Donald Trump’s Administration Wants To Replace Word ‘Gender’ In UN Human Rights Documents
The Inquisitr has earlier reported that President Donald Trump’s administration considers restricting the definition of gender so it would be based on the individual’s genitalia at birth.
The idea drew flak from critics particularly from the LGBTQ groups, which announced protests and rallies in response to the proposal.
Now, reports emerge that the American mission to the United Nations also attempts to remove the word “gender” from human rights documents of the United Nations.
US diplomats are reportedly lobbying to change the word “gender” to “woman” in a move that some consider as an attack to the transgender and gender-nonconforming people.
The Guardian reported that at a recent meeting of the UN’s Third Committee, which tackles agenda related to social and humanitarian affairs as well as human rights issues, US officials have been seeking for a rewrite of the general assembly policy statements.
They reportedly want to remove what the US administration argues is a vague and politically correct language based on an individual’s choice and not on unchangeable biological factors.
The idea is in stark contrast to the policies brought about by the administration of Barack Obama, which essentially allowed gender to be an individual’s choice.
In a draft paper on trafficking in women and girls, for instance, the United States wants to replace the phrases “gender-based violence” with “violence against women.”
The US officials involved in the changes are reportedly sent from Washington, and were not full-time diplomats in the US mission.
“If you only say violence against women, it doesn’t really tell the whole story,” a senior diplomat at the UN commented.
Although the move appears to discount the experiences of the transgender community, a spokesperson for the US state department said that the United States is in no way trying to exclude the protection of the transgendered person or the protection of any person in any of the resolutions of the UN.
“When certain parts of resolutions explicitly refer to issues affecting ‘women and girls’, our negotiators have suggested in several instances to change ‘gender’ to ‘women’ and/or ‘women and girls’ to make the resolutions clearer, more specific, more accurate, and in our view, stronger in the Administration’s efforts to empower women and girls,” the spokesperson said.
According to the Independent, around 1.4 million Americans identify as transgender or gender-nonconforming.
National Center for Transgender Equality executive director Mara Keisling said that their organization is confident that the prejudice of the Trump administration will be lost to science, reason, and the fight for human rights.
