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Friday, Nov. 19, 2004

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  The substance of the decision is still uncertain as diplomatic maneuvers will continue until the last minute. Yet whatever the outcome, it is clear that France and Germany have failed in their attempt to gain the world's stamp of approval for human experimental cloning.

The French and Germans portrayed their 2001 proposal for an international convention that would ban only live-birth cloning as "consensus minus one," meaning that the entire world except the U.S. supported merely a partial ban.

A partial ban would have allowed the creation of human embryos through cloning in order to use their tissues, such as stem cells, and would have mandated that the embryos be killed before birth. The French and German proposal generated enormous resistance while a U.S. and Spanish counter-proposal for a total ban on human cloning rallied the support of nearly 50 countries. Voting was then delayed for two consecutive years as heated debate continued on the issue.

The domestic reaction in France was so severe that legislation was passed banning all forms of human cloning, and France took its name off its own proposal although French delegates have continued advocating it behind the scenes.

Germany was also forced to backpedal after the Friday Fax revealed that its position at the U.N. was inconsistent with its domestic law, which banned all human cloning.

This year Germany waffled during the debate by claiming that they supported a comprehensive ban, in line with German law, but that a comprehensive ban was not possible at this time and that an interim solution was called for. However, behind the scenes the German executive branch consistently pushed for human experimental cloning.

This year the torch of the partial ban was handed to Belgium, which has garnered the support of only about 20 countries. In contrast, over 60 countries support the Costa Rican counter-proposal for a convention that would ban all human cloning, and this would be the likely winner if the resolutions were put to a vote. Another delay in voting is unlikely this year as scientific progress has increased the urgency of some kind of resolution.

The debate in recent days has turned less on a possible convention but on a half measure known as a political declaration. Political declarations are non-binding resolutions unlike conventions which are binding on the states that ratify them. The problem with conventions is that they can take years to negotiate and even longer as enough states ratify them to bring them into force.

A handful of declarations are under discussion. One calls for the banning of cloned "human life" while another calls for the banning of cloned "human beings." Such is the world of the United Nations, there is a difference between the two.

A decision is expected sometime today.

Copyright 2004 - C-FAM (Catholic Family & Human Rights Institute).

Editor's note: