Western Sanctioned Summits Would Not Save Women from the Claws of Capitalism
Recently, Nairobi hosted an International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD25). The summit brought together more than 9,500 participants including states leaders, activists, clergy and other stakeholders with a shared purpose; calling for a strong commitment to end maternal mortality, gender-based violence and meet family planning needs within 10 years. Addressing attendees, Executive Director of the UNFPA, Drs. Natalia Kanem, said: “25 years ago, the world made a promise to ensure reproductive health for women and girls. These are the fundamental rights for girls that guarantee them a free will and hence can make their own decision in life. It is time now to fulfill that promise.”
The Nairobi summit marked the 25th Anniversary of the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), where 179 governments agreed that human rights, including reproductive rights, were fundamental to development and population concerns and where a program of action was adopted that called for all people to have access to comprehensive reproductive health care, including voluntary family planning/contraception and safe pregnancy. At the summit, the delegates argued that to achieve sustainable development, the world must protect human rights, reproductive health and promote gender equality. The conference ended on a high notice with private organizations, international organizations and donors’ agencies promising to raise $ 8 billion in the next ten years in support of sexual and reproductive health rights for women in poorer nations.
The summit is among the platforms through which the western liberals under the banner of “liberating women” spread their poisonous liberal values against women. In their liberation movements, they have dedicated an International Women’s day that is celebrated annually on 8th March. Its celebrations come along with a chain of events across the globe to draw attention to the ongoing problems that face women in the world. Politicians as well activists present flowery speeches and shiny promises to secure the proclaimed women’s rights that for centuries have not been achieved! Ironically, many of women rights organizations that seek to champion for the rights are funded by oppressive capitalist regimes that perpetuates horrendous acts against women and children through air and land strikes in countries such as Syria, Yemen and Somalia.
The West keeps developing a narrative that for women to achieve sustainable development she should adopt the secular creed which advocates for separation of God from the realm of life hence giving man an absolute authority of legislating while disregarding laws of his Creator. They hold an intrigued view that the more a woman adheres to the rules of religion the more she becomes stagnant. This is the main agenda of all meetings carried in International women’s organizations. In Islam, rather all religions have forbidden pre-marital sex and term it is as an immorality act, however in the secular world that prohibition of such evil is deemed as unjust and a violation of human right!
The concept of family planning has emanated from the fictitious Malthusian theory affirming that population growth is peril to the resources. They claim that the world has limited resources therefore there is a need to devise strategies for population control. This is an obvious fallacy since the world has adequate wealth to meet the demands of its habitants, but the fact that the wealth is circulated within a bunch of capitalist elites, millions are left languishing in dire poverty. Thus, the problem is not the population but the colonial capitalist system that lacks good policies to manage and distribute the said wealth. As for reproductive health, this call is not to enhance women’s physical health but to promote sexuality under the guise of ‘safe sex’. Western scholars hold the view that sex is a natural matter so there is no choice but to do it as long as there are pills and preventive health measures that will ensure that sex is harmless! This situation has deprived modesty from the modern woman who has now been turned into a sexual slave. With regard to maternal mortality, this has stemmed from the failure of capitalist governments to provide public health care to its citizens considering that many public hospitals are under staffed with inadequate medicines thus turning into death traps for millions of mothers.
Holding Women’s rights conferences is an indication of total failure of capitalist governments in protecting the women’s interests. Even though it is true that women today experience numerous injustices, this should not mean that its solutions lie at the hands of the West. In addition, women’s activists will not be able to eliminate such problems as they are only serving as agents of capitalist regimes that have a record in committing violence not just against women but to all its citizens. The calls such as human rights, personal freedom and gender equality that are considered as sacred in democratic regimes have deprived women of their dignity and modesty that Allah (swt) has bestowed upon her. Only Islam will protect a woman’s dignity and rights since it has perfect laws that tackle every aspect of man.
أَلَا يَعْلَمُ مَنْ خَلَقَ وَهُوَ اللَّطِيفُ الْخَبِيرُ
“Does He who created not know, while He is the Subtle, the Acquainted?” [Al-Mulk: 14]
These laws can be fully implemented through the Khilafah (Caliphate) that since its destruction in 1924, it has become mandatory for all Muslims to work for its re-establishment. It is only the Khilafah that once established will guarantee and protect all citizens’ rights and not only the women’s rights.
Shabani Mwalimu
Media Representative Hizb ut Tahrir in Kenya