FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASECONTACT: Rev. Christopher Pollard212-370-7885 Ext. 30cpollard@holyseemisison.org New York, NY, Tue. 1 – Education “must be firmly rooted in a profound respect for human dignity and with full respect for religious and cultural values. If this is absent, then education is no longer a means of authentic enlightenment but becomes a tool of control by those who administer it.” Taking up the priority theme of the Fifty-fifth Session of the Commission on the Status of Women “Access and participation of women and girls in education, training, science and technology, including for the promotion of women’s equal access to full employment and decent work”, the Holy See insisted that education needs to be guided by “values rooted in the natural law common to humanity”. Speaking on behalf of Archbishop Francis Chullikatt, Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations, Professor Jane Adolphe, addressed yesterday afternoon the Commission on the Status of Women. She is an Associate Professor at the Ave Maria School of Law in Naples, Florida, and a member of the Holy See Delegation to CSW.Professor Adolphe continued, “the true advancement of women requires that labor should be structured in such a way that women do not have to pay for their advancement by abandoning what is specific to them and at the expense of the family, in which women and mothers have an irreplaceable role.” Touching on the review theme for the CSW Session “The elimination of all forms of discrimination and violence against the girl child”, she stated that “all States must enact and enforce legislation to protect girls from all forms of violence and exploitation, from conception onwards, including abortion, especially sex-selective abortion, female infanticide.” She took up the issue of human trafficking and insisted that “States need to augment concrete and concerted efforts to work together to put an end to this heinous crime by addressing adequately the demand side of trafficking in persons by strengthening laws against prostitution of children and adults, child pornography and sexual exploitation.... The authentic advancement of women begins with full respect for the dignity and worth of all persons. Such respect must take into account the entire life cycle - from conception to natural death - and States have the responsibility to ensure this in their national legislations.” The Commission on the Status of Women, dedicated exclusively to gender equality and the advancement of women, is one of nine functional commissions of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). The Fifty-fifth session of the CSW, currently underway at UN Headquarters in New York, concludes on March 4.