The privileged position of the Holy See at the UN

The Holy See has been recognized as a permanent observer state within the UN system since 1964 (Stensvold 2016b, 96). Observer states can participate in negotiations on the same terms as Member States, but cannot vote in the GA (Stensvold 2016b, 96). Other religious organizations, including the Russian Orthodox Church and the Organization of Islamic Conference, do not have this privileged position, which gives the Holy See access to the preparation and negotiation of documents and to resolutions, as well as the opportunity to make formal statements to international conventions (Stensvold 2016b, 96). For this reason, whilst there is a broad range of actors supportive of the traditional religio-cultural discourse, the Holy See enjoys a more influential role in debating issues and lobbying. In practice, the Holy See frames an issue in the UN debates on HIV and gender from the perspective of supporters of the traditional religio-cultural discourse, and other actors (including Member States) take up the framing and use it in their negotiations.

There have been papal ambassadors (nuncios) in the diplomatic corps in Catholic countries since 1815; this was rapidly scaled up after the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) when the decision was made by the Vatican ‘to engage more

actively with the world’. Pope John Paul II increased the number of nuncios from

84 to 178 between 1978 and 2002. This provides the Vatican with close relationships, information and possible influence in 178 countries, and the opportunity to forge alliances at national level on issues of international

importance (Stensvold 2016b, 97). In 1957 the Vatican changed its name at the UN to the Holy See. This change is significant because Vatican State has a very small population of approximately 600 people, but the Holy See represents Catholic Churches world-wide. The Holy See has used this dual identity in different ways on a variety of issues.

This chapter and the accompanying information in annex 5 has demonstrated the leadership role taken by the Catholic Church in articulating the traditional

religio-cultural discourse on human rights, marriage and family, parents, women and girls, children, HIV and SRH. Specifically it has shown how it has articulated its own teaching to align with, and according to Stensvold, to appropriate the UDHR (Stensvold 2016b, 103).

Representatives of the Holy See to the UN make statements regularly on these issues and use the opportunity to put forward the traditional religio-cultural framing, which is then taken up by MS in their interventions. For example: in 2011, the intervention on the Declaration of Commitment on HIV & AIDS given by the Holy See defines marriage according to the Catholic Church definition, as restricted to one man and one woman, and states that this must be

acknowledged by MS. It links the statement to UDHR Article 16.3,¹¹which is the Article on families, not on marriage.

States must acknowledge that the family, based on marriage being the equal partnership between one man and one woman and the natural and fundamental group unit of society, is indispensable in the fight against HIV and AIDS, for the family is where children learn moral values to help them live in a responsible manner and where the greater part of care and

11 The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State (General Assembly Resolution 1948, 16.3).

support is provided (cf., Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 16,3) (Holy See 2011).

The article on marriage (Article 16.1) does not specify one man and one woman, but is broader, mentioning men and women.

Men and women of full age, without any limitation due to race, nationality or religion, have the right to marry and to found a family.

They are entitled to equal rights as to marriage, during marriage and at its dissolution (General Assembly Resolution 1948, 16.1).

Critics of the Holy See’s privileged position at the UN highlight this strategy of carefully crafted and nuanced re-interpretation of the UDHR and repetition of the traditional religio-cultural framing at the UN. This, combined with the Holy See’s access to governments at ambassadorial level in 178 countries that have diplomatic missions in New York, is regarded by critics as a major challenge to the public health, human rights and gender equality discourses in public policy on HIV and SRHR at the UN.

Popes have also played a significant and direct role in both articulating and influencing this discourse. Further explanation of how they have used this influence is in annex 5.

5.5.1.1 Interventions of the Holy See at the UN

It is important to repeat here that there are many areas of consensus between secular human rights law and Roman Catholic articulation of NL, and on these issues the interventions of the Holy See at the UN are broadly aligned and supportive of human rights, gender equality and scientific evidence. The

Catholic Church frequently cites NL and elements of Catholic social teaching as a basis for these interventions. There are also significant differences however, as this chapter has explained, and these differences can result in tension and conflict in negotiations at the UN. The Holy See also uses NL to support its interventions on contentious issues such as, women’s rights, LGBTI rights,

abortion and end of life issues. This tension is also evident in negotiations on HIV and AIDS and discussed further in annex 5.

The following section provides a clear example of where there is consensus between the two sets of conceptual frameworks. Over many years the Holy See has mounted a consistent and well researched campaign, to scale up the

development of affordable, accessible and palatable HIV medications for children. They have strategically used their position at the UN to take this forward in a range of different settings, with advocacy that is based on both human rights and Catholic social teaching and natural law. This is an area of synergy between Catholic and secular health actors and strong working relationships and collaboration have led to tangible positive results.

Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, Papal Nuncio and Permanent Observer to the Holy See in Geneva published a collection of all interventions by the Holy See in Geneva during the ten years of his tenure. He documents the series of

interventions on access to medicines for children presented at the Human Rights Council, the World Health Assembly, and the World Trade organization between 2010 and 2015. Themes in these interventions include a challenge to the global community to invest in ‘research, treatment, vaccination and prevention education respectful of the natural moral law; the call for a fair distribution of resources for research and treatment based on social justice; perspectives on

‘health security grounded on an anthropology respectful of the human person’

(Tomasi 2017, 615, 616); challenges to pharmaceutical companies to address intellectual property complexities in line with ethical perspectives based on the dignity of the human person; a challenge to the Special Rapporteur on Human Rights to look beyond legal frameworks to consider solidarity and social and political factors which deprive people of access to medications (Tomasi 2017, 642, 648); the primacy of the right to health over a focus on profit, calling on the pharmaceutical companies to strive towards ‘child-sized’, fixed-dose combinations, of acceptable taste and form, and easy to administer to infants and very young children’ (Tomasi 2017, 654).

These interventions are carefully crafted to include scientific facts, analysis of the respective reports from UNAIDS, the WHO and the Special Rapporteurs and reflect an accurate understanding of the complexities of international trade and

TRIPS agreements as well as the difficulties involved in developing paediatric medications for HIV in children. Pope Francis himself supported this campaign in his address to the US Congress in 2015 (Tomasi 2017, 660), in Amoris Laetitia (Pope Francis 2016, 35) and in his message to the 32nd Vatican Health

Conference, ‘Addressing global health inequalities’ (Francis 2017) with a

specific message for representatives of pharmaceutical companies gathered in a parallel consultation to address access to paediatric medicines for HIV.

This longstanding international advocacy culminated in 2016 and 2017 with a series of consultations to address the challenges of scaling up access to

paediatric medications for HIV facilitated by Caritas Internationalis and hosted by Cardinal Turkson at the Vatican Academy of Sciences, to bring together representatives of pharmaceutical companies, people living with HIV, faith-based health service professionals, UN and other scientific experts and bilateral donors. Tangible outcomes from these consultations include tighter targets for access to HIV medication for children, included in the 2016 Political Declaration on HIV & AIDS, and a 41-point action plan to address bottlenecks and challenges to achieving these targets.¹²

This section demonstrates that collaboration between the UN, Member States, the Holy See and faith-based partners can be extremely successful and benefit from some of the principles of Catholic Social teaching and its foundations in NL where there is consensus between these conceptual frameworks and those underpinning Human Rights, Gender Equality and Scientific evidence.