Statement by H.E. Archbishop Gabriele Caccia Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations 69th Commission on the Status of Women Side Event
Opening address at side event “Bias Before Birth: Sex-selective practices and their consequences”
13 March 2025, co-organized by the Holy See and ADF International
Your Excellencies,
Distinguished Speakers,
Delegates to the Commission on the Status of Women,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Thank you very much for joining us at our side event, “Bias Before Birth: Sex-selective practices and their consequences,” which the Holy See has co-organized with ADF International. We are pleased to welcome our speakers to this event and pleased that we are joined by Dr. Gabriella Gambino from Rome, Under-Secretary of the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life of the Holy See.
Much of the discussion in the women’s portfolio revolves around violence and discrimination against women and girls, and rightfully so. As noted in the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (BDPA), there is “worldwide evidence that discrimination and violence against girls begin at the earliest stages of life.”[1] This discrimination can lead to female infanticide and prenatal sex selection, which has led to millions of missing women and girls.[2] The BDPA characterizes sex selection as both a harmful practice[3] and a form of violence against women and girls.[4] With the increased use of ultrasound and other technology enabling sex identification before birth, sex selective practices are increasingly out of sight; it is little wonder then that they also receive inadequate attention.
With sex-selective practices persisting in every part of the world, we should not be surprised that other forms of violence against women and girls also remain pervasive. If at her earliest moments, a girl is at risk simply because she is a girl, no woman or girl’s safety is assured. Moreover, as you will hear, the resulting sex ratio imbalances also drive other forms of violence against and exploitation of women and girls. We must address the attitudes and contexts which give rise to these grave wrongs. When the fact of femaleness can be a terminal condition, we have failed women and girls.
The Holy See’s opposition to this practice is grounded in its commitment to the equal dignity of all, a foundational principle of Catholic social teaching under which all forms of unjust discrimination must be avoided. It is also linked, of course, to our opposition to abortion on any grounds. Nevertheless, many of those who disagree with us on that issue also find sex selective practices, including sex-selective abortion deeply troubling. In that regard, it is our hope that all people of good will, regardless of differing perspectives on other issues, may work together to end this lethal discrimination against girls in their most fragile and vulnerable moments.
Thank you for joining us today; I look forward to a fruitful discussion on this important topic.
[1] Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, no. 39, Report of the Fourth World Conference on Women (A/Conf.177/20/Rev.1), 1995 [hereafter BDPA].
[2] See ibid, no. 259, and UNFPA, State of the World Population 2020, available at https://www.unfpa.org/publications/state-world-population-2020, p. 50 (2020).
[3] BDPA, supra n. 1, at nos. 124(i), 259 and 277(c).
[4] Ibid., at nos. 115, 124(i), 283(d).
The full event can viewed on UN Web TV here.
