Office of the Historian

176. Telegram 883 From the Mission to the United Nations to the Department of State, March 19, 1975, 1354Z.1 2

March 19, 1975, 1354Z

TELEGRAM
Department of State
USUN 883

P R 191354Z MAR 75

FM USMISSION USUN NEW YORK
TO SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 9570
INFO AMEMBASSY KINGSTON
AMEMBASSY MEXICO CITY

USUN 883
DEPT PASS S/IL
E.O. 11652: N/A
TAGS: SGEN, AORG

SUBJECT: CONSULTATIVE COMMITTEE ON WCIWY--PHILOSOPHICAL BASIS AND TACTICS OF US DELEGATION PARTICIPATION IN PROCEEDINGS OF COMMITTEE
REF: A. STATE 056639 B. USUN 844

1. THROUGHOUT TWO-WEEK SESSION OF COMITE JUST END, US DEL PARTICIPATION HAS BEEN BASED UPON REALIZATION THAT US WAS IN MINORITY IN CONSULTATIVE COMITE AS WE ARE IN UN ITSELF. FOR THIS REASON, AFTER US DEL OUTLINED PHILOSOPHICAL BASIS OF US POSITION IN HUTAR STATEMENT OF MARCH 11 (COPIES POUCHED IO/LABW, D/IWY, MARCH 12), US DEL’S MAIN THRUST WAS TO FIND AND ENLARGE UPON AREAS OF AGREEMENT RATHER THAN POLARIZING COMITE. IN FACT, SINCE SECOND OF THREE MAJOR THEMES OF IWY IS THE ROLE OF WOMEN IN DEVELOPMENT, THERE IS NO RIGID LINE OF DEMARCATION BETWEEN US POSITION AND THAT OF LDCS. IT IS CLEAR THAT DEVELOPMENT AND IMPROVING THE STATUS OF WOMEN IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES CAN BE MADE MUTUALLY SUPPORTING AND SHOULD PROCEED SIMULTANEOUSLY. WHAT IS IMPORTANT IS THAT THE CONFERENCE SHOULD NOT BE DEFLECTED FROM ITS PURPOSE TO SATISFY POLITICAL AMBITIONS OF PRESIDENT ECHEVERRIA AND THAT IT SHOULD NOT BE USED AS PROPAGANDA VEHICLE BY SOVIET BLOC, ALTHOUGH JUDGING FROM SOVIETS’ RELATIVELY MODERATE STANCE IN THIS COMITE, EXCEPT ON DISARMAMENT ISSUE, SOVIET THREAT APPEARS TO BE SECONDARY.

2. AS INSTRUCTED REFTEL, US REP (HUTAR) DELIVERED STATEMENT AT CLOSING SESSION OF CONSULTATIVE COMITE, FRIDAY, MARCH 14, REITERATING MORE FORCEFULLY US CONCEPT OF PURPOSE OF WCIWY AND OUR VIEW OF UNDERLYING PHILOSOPHY OF DRAFT INTERNATIONAL PLAN OF ACTION. STATEMENT BASED UPON AND DRAWN DIRECTLY FROM CLAXTON/HAZELTON DRAFT, ESPECIALLY PAGES 6, 7, AND 8. US REP TOOK ADVANTAGE OF OPPORTUNITY TO PRESENT STATEMENT IN CONTEXT OF DEBATE WITH MEXICAN DEL ON INCLUSION IN PARA 13 OF DRAFT PLAN OF REFERENCE TO CHARTER OF ECONOMIC RIGHTS AND DUTIES OF STATES. US REP ENDED SPEECH ON CONCILIATORY NOTE BY OFFERING TO COMPROMISE ON US AMENDMENT TO MEXICAN PROPOSAL. DESPITE THIS CONCLUSION, SPEECH PROVOKED SHRILL EXTEMPORANEOUS DIATRIBE FROM VENEZUELAN REP WHO ATTACKED US POSITION AS UNSYMPATHETIC AND INSUPPORTABLE. MEXICAN REP GONZALEZ GALVEZ INTERVENED TO ANNOUNCE BY PREARRANGEMENT WITH US DEL THAT AGREEMENT WITH US HAD ALREADY BEEN REACHED. HE THEN REBUKED US AND UK REPS ON CERTAIN POINTS MADE IN THEIR STATEMENTS.

3. WHILE VENEZUELAN INTERVENTION STRUCK DISSONANT NOTE, US DEL BELIEVES THIS DISSONANCE WAS SIGNIFICANT ESPECIALLY SINCE CONSULTATIVE COMITE SESSIONS HAS IN GENERAL AVOIDED POLEMICS UP TO THAT POINT. DEBATE WITH MEXICO ALSO PRODUCED, FOR EXAMPLE, STATEMENT OF STRONG SUPPORT FOR MEXICAN POSITION FROM FRIEND OF US AND LONGTIME FEMINIST LEADER, JAMAICAN MP LUCILLE MAIR.

4. FROM BEGINNING OF SESSION, US DEL WAS AWARE THAT LDC REPS, SUCH AS AMB SHAHANI OF PHILIPPINES, WHO HAD SUPPORTED US POSITION IN LAST YEAR’S COMMISSION ON STATUS OF WOMEN, WERE NOT SYMPATHETIC TO US ON ISSUE OF CERDS. IF US AND WESTERN VIEW IS TO ACHIEVE MAXIMUM SUPPORT AT WCIWY, US DEL BELIEVES OUR BEST TACTIC, AS REVEALED IN MICROCOSM BY EVENTS IN THIS COMITE, IS TO EMPHASIZE THOSE INTERESTS WHICH WOMEN SHARE IN COMMON AND AVOID THOSE ISSUES WHICH DIVIDE THEM. OTHERWISE, THE MAJORITY OF DELS WILL BE DRIVEN INTO IDEOLOGICAL CAMP OF PRESIDENT ECHEVERRIA AND CONFERENCE WILL BECOME POLITICIZED TO DETRIMENT OF WOMEN EVERYWHERE.
SCALI

  1. Source: National Archives, RG 59, Central Foreign Policy Files. Limited Official Use. Repeated to Kingston and Mexico City. ↩
  2. The Mission reported the difficulties encountered when presenting the U.S. position at the U.N.’s preparatory Consultative Committee on the World Conference on the International Women’s Year.↩