Loud rambles, shouts and implied accusations of neo-colonialism is what a passerby would have heard when walking past the UN Security Council Chamber this afternoon.
The uproar started during a consultation of the whole on “women’s rights” in Sudan and during its political transition. Sources indicate that it was started by the Delegation of Ghana comparing women to kitchen furniture! Indeed the delegate was saying that “[…] if you run into the burning building, do you really care about the kitchen furniture?”. So not only were them comparing women to inanimate objects but even further, comparing them to kitchen utensils, as if they were not made for more.
What followed was raging uproar by all countries in the Council, defending Women’s Rights, each of course to their own standards. Yet instead of the civilised and ordained debate you would expect from the Delegates of the most important countries in the world, attacks quickly got personal with USA attacking its long standing enemy China on its one child policy. One thing that the delegation failed to realise though is that the “One child policy” has been abolished in 2021. To further add to the sexism, the USA, in a plea to solidify the position of women as equals to men, said that not being allowed to bear children would be an infringement on their liberties. But isn’t that a bit sexist to limit the fate of women as child bearers ?
All in all we can say that this committee sessions resembled more a familiar dispute on Christmas and the mannerism of certain delegates would make us question their sanity and doubt that they are ready to bear such an important responsibility.
- Ruben Rottenberg
