion amount to endorsement. He said the report raises the issue of the 500,000 women who die each year of pregnancy complications, many from unsafe abortions, and urges each country to deal with the problem ``based on its own beliefs and traditions and culture.''
In fact, the document is peppered with brackets, flagging phrases still subject to debate, including references to abortion, sexual and reproductive health, family planning and fertility regulation, he said.
by CNB