Scandal and the human rights system
Julian Ku over at Opinio Juris posted today on the intertwined relationship between UN human rights bodies and activist US law professors. He picks up on Walter Olson’s piece in the Daily Caller. The cases focus on the abuse of monitoring bodies and special rapporteur positions to promote special rights in the case of indigenous peoples. This is the [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
Rio +20: States cry foul over bureaucratic challenge to sovereignty
Member states are expressing concern this week that the Secretariat of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD) is overstepping its boundaries in the Rio negotiation process by championing its own bureaucratic goals over those of member states in the Rio +20 process. Over the past three days, the UNCSD has held a series [...]
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 [...]
The End of the MDGs?
This morning the Secretary General, and Rebeca Grynspan, Associate Administrator of UNDP, and Professor Jeffrey Sachs, Special Adviser on the MDGs, held a press conference to report on the progress towards achieving the MDG’s. The SG described Sachs and Grynspan as his “top development experts and senior advisers.” They cited a report issued this week [...]
UN Secretary General Tells African Nations to Stop Discriminating Against Homosexuals
Yesterday, UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, was at the African Union Summit, and addressed the 54 African nations in attendance. His address urged countries to entrench civil, political and economic rights. During the address he told African nations to stop discriminating against homosexuals. The majority of Eastern and Western African nations criminalize homosexual acts, some [...]
From Russia with Love: 126 non-governmental Organisations in Russia and Ukraine condemn UN attempts to manufacure false “human rights”
On 24 November 2011, representatives from 126 non-governmental organisations in Russia and Ukraine have adopted an impressive statement called the Saint-Petersburg-Resolution, calling the UN and its various organisations to order. The Resolution, which in unconpromising language condemns the “anti-family tendencies prevailing in the UN and various of its committees”, is built on the model of [...]
Obama Administration Broke the Law to Promote Abortion in Kenya
“An investigation by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), into the Obama Administration’s use of $18 million in taxpayer funds to provide funding for a group pushing legalized abortion in Kenya finds the administration broke the law.” LifeNews reports on this story.
African Commonwealth Countries Resist Pressure from David Cameron on LGBT Rights
A fortnight ago David Cameron was interviewed on the Andrew Marr Show in Perth, Australia. He said that British aid should come with “more strings attached” and that Britain was pressuring countries on LGBT issues. Cameron stated that “Britain is now one of the premier aid givers in the world. We want to see countries [...]
PIERO TOZZI speaks at Human Life International’s Second International Congress for Truth and Life in Brazil
Here is an interview from the Catholic News Agency of C-FAM’s senior fellow Piero Tozzi. He was in Sao Paulo, Brazil, speaking at a Human Life international Conference. He told those in attendance that “there is no such thing in international law as a ‘right to abortion.’ This is a concept that is completely fabricated [...]
The ECtHR decision in the case of S.H. and others v. Austria – some further considerations
By a previous post readers ofthis blog have been informed of the recent decision by a Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights in the case of S.H. and others vs. Austria. This judgment reverses an earlier Chamber judgment of that Court that would have turned access to “herologous” IVF techniques (i.e. assisted [...]
Bioethics: Major Victory for Family and State Sovereignty before the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights.
By Grégor Puppinck, PhD, Director of the ECLJ 3rd November 2011 – Today, the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has delivered its final judgment in the case of S. H. and others v. Austria (application no. 57813/00), reversing a prior judgment, and deciding that the Austrian ban on using sperm [...]
CEDAW Pushes Radical Abortion Agenda on Costa Rica
The CEDAW Committee Continues to Misrepresent the Convention on Discrimination Against Women and continues to impose its reproductive rights agenda on signatories.
Columbus Day Shenanigans at the UN
Costa Rica Sued By Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
According to an article at Jurist, Costa Rica is being sued by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights over their IVF ban. Costa Rica has effectively upheld its ban on in-vitro fertilization in the face of pressure from the Commission and abortion advocacy organizations like the Center for Reproductive Rights. Read the Jurist article here. [...]
The growing confusion over “conscientious objection”: a dissenting opinion on the ECtHR’s Bayatyan Judgment
Readers of this blog will have read the interesting and thought-provoking contribution of our friend Grégor Puppinck on the ECtHR’s recent decision in the case of Bayatyan v. Armenia. This is indeed a groundbreaking judgment – albeit in a negative sense. I therefore think that Grégor has been somewhat too mild and gentle with the [...]