Tag Archive | Rights

STATEMENT BY PERMANENT OBSERVER OF THE HOLY SEE TO THE UN IN GENEVA AT THE 23RD SESSION OF THE HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL ON THE RIGHT TO HEALTH – ITEM 3 ACCESS TO MEDICINES (GENEVA, MAY 27, 2013)

Jun10

Mr. President,

The Delegation of the Holy See has carefully reviewed the Report on Access to Medicines. While the Special Rapporteur maintains that “Full realization of access to medicines requires the fulfillment of key elements of availability, accessibility, acceptability and quality,” my Delegation found that the Report gave insufficient attention to certain factors cited as “key elements” by the Special Rapporteur.

With regard to accessibility, my Delegation believes that a comprehensive analysis of this crucial topic must reach beyond legal frameworks to include an examination of the social and political realities that deprive millions of people from enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health because of the obstacles that they place on access to medicines.

Article 25 of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights clearly adopted such a comprehensive perspective when it declared: “Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.”

Thus the Holy See Delegation found that the Report paid insufficient attention to basic needs of individuals and families, at all stages of the life cycle from conception to natural death. Such challenges often block access to medicines as much as, if not more than, the various legal factors that occupied the main focus of the Report. Effective reversal of such obstacles requires an integral human development approach that promotes just legal frameworks as well as international solidarity, not only among States, but also among and between all peoples. Thus the Holy See noted, with alarm, “the difficulties millions of people face as they seek to obtain minimal subsistence and the medicines they need to cure themselves” and called for “establishing true distributive justice which guarantees everyone adequate care on the basis of objective needs.”1

The Report made frequent references to the obligation of States to set the conditions for access to medicine. While governmental fulfillment of such responsibility is a clear prerequisite, the strong engagement of non-governmental and religious organizations in providing both medicines and a wide range of treatment and preventive measures to ensure the full enjoyment of the right to health also should have been acknowledged. From its contacts down to the grass-root level with 5,305 hospitals and 18,179 clinics2 inspired and organized under Catholic Church auspices throughout the world, the Holy See is well aware that these institutions serve the poorest sectors of society, many of whom live in rural and isolated areas or in conflict zones, where governmental health systems often do not reach. This fact has been confirmed by professional mapping exercises, with support and collaboration of the World Health Organization, which reported that “between 30 and 70 per cent of the health infrastructure in Africa is currently owned by faith-based organizations.”3

Mr. President, optimal facilitation of access to medicine is a complex endeavor and deserves comprehensive analysis and acknowledgement of all factors contributing to its promotion, rather than a more restricted analysis of legal, economic, and political frameworks.

Thank you, Mr. President.

_____________________

1 “Health Care cannot divorce itself from moral rules,” Message of Pope Benedict XVI , to the participants in the 25th International Conference of the Pontifical Council for Health Pastoral Care, 15 November 2010

2 Catholic Church Statistics, Agenzia Fides, Vatican City, 21 October 2012.

3 Dr. Kevin De Cock (then-Director of HIV/AIDS Services, World Health Organization), “Faith-based organizations play major role in fighting HIV/AIDS – UN study,” 9 February 2007, http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=21511&Cr=hiv&Cr1=aids

[00844-02.01] [Original text: English]

(IBD) U.N. Disabilities Treaty Would Limit U.S. Sovereignty and Rights of American Families”

Nov30

(IBD) U.N. Disabilities Treaty Would Limit U.S. Sovereignty and Rights of American Families”

Read here:   http://teapartyorg.ning.com/profiles/blog/show?id=4301673%3ABlogPost%3A1144958

Cardinal Collins Defends the Rights of Catholic Education in Canada!

Oct14

Cardinal Thomas Collins addresses the 1,700 who attended the 33rd Annual Cardinal’s Dinner held on Oct. 11

http://www.catholicregister.org/news/canada/item/15219-cardinal-collins-defends-the-rights-of-catholic-education

In a rebuke to comments made by Education Minister Lauren Broten … Cardinal Thomas Collins told a packed audience that the identity of Catholic Schools must be respected and the mission of Catholic schools includes engaging in pro-life activities.

Collins made his comments to 1,700 people at the annual Cardinal’s Dinner on Thursday night a day after Broten suggested that under the province’s new anti-bullying legislation Catholic schools should not be teaching that abortion is wrong because “Bill-13 is about tackling misogyny.”

Collins said the Catholic identity of Catholic schools is “recognized and protected” by section 93 of the constitution and by section 1 of the Education Act.

“Both the constitution and the Education Act make it clear that the Catholic identity of the school must be respected,” he said.

Then, referring to Bill-13, the government’s anti-bullying legislation, he said:

“This is true when it comes to the establishment of anti-bullying groups designed to make the school a better place for all, and in Catholic schools that means following the method outlined in the document Respecting Difference, of the Ontario Catholic School Trustees Association. It is our mission to speak up for all those who suffer, and especially those who are voiceless, for those who are forgotten.

“It is also true when it comes to protecting the freedom of all in the school community to engage in pro-life activities in order to foster a culture of life in which the most vulnerable and voiceless among us are protected and honoured throughout their whole life on earth from the moment of conception to natural death.

“Defending the voiceless is our mission.”

Collins reminded the audience that Catholic education has been an integral component of Ontario schooling since before Confederation. He said the province was blessed to have a religious and non-religious education system that “work together in co-operation to make education a treasure for which all Ontarians may truly be thankful.”

“There is more beauty in the variety of a garden than in the uniform, undifferentiated, monotony of the dull flat surface of a parking lot,” he said.

“The complementary variety in our educational system is an advantage for all, producing not only a healthy competition from which all benefit, but also a fruitful collaboration, and the richness of different approaches to the key issues of life.

“That diversity reflects the reality of the differences that exist in our province. The system works.”

ACTION ALERT: Call Your Senators to Defend Parental Rights

Jul15

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Senator John Kerry announced yesterday that he plans to pass the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities before July 26—just 13 days from today. He has scheduled a formal committee vote next Thursday—July 19. This is an unprecedented attempt to jam a binding international treaty through the Senate without proper time for debate or consideration.

Yesterday’s “hearing” was a carefully-orchestrated attempt to get this treaty ratified without any serious consideration. There were nine total witnesses. Only two people opposed to the treaty were allowed to testify—Steven Groves from Heritage Foundation and me.

The Administration seeks to promote two ideas that are simply inaccurate:

1. Disabled Americans who travel overseas will directly benefit by U.S. ratification of this treaty;

2. Ratifying a treaty does not require us to comply with international law.

They are arguing that a treaty is an empty promise with no actual substance. The Supremacy Clause of the Constitution makes it clear that the Administration is wrong. Treaties form a part of the Supreme Law of the Land once ratified.

And no one even attempted a serious answer to our core Parental Rights concern.

Article 7 of the UNCRPD gives government the ability to override every decision of a parent of disabled children if the government thinks that its views are in “the best interest of the child.”

This is a radical attempt to take away parental rights. Make no mistake—if they succeed at ratifying this treaty, the Convention on the Rights of the Child is next. This is not a battle just for parents with disabled and special needs children. This is a battle for every parent.

We absolutely must flood the US Senate with phone calls. Senator Durbin mentioned that they were hearing from homeschoolers (and he was annoyed at us for voicing our opinion of his side’s planned assault on parental rights). But, we need to do even more.

This is the most important issue that we will face this year. By July 26—up or down—we will either take another step toward becoming the subjects of a world government OR we will preserve our rights as American citizens.

I urge you all in the strongest possible terms—CALL BOTH OF YOUR U.S. Senators today. If you have called them in their Washington, DC, office—call them again in their in-state offices which you can find on the web. (Usually at {Senator’s last name}.Senate.gov. For instance, Smith.senate.gov.)

Get everyone you know to call their Senators as well. Network. Facebook. Phone lists. Every place you can network—please do it. And pray like mad.

Taking away our parental rights won’t build wheelchair ramps for disabled Americans who travel to other countries. The promise being made that this treaty will result in new accessibility options in foreign countries is an illusion. The demise of our parental rights is a certainty.

Call. Call. Pray. And Call.

Sincerely,

Michael Farris
President

Read more at ParentalRights.org

And I found this article on: Thoughts from a Conservative Mom

Human Rights Watch: Torture Inflicted at 27 Syrian Sites

Jul3

Read more Human Rights Watch: Torture Inflicted at 27 Syrian Sites

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Okay. My loyalty for Syrian President Assad is done! Muslim or not, nobody deserves torture. No one!

Dear God, Please Have MERCY ON TORTURED SYRIANS!

Mother of Mercy, tell Jesus it must stop, now! Thank you. Amen.

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Teenage Boy returned to his parents – dead – after being tortured to death! THIS IS PURE EVIL! It must stop now.

Jihad and Sharia Law is just as evil. It all has to stop! ALL SIDES MUST STOP!

Read more: Another Syrian Teen “Allegedly” Tortured.

Oh please! Anyone with eyes can see this was a tortured youth.

Read more: Desperate Bid to End Syria Bloodshed!

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Soros-Funded Group Attacking Bishops on Conscience Rights

Jun23

Soros-Funded Group Attacking Bishops on Conscience Rights

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With the nation’s Catholic bishops launching a new campaign today, the Fortnight of Freedom, to draw attention to the ways in which the Obama administration is violating religious liberty and conscience issues, the bishops are finding themselves under attack.

A leaked email from a liberal, George Soros-funded “Catholic” group called Faith in Public Life, is working behind the scenes to attack the bishops and try to get media outlets to run negative stories about the campaign.

CatholicLeague.org the copy of John Gehring’s email, they received.

British Bioethics Council Gives OK to Three-Parent Embryo | LifeNews.com

Jun14

British Bioethics Council Gives OK to Three-Parent Embryo | LifeNews.com.

Rights of the Unborn to have one mother and one father and not to be experimented on at conception is not being respected by the British Government.

UK only cares about being “first in stupidity.”

Shame on them.

The United Nations Organization must do it’s job and speak out, not allow such evils. UN has to stop allowing Embryo’s being subjected to being “Human Guinea Pigs” by any country.

This must stop.

Now!

NOW!