Sexual Orientation and Human Rights
Sexual orientation is an issue that comes up in the international sphere. Yet, there is an issue of what exactly is meant by the term “sexual orientation” as it relates to human rights. And then what happens when sexual orientation comes into conflict with the right to religious freedom? Pierro Tozzi gave a speech to [...]
Rio + 20: Green Economy Loses, Sovereign States Win, Civil Society Disappointed
Rio + 20 was touted as the most important United Nations Conference ever by the UN bureaucracy led by the Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon. It was also touted to be a UN Conference where we would witness unprecedented collaboration between Governments and civil society. To that end, for the past two years civil society had [...]
Rio + 20: Catholics for Choice Deceives Itself and Others
If you have not seen the briefing paper from the Catholics for Choice (CFC) organization regarding the place of the Holy See in international politics, stop reading now and move on. It just isn’t worth your while to read it. But if you have read it, and need some clarification, then you may want to understand [...]
Rio + 20: Holy See Shines Light in the Midst of Darkness
If you are reading this, you are probably afraid that what is going on in Rio de Janeiro right now during the UN Conference on Sustainable Development is nothing other than the proverbial “blind leading the blind”. As countries hurry to make politically expedient and alarmist statements about climate change, the green economy and reproductive [...]
Rio + 20: Brazil Takes Control of Document
It was almost expected, and everyone here in Rio is taking it on the chin. Late Friday night it became inevitable. The outcome document of the Rio + 20 UN Conference on Sustainable Development will not be the result of multilateral negotiations carried out under the rules of the United Nations, but will be controlled by Brazil, the host [...]
Rio + 20: No Guarantees of a Sustainable Future
The UN Conference on Sustainable Development in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, is now in its third day. It has been touted as the most significant UN Conference ever. That’s what we’ve been hearing from the Secretary General and his UN political sales fleet made up of high and low ranking UN staff and delegations for [...]
Rio + 20: The Future We Want and Population Control
“The Future We Want” is the title chosen for the document that will be the outcome of the Rio + 20 UN Conference on Sustainable Development. For the moment, it looks as though Population Control will not feature in that document as a result of developing countries’ refusal to bow to demands from western countries [...]
European Court of Human Rights: a significant victory for the freedom of the Church
Strasbourg, 15 May 2012 – Yesterday, the European Court of Human Rights published a judgment in the important case of Fernandez-Martínez c. Espagne (application no 56030/07), in which it concluded by six votes to one that “the choice of the bishop not to renew the contract of a teacher who is a married priest and activist [...]
Non-Aligned Movement Meeting in Egpyt this Week to discuss UN Reform
The Ministerial Coordinating Bureau of Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) is meeting in the Red Sea resort city of Sharm-el-Sheik, Egypt this week in preparation for the 16th annual NAM Summit Conference to be held in Tehran in November later this year. The coordinating bureau has announced that it will discuss the following: A review international law; promotion [...]
The Problem with Climate Scientists, Politicans and Car Salesmen…
… Is that none of them know what they are talking about most of the time, and when they do, they are usually lying. It’s a well documented fact. Politicians are among the least trusted professionals (if we can call them that) together with lobbyists and car sales people, according to the most recent Gallup [...]
Poll: Human Rights Laws a License for Criminals
The Daily Mail reports on a new poll finding an astonishing 72% of Britons agree with the statement “human rights have become a charter for criminals and the undeserving.” It takes a heap of bad publicity to get this kind of strong public rejection. In this case, it is well-deserved. Britons have seen their country [...]
Not “Rights” vs. “Freedom” – Reclaiming the Universal Declaration from the Left (and Defending It from the Right)
The latest issue of the New Criterion contains an article by Andrew C. McCarthy, entitled “Future Tense, VIII: Enter Totalitarian Democracy: On the Difficulties of Making Law in the Modern World.” Both the article and the author have much to recommend them, and the danger of transnationalist elites imposing anti-democratic social policy McCarthy warns against [...]
UN Elites’ Secret Plans for Global Green Summit
Top UN chiefs recently met to scheme how to use an upcoming Summit on sustainable development to gain control of the global green economy, expand its reach on social policies, and build more UN institutions. But a huge stumbling block is a lack of agreement among countries on the definition of a “green economy,” the [...]
How Much “Green” Does it Take to Make the Green Economy? G77 Derailing the Green Agenda at the UN
Are you wondering how many businesses have to become “green” before the dream of the “green economy” becomes a reality? It seems like everything has to be green nowadays, whether its green jobs, green energy, or green skills. Now there is even green dry cleaning. Duh! If you feel like this is going to far, [...]
Maternal Mortality Hijacked by Abortion Advocates
An inaugural conference on “Global Health, Gender and Human Rights” was recently held at American University Washington Center for Law (WCL) and co-sponsored by PAHO/WHO and Royal Norwegian Embassy in Guatemala, which promoted the use of international human rights treaties as tools to “improve health policies” including advancing legalized abortion under the guise of reducing [...]
Gay Marriage is Not a Human Right. Says European Court of Human Rights
The European Convention on Human Rights does not require member states’ governments to grant same-sex couples access to marriage. The European Court of Human Rights repeated this ruling in the case of Gas and Dubois v. France, a judgment decided last week in Strasburg involving a french lesbian couple in a civil union. The lesbian [...]
Sovereignty in Action: Beating Back Beaurocratic Inertia at the UN
Sovereignty is a word that isn’t used within the UN superstructure, its bureaucracies, thousands of documents, reports and resolutions and frankly even UN member states. The UN system always tries to work towards achieving consensus, and to merely mention that each and every individual state has a the power and sovereign prerogative to undo consensus [...]
“Obama Wars” Over Contraception Move to U.N. Front, and the Administration Loses a Battle
The annual United Nations Commission on the Status of Women meeting broke up today after failing to reach consensus on “agreed conclusions” – a very rare occurrence. The impasse was due to the insistence by the United States delegation on changing language regarding “family planning” that had been agreed upon and in continuous use since [...]
Recent Liberalization of Abortion in Argentina: A Closer Look
I will elaborate on a previous post written by my colleague Stefano Gennarini and highlight some important nuances related to the recent judicial decision to liberalize Argentina’s abortion law. First, before Tuesday’s ruling abortion in Argentina was allowed only in cases of rape and where the life of the mother was at risk. However, it [...]
100 Days to Rio Conference on Sustainable Development
Today UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon (SG) spoke at a High Level meeting in the ECOSOC Chamber of UN Headquarters, organized by the Economic and Social Council with the Breton Woods Institutions to outline strategies in financing for development. The SG used the opportunity to make his Rio + 20 pitch. “now is the moment [...]