But you do not have to read between the lines to see that the last word on the document was compromise. Other delegate groups agreed the document should ask governments to review laws punishing women who have abortions, but not call on them to legalize the procedure. And they resolved that parental responsibility must be weighed against a child's right to information about sex education and contraception. The Japanese and Philippine delegations, among others, announced that they would adopt the document with reservations. Still, like other international documents, this one does not carry any legal obligations.
Officials prefer to call the platform a moral force.
That resonated with many of the 20,000 people, mostly women, at the parallel NGO meeting of grassroots activists from around the world. There were workshops on everything from women in the two Jin dynasties to methods of lobbying to the feminization of poverty. Posters demanded an end to state-sponsored violence against women, repression in Burma and human rights violations in East Timor. Amnesty International marched for women's rights in China and Japanese women protested the French nuclear test in the Pacific. Inadequate facilities, heavy-handed Chinese security and nearly constant rain barely dampened the participants' enthusiasm.