CWA said while closed sessions are not unusual as the negotiations "heat up" towards the end, closing sessions at the beginning of the drafting process "is unprecedented ."
Janice Crouse, CWA's director and senior fellow, said the "lack of openness is creating a storm of protest among the NGOs who are here at the UN from round the world for the expressed purpose of influencing the outcome of the resolutions that will be finalized at this session of the Commission on the Status of Women." Some think the UN is "railroading pet programs" through the sessions.
Crouse said the concern is that without NGO input "the agreements will represent the leftist UN positions without any counterbalance from the conservative NGOs. The leftist NGOs will agree with the U.N. positions; it is the conservatives that are being blocked."
