5 Whoever receives one little child like this in My name receives Me. 6 “But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea. 7 Woe to the world because of offenses! For offenses must come, but woe to that man by whom the offense comes!………”– Matthew 18:5-7
This past week, the delegation of Malawi to the United Nations in Geneva, voted against the rights of children and the protection of parents’ rights in the delegation of Kuwait amendment to the resolution A/HRC/56/L.25/Rev.1 (entitled Elimination of all forms of discrimination against women and girls. The Kuwaiti amendment aspired to remove language from the text of the resolution that in future would lead to countries like Malawi to change its national laws to be in line with the EU and western allies centered position on numerous items.
Other countries that voted against the Kuwaiti amendment were South Africa and Burundi, with Ghana, Benin, and Cote d’Ivoire abstaining, the amendment failed to pass (23 No’s, 3 abstentions, and 19 Yes). Forgetting South Africa, had Malawi, Burundi, Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, and Benin voted in favor of the amendment, the resolution would have been included into the resolution. Sadly, six African countries took the Western allied position and ditched (both the No’s and the Abstainers) in the stroke of their votes, they ditched the creation of a world fit for children. This, WFFC) ironically, is a UN slogan to a policy that is also in the ditch.
This is a call to the UN, donors, Malawi and others on the continent, please remember promises of creating a world fit for children, that drew such wide and wild support from the global community. What is creating a world fit for children? The term Creating a World fit for Children is from the resolution A/S-27/PV.6 that was adopted by the UN General Assembly at the 27th special session, 10 May, 2002. A follow-up to the World Summit for Children, the resolution A world fit for children waspassed unanimously by the UN General Assembly. The following noble points littered liberally all over the world, in collaboration with UN agencies such as UNICEF, UNESCO and UNDP, were:
· give every child a better future.
· through this, millions of young lives have been saved, more children than ever are in school, more children are actively involved in decisions concerning their lives and important treaties have been concluded to protect children, the resolution reported.
· stress our commitment to create a world fit for children, in which sustainable human development, taking into account the best interests of the child.
· recognize and support parents and families or, as the case may be, legal guardians as the primary caretakers of children, and we will strengthen their capacity to provide optimum care, nurturing and protection.
These were the agreements and have been upheld, until recently, when zealous member states of the European Union and the Western allies, including Japan and many South American nations, have embarked on including the phrase ‘comprehensive sexuality education’ (CSE) on all resolutions when talking about children, women and girls. Noticeably, the group has also embarked on removing ‘men and women equality’ to the single term ‘gender equality,’ violence against women and girls is amended to “gender-based violence,” and ‘sexual and reproductive health’ has changed to ‘reproductive, health, and sexual rights.’
The changes are aimed at introducing concepts that are arm-wrestling many sovereign member states to change their laws. The term “comprehensive sexuality education,” already in full swing in many African schools and villages, is being entwined with the fight for violence against women and girls. Numerous foreign donor organizations are flooding the rural areas with training that comes complete with per diems to attendees.
This clearly shows how the “donors” are throwing scraps of money; they have a sugar-coated reason bridging CSE to fight against gender-based violence. Unknown to the rural populations, the LGBTQ folks use GBV for entities that are anti-same-sex unions. Such ridiculousness is laced with corn wool over the eyes of rural communities that look at people bringing them money for training; they are building up armies of anti-government positions on local morality laws that their traditional rulers sought from them.
In the early 2000, there was nation-wide research on same-sex marriage where the chiefs held consultations with Malawians on the matter – they categorically refused and labelled homosexuality as foreign and unnatural acts. The local law on same-sex unions is based on that research the former Director of Prosecution that oversaw the research once told me. He said the results of the research led to the Malawi Parliament passing the law. Today the northern countries are infiltrating the legal fraternity and human rights organizations in the country who in turn are parroting western sentiments with rebranded messages on CSE that are not Malawian values.
On the Friday vote, the Objective of amendment A/HRC/56/L.46 aimed to replace the reference to “evidence-based comprehensive sexuality education” in operative paragraph 3(g). The Kuwaiti delegation amended the phrase with “longstanding agreed language on the matter of sexual and reproductive health education. The Kuwaiti found language that has been agreed by the member states “in relevant UN General Assembly resolutions since 2017, as well as in CSW and CPD resolutions. This formulation, which to this date remains uncontested in New York, reflects a shared recognition of the importance of children’s access to accurate, culturally sensitive, and age-appropriate information on sexual and reproductive health, having also due regard for the primary responsibility of parents and legal guardians for their upbringing and development, particularly when it comes to education on such sensitive matters.”
The amendment to A/HRC/56/L.25/Rev.1 from Kuwait submitted to the Human Rights Commission on July 8, 2024, replacesto evidence-based comprehensive sexuality education with “scientifically accurate and age-appropriate education that is relevant to cultural contexts, that provides adolescent girls and boys and young women and men, in and out of school, consistent with their evolving capacities, and with appropriate direction and guidance from parents and legal guardians, information on sexual and reproductive health and HIV prevention, gender equality and the empowerment of women, human rights, physical, psychological and pubertal development and power in relationships between women and men, to enable them to build self-esteem and foster informed decision-making, communication and risk reduction skills and to develop respectful relationships, in full partnership with young persons, parents, legal guardians, caregivers, educators and health-care providers….”
The No vote of the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Malawi to the United Nations Office and other International Organizations in Geneva, is a big blow to Malawi’s children, because the motive behind the thrusting in almost every resolution on the global platform, is aimed at circumventing the advancement of the country’s young people. How is Malawi creating a world fit for children when teachers are caused to teach students comprehensive sexuality education whose contents include sessions on homosexuals, lesbians and transgender, the right to abortion and complete access to contraceptives? Some lessons are even on teaching students to pleasure themselves or experiment with kissing. The assertion by the main sponsors Mexico and Chile that “universal access to comprehensive sexuality education” as means to “respect, protect and fulfill the right to education for all women and girls throughout their life course and at all levels” is a clear indication in the resolution that is dealing with violence against women and girls, is to be solved at the women’s and girls’ levels; a fact that is not evidence-based. Additionally, the issue of violence against women and girls is intense in Malawi and other African countries.
I pray one day I will have the kind of money the billionaires from the North have so that I could splash it on my Malawians. This would lessen the burden of the major assault on the fabric of our country’s values and systems. How does the west value participatory democracy in their countries and then downplay African countries’ choices when they take place in ours? Just because someone has not gone to school, it does not mean they will not have opinions about morality in their own country. Arm-wrestling member states to “ensure universal access to CSE,” without any safeguards whatsoever in terms of age appropriateness, scientific accuracy, as well as respect for the right of parents and legal guardians to guide their children’s education, is a big dilemma for Malawian women and girls, who face violence meted to them disproportionately to minority groups such as the other minority populations the HRC resolution aims to include and protect.
