UNITED NATIONS -- U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan warned Monday that sex trafficking and the growth of AIDS were imperiling the quest for female equality as the United States raised the divisive issue of abortion rights.

Annan told the opening of a two-week conference on women's rights that many governments since the 1995 Beijing women's conference had recognized that women's equality was critical to a nation's development and growth.

The U.N. meeting, with at least 100 government delegations, 80 ministers from Afghanistan to Peru, as well as 6,000 activists, is analyzing progress and setbacks since the Fourth World Conference on Women in 1995.

Rather than producing a lengthy document, the organizers decided to keep controversies in check by writing a short declaration that reaffirms and pledges implementation of the 150-page platform of action agreed to in Beijing.

But, to the dismay of key delegates, the United States submitted amendments at a negotiating session Friday, declaring that the Beijing conference did not create "any new international human rights" and did not include the right to abortion.

In Beijing, abortion was treated as a health issue, with the platform saying it should be safe where it was legal and criminal action should not be taken against women who underwent the procedure.

Negotiations on the current document will continue on the fringe of the conference that includes at least 200 separate events over 14 days.

Annan, in his address, said life expectancy over the last decade had improved, fertility rates are falling, more women are working and more girls are enrolled in elementary schools.

But new challenges have emerged. "Consider the trafficking of women and children -- an odious but increasingly common practice. Or the terrifying growth of HIV/AIDS among women -- especially young women," Annan said.

According to U.N figures, more than half of all new HIV infections are among young people age 15-24, with rates among girls aged 15-19 five times higher than boys the same age.

On sex trafficking, at least 700,000 people, mostly women and children are trafficked each year across international borders, with girls as young as 13 from Asia and eastern Europe becoming "mail-order brides."

Annan proposed "investments" in women over the next decade: secondary education that would allow girls to make choices, such as refusing early forced marriages. And he said women needed sexual and reproductive health rights to prevent half a million a year from dying from pregnancy-related disease that were preventable.

The Beijing conference, the fourth international forum on women's rights, following Nairobi, Copenhagen and the first in Mexico City in 1975, called for governments to end discrimination in education, health care, politics, employment, inheritance rights and many other fields.

But it broke new ground by stating women, and in many cases girls forced to marry young, had the right to decide how often they would have children and other issues relating to their sexuality. It also advocated sex education for adolescents.

© 2005 Reuters

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