Broken Chains

An informal photo just before the Bible study !

Arrived home safe on Saturday morning , tired. Still have jet lag as usual.

This afternoon I spent a couple of hours at Broken Chains in Ayr. I preached here on 3 Feb. this year.

 Got to share the Gospel with a young man called Neil this afternoon. Please pray that he would accept Christ as his Lord and Savior.

About to leave the UN

Well I am about to leave the UN and head back to Scotland. Things have worked out quite well this last week. Not able to give details publicly as much is still under negotiation.

I just phoned Mark Mostert and his wife got through the surgery yesterday  very well , but will need time to recuperate. Mark is very appreciative of everyone's prayers.

I would also like to thank everyone who prays for me.

A prayer request.

Dr Mark Mostert

Quite a few years ago I met Mark at a National Right to Life convention . After this Mark took many group of students from Regent University up to the UN to work with me.

Mark has just contacted me to ask for prayer,   as his wife Deborah , is to have heart surgery early on Thursday 24 Oct.

Please pray that this surgery will be successful and Deborah will get back on her feet quickly.

The Archbishop's speech from yesterday

Intervention of Archbishop Francis Chullikatt

Apostolic Nuncio, Permanent Observer of The Holy See to The UN

Third Committee of the 68^th General Assembly

Item 65: Promotion and Protection of The Rights of Children

 

Mr Chairman:                                                       

This year’s Secretary General’s Report on the Status of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (A/68/257) helpfully draws attention to child mortality, which goes to the heart of what the Convention in article 6 enshrines as the child’s “right to life, survival and development”. Indeed, without life, all other rights are meaningless. It is a cause for encouragement that his Report concludes that the goal of ending all preventable child deaths is now within our reach.[1]

Among the key factors for achieving this goal the Report identifies maternal health.[2] This is confirmed by the logic of the Convention itself, which affords the child the right to both pre-natal and post-natal healthcare (article 24(d)). This provision has meaning only if the unborn baby is first afforded the right to life and survival. This accords with my Delegation’s understanding of the Convention’s definition of the term “child”, which article 1 addresses with an explicit terminus ad quem of 18 years and a terminus a quo implicit in the preamble’s clear reference to the child’s rights “before and after birth”.

It follows that each child must be accorded in the first place the right to be born. This is a right, moreover, which must be protected equally – without discrimination on any grounds, including those of sex or disability or policies dictated by eugenics. Thus, pre-natal diagnosis undertaken for the purpose of deciding whether or not the baby will be permitted to be born is inconsistent with the Convention, which my Delegation regards as the fundamental normative instrument on the rights of the child. The unborn baby is a member of our human family and does not belong to a “sub-category of human beings”.

Mr Chairman:

My Delegation takes a holistic view of both health and education, identified by this year’s Secretary General’s Report as fundamental to the State’s obligations. As the Secretary General acknowledged in his previous year’s Report (A/67/225, paragraph 41): health “extends beyond the physical and mental well-being of an individual to the spiritual balance and well-being of the community as a whole”. This includes the duty to take concrete steps to support parents in their proper role of raising their children, so that, as the Declaration of the Rights of the Child asserts, each child may be given “opportunities and facilities, by law and by other means, to enable him [or her] to develop physically, mentally, morally, spiritually and socially in a healthy and normal manner and in conditions of freedom and dignity.”

Mr Chairman:

My Delegation concurs with the Report of the Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography (A/68/275), that prevention is a key aspect for the protection of children from sale and sexual exploitation.  In this regard, the Report devotes significant attention to the indispensable role of the family for the protection of children.  Indeed, “The family represents the first layer of a protective environment”.[3]  Parents, in the first instance, have the responsibility to secure the conditions of living, necessary for the child’s life, survival and development.[4]

States have the duty to protect, support and strengthen the family for the best interests of the child.  This is all the more important – as the Report observes — given that poverty, unemployment, disease, disability and difficulty in accessing social services as a result of discrimination and exclusion may affect the ability of parents to care for their children; and that mental or behavioural disorders, conflicts, substance addiction and domestic violence may weaken the ability of families to provide a harmonious and safe environment and make children more likely to engage in risky behaviours.[5]

Mr Chairman:

While protection of the rights of children begins with full respect for children themselves at all stages in their development, from conception onwards, parents, for their part, possess an indispensable role in their formation and education, and the family is the proper place for their development, as the Secretary General’s Report acknowledges.[6] Defense of the rights of the child requires, as its necessary corollary, defense of the family, for which the societal benefits are obvious: it is the family, not the State, that houses our children, feeds them, instructs them, and raises the next generation of society.

When it comes to the upbringing and education of children, therefore, the provisions of the Convention cannot disregard the specific rights and responsibilities of parents. The Convention perfectly reflects the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which in its preamble privileges parents’ “prior right”   (article 26.3) in the education of their children – which is to say, a right prior to that of the State or other actors –  especially in the important arena of religious liberty which includes human sexuality, marriage and the statute of the family.

With specific regard to “physical, mental, spiritual, moral and social development” (article 27, CRC), the Convention (article 18.1) similarly privileges parents with the “primary responsibility” for their children’s upbringing. These rights and responsibilities of parents in international law are the bulwark of their fundamental right to freedom of religion (art. 14, CRC) in regard to which parents are entirely entitled to choose schools “other than those established by the public authorities, [inclusive of home schooling], which conform to such minimum educational standards as may be laid down or approved by the State and to ensure the religious and moral education of their child [] in conformity with their own convictions” (art.13.3, ICESCR).

Mr Chairman:

In light of the recent output of the Committee on the Rights of the Child, my Delegation would like to address some elements of General Comments 14 and 15. These Comments, my Delegation must point out respectfully, represent only the opinions of the Committee; they do not constitute agreed language and lack all force of judicial precedence. Whatever is contained within them that is not consistent with the normative text of the Convention and other international instruments constitutes a disservice to the best interests of children. Expressions such as “sexual orientation” or “gender identity” (General Comment No. 14 [2013], par. 55, and No. 15 [2013], par. 8)), on which no international juridical consensus exists, are used spuriously and very unfortunately in these Comments. The recommendations, for example, States submit children to education and direction on sexual health, contraception and so-called “safe” abortion (par. 31) without the consent of their parents, caregiver or guardian; abortion be promoted by States as a family planning method (par. 54, 56, 70), and so-called “sexual and reproductive health information or services” be provided by States, irrespective of providers’ conscientious objections (par. 69). Such recommendations are particularly reprehensible. No abortion is ever “safe” because it kills the life of the child and harms the mother. 

The Holy See strongly urges the Committee to revise its General Comments in conformity with its guiding international instruments: beginning with the Convention itself, which affirms the right to life of the child, “before as well as after birth” (Preamble, par. 9), the right of conscience[7], and full respect for the rights, responsibilities and duties of parents regarding their children[8]; and including also the explicit affirmation by the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) that abortion should never be promoted as a family planning method (par. 7.24).

Mr Chairman:

My delegation calls upon the international community to uphold the clear principles of one of the most ratified Convention’s in international law, so that they will do their part in promoting openness to the gift and richness of life which the child represents, and thus foster the common good of all persons, the attainment of which remains “the sole reason for the existence of civil authorities”[9].  

Thank you, Mr Chairman.

                                             

---

[1] ad para. 68 a.

[2] ad para. 57.

[3] ad para. 36

[4] cf. articles 6 and 27 of CRC

[5] ad para. 37

[6] ad para. 61.

[7] CRC, Article 14; cf. also UDHR, Article 18 and ICCPR, Article 18

[8] CRC, Articles, 3, 5, 7, 9, 14, 18, 27, and 29, c; cf. also UDHR, Article 26,3 and ICCPR Article 18,3

[9] John XXIIII, Encyclical Pacem in terris, 54

Holy See makes a great speech at the UN

A few moments ago the Holy See ,  gave a marvelous speech on children at the UN. Opposite is Archbishop Francis Chullikatt , the Nuncio , behind him is the Holy See's excellent negotiator Fr. Justn Wylie.

This speech was very pro-life and pro-family and took a swipe at the crooked compliance committee that oversees the Convention on the rights of the child.


Please pray that these two brave men will continue to speak up and remain the conscience of the UN.





I will upload a copy of this great speech when I can get the electronic copy.

Crazy UNFPA paper

 Sample information given to delegates

Please delete all reference in the resolution

” Programmes and Policies for Youth”

to the Bali Global Youth Forum

Summary of problematic paragraphs

Bali Global Youth Forum Declaration - 6 December 2012

Final Recommendations from Thematic Session 1: Staying Healthy

1.1 Ensuring accountability, transparency and the need for

implementation as a cross cutting theme across all recommendations,

with special focus particularly on LGBTQI, MSM, drug users ,refugees, rural populations, out -of-school, sex workers, indigenous, afro-descendant populations, migrants, young people in conflict and emergency situations, empowering young women and adolescent girls, persons with disabilities, young people living with HIV and AIDS.

Note : LGBTQI means Lesbian , Gay , Bi-sexual , Transgender , Queer , Intersex.

MSM means Men having Sex with Men

1.8 To provide non-discriminatory, non-judgmental, rights-based ,age appropriate, gender-sensitive health education including youth-friendly, evidence based comprehensive sexuality education that is context specific.

Access to health services

1.9

Governments must provide, monitor and evaluate universal access to a basic package of youth-friendly health services (including mental healthcare and sexual and reproductive health services) that are high quality, integrated, equitable, comprehensive, affordable, needs and rights based, accessible, acceptable, confidential and free of stigma and discrimination for all young people.

1.10

As part of this basic package governments must provide comprehensive sexual and reproductive health services that include safe and legal abortion, maternity care, contraception, HIV and STI prevention, care, treatment and counselling to all young people.

1.13

Governments and UN agencies should support the sexual and reproductive rights of young people including ensuring access to legal and safe abortion that is affordable, accessible and free from coercion, discrimination and stigma, providing support and protection mechanisms that promote the right to choose.

1.14

Governments should implement financially sustainable policies and legal frameworks that protect, promote and fulfil the reproductive and sexual rights of all young people, regardless of their sexual orientation and gender identities

Comprehensive sexuality education

2.12 To provide non-discriminatory, non-judgmental, rights –based ,age appropriate, gender-sensitive health education including youth -friendly, evidence based comprehensive sexuality education that is context specific.

Sexual rights

3.3Governments must fund and develop, in equal partnership with young people and health care providers, policies, laws, and programs that recognize, promote, and protect young peoples’ sexual rights as human rights. This must be developed in accordance with the principles of human rights, non-discrimination, respect, equality and inclusivity, with a gendered, multicultural and secular approach.

3.5

Cultural and religious barriers such as parental and spousal consent, and early and forced marriages, should never prevent access to family planning, safe and legal abortion, and other reproductive health services –recognizing that young people have autonomy over their own bodies, pleasures, and desires

Legal protection

3.6 Governments must ensure that international and national laws, regulations, and policies remove obstacles and barriers–including requirements for parental & spousal notification and consent; and age of consent for sexual and reproductive services—that infringe on the sexual and reproductive health and rights of adolescents and youth

3.9

Governments should decriminalize abortion, and create and implement policies and programs that ensure young women have access to safe and legal abortion, pre-and post-abortion services, without mandatory waiting periods, requirements for parental and spousal notification and/or consent or age of consent.

Sexual and reproductive health services and comprehensive sexuality education

3.10 Governments should ensure that every young person, including LGBTQI young people, have equal access to the full range of evidence-and rights-based, youth-friendly sexual and reproductive health services and comprehensive sexuality education, that is respectful of young people’s right to informed consent.

  

3.11 Services should be confidential, accessible, and include a full range of safe, effective, affordable methods of modern contraception and family planning services and commodities, including pre-and post-natal care, amongst others. Comprehensive sexuality education should be developed in partnership with young people and include information on sexual orientation and gender identities that is free of religious intolerance.

Families

3.12

The concept of the family is constantly evolving and governments must recognize this by adapting legal, policy and programmatic frameworks that embrace every form of family and ensure the right of everyone to form a family, regardless of sexual orientation and gender identity.

A new day at the UN

Today was my first time  back for a meeting in the re-furbished building. The entrance was changed , then I had to go through the temporary building and into the basement of the main building , which is all new and shiny. See opposite photo taken in Conference room 1 , where I was sitting today. It took me three tries to locate the men,s toilet.

Got to meet several key delegates today and had a very productive day.

Tomorrow at lunch time I will be going to a Bible study at the Christian embassy.

A prayer request.

Maura , Jeanne and myself.

I met up with my dear friend and colleague , Jeanne Head, today. She had a pacemaker fitted a few months ago , and has now fallen and injured her shoulder. She had surgery on her shoulder 4 weeks ago.

The photo opposite was taken earlier this year when we were all well. Please pray for a speedy recovery for Jeanne. Maura now lives in New York and helps out Jeanne in her spare time.

I will be in the UN tomorrow and will let you know what is going on.

Off to the UN tomorrow.

Ayrshire Gospel Choir

Last Saturday evening I went to hear my wife sing , she is in the bottom right hand corner , second from end of back row. This was a fund raiser for Caring for Life , please see :

http://www.caringforlife.co.uk/contact/contactus.html

Well my antibiotics have fixed up my leg very nicely , have just taken the last tablets a few minutes ago.

Tomorrow I will be up at 5.30am to fly to the USA. Am going to Tennessee for a few days to see some very old friends , then will fly to New York next Monday for a fortnight at the UN.

The new Mother Teresa from Sri Lanka.

Sr. Kathleen Fleming

My very dear friend and work colleague , shown right with a new projector and screen that I have purchased for her pro-life work in Sri Lanka. It took a very long time for the money to get to her. Please pray for the very good work she does in Sri Lanka.

I got home yesterday and have just seen a local G.P. She gave me a Dermol cream and Dermol shower emollient.

On Wednesday 9 Oct I will be flying to see friends in Tennessee. Then on 14 to 25 Oct I will be at the UN in New York doing my usual thing.