A United Nations women’s rights committee rejected a pro-life organization’s request to screen The Daily Wire’s “What is a Woman?” after declaring the groundbreaking documentary did not align with the panel’s “values.”
The Committee on the Status of Women, New York, referred to within the global body as NGO CSW/NY, and a convener for the United Nations’ annual meeting on women’s rights, rejected the International Youth Coalition’s request to hold a screening of the film starring Matt Walsh at an upcoming conference because it did not adhere to their new guidelines.
“Unfortunately, your request to host an event has been denied as your event does not align with NGO CSW/NY’s values and/or mandate,” read the letter turning down the proposal.
The summary rejection stunned Austin Ruse, president of the Center for Family and Human Rights (C-Fam), the youth coalition’s parent organization.
“How ironic is it that a conference on women does not want to consider the question, ‘what is a woman?'” Ruse said. “It is also unfortunate that this UN conference is not interested in diverse voices.”
The NGO Committee of the UN Commission on the Status of Women issued new “safety guidelines and principles” that pro-life and pro-family groups are concerned will have the effect of blocking their participation in UN conferences.
“In past years, many pro-life and family organizations, including C-Fam, have hosted events, but are now unwelcomed with the new guidelines,” wrote Craig-Austin Rose of C-Fam.
The new guidelines state that participants must acknowledge that “sexism, racism, classism, heterosexism, transphobia, global North domination and other institutionalized forms of oppression exist.”
“This is an antiracist space meaning that we welcome, value and revere an intersectional approach to feminism,” the guidelines read.
“An anti-racist space requires that all of us need to consider our positionality and work actively not to replicate white patriarchal structures including subjugating voices of Black women and women of color,” the guidelines continue.
In response to the new guidelines, C-Fam organized a petition that included signatures from 600 organizations in 119 countries that urged UN Women to allow pro-life and pro-family representation.
“The NGO Committee on the Status of Women is blocking non-governmental organizations that do not subscribe to progressive Western views about the family and women’s issues from participating in the NGO/CSW Forum, including many organizations with ECOSOC status,” the petition states. “We appeal to you to ensure that organizations that hold traditional views about the family and women’s issues are not discriminated against in UN debates.”
The 67th annual NGO CSW/NY Forum is set to take place March 6-17, 2023, at the United Nations Plaza in New York.