12/12/08

UN Petition Presented

LifeSiteNews
December 10th, two Members of the European Parliament, Anna Záborská and Carlo Casini held a press conference in the European Parliament to announce that 5.4 million families had sent a petition to the UN, calling for the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) to be interpreted as protecting the unborn child and the family.

The Familiokratos coalition, established one year ago on the 10 December 2007, gathers leaders from pro-family and pro-life movements (See: http://familiokratosen.blogspot.com/). It has presented the petition to the Gabon ambassador, to the Holy See, Firmin Mboutsou, as well as to other UN ambassadors in order to be distributed among UN delegates.

The group was formed in order to remind the world of the Universal Declaration and to uphold the Declaration in all international instruments. Currently the 60th anniversary of the Declaration is being celebrated, and Familiokratos said that the recognition of the family should be recognized as the bedrock of the UDHR.

"The family is a cultural anchor universal to all cultures," Said Záborská. "The family is where we learn that the authentic role of the state is to serve its people; and not to reinvent humanity along the lines of some artificial ideology: the first and last sign of the approach of totalitarianism is the collapse of the family. Finally, we promote the family because it is the primary repository of love in our society."

The Falimiliokratos petition in favour of the dignity of life and the human family asserts that the rights presented in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights are inherent to every human being. Governmental representatives, politicians, and all other decision-makers must interpret the UDHR so as to reaffirm the right to life to all members of the human family, including the unborn child. The petition also calls on governments to: protect the family "as the fundamental group unit of society," give special assistance to motherhood and childhood and promote the rights of parents. (UDHR articles 3, 16, 25 and 26).


Today,(appropriately on the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe) we have the Vatican's release of their new instruction on bioethics - 'Dignitatis Personae'.

BigBlueWave has some good highlights and commentary.

No comments: