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Name
aishah
-
Profession
Question
Can you explain more about this? Thanks.
Answer
Despite the many significant accomplishments of the UN in terms of peacekeeping and humanitarian efforts worldwide, there has developed in the last decades a decidedly anti-family agenda that is in fact dedicated to values antithetical to the natural family and the values that uphold it.
This assault includes: incursions on national sovereignty and parental rights; a denigration of the role of motherhood; a gender agenda so pro-homosexual as to challenge traditional legal and societal protections for the traditional family structure; promotion of abortion as a right on demand, with unrestricted access for adolescents, and criminalizing any refusal to provide such access; and an aggressive sex-education policy that promotes promiscuity. In all, the natural family is under grave assault at the United Nations.
Name
Scarlett
-
Profession
Question
What do you think would be the situation for a child brought up in one-sex parent family? I mean if the child grows up with two mothers or two fathers... would he ever be able to perceive making a "traditional" family of mother and father and children later?? Please give me your opinion.
Answer
There is substantial research demonstrating that children thrive best with a mother and father, and further, that the risk of child abuse is astronomically higher when the child is in a situation with homosexual partners.
Name
peter
- United States
Profession
Question
These issues don't affect us, do they? I mean, the UN works in developing countries. Why should we in the industrialized countries care?
Answer
For one reason, the powerful and ever-encroaching effect of customary international law, that judges are looking to more and more on the key social issues. The repetition of language, like the anti-family provisions dealing with “reproductive right” in UN documents, creates a kind of end-run
around democratic processes in industrialized nations.
For example, the UN’s CEDAW committee, the oversight committee for implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination against Women, has in official reports to specific countries criticized government for not dismantling the stereotypical motherhood roles. The republic of Georgia was rebuked for “overemphasiz[ing] the role of mothers.”
The CEDAW treaty, a document produced by the UN in 1981, although widely ratified by countries around the world, has never been ratified by the United States. Despite its high-sounding title, it contains potentially dangerous provisions that would attack women’s roles as wives and mothers, going to the very heart of the traditional family.
"Anti-family"? I think this is too strong. Maybe you exaggerate. What is your evidence for this?
Answer
One example: The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), a UN document produced in 1990 to which nearly all nations have become a party (but not the US), creates a whole set of autonomous rights for children, in direct derogation of traditional parental rights. Several years later, the CRC committee criticized the United Kingdom for allowing parents to withdraw their children from sex-ed classes if the parents disagreed with what was being taught.
Name
yassir
-
Profession
Question
Is polygamy pro- or anti-family? The West looks down on us for it.
Answer
My organization, United Families International, does not draw distinctions between natural families according to the traditional Western monogamous
structure and polygamous model in other countries. What we are concerned with is strengthening the structures that uphold families, and protecting families from the societal and legal pressures that would impair and ultimately destroy families.
Name
Azmiraldah
-
Profession
Question
Since the UN has permitted these new forms of families, along with practical solutions like abortion, then these must be reflections of the demands of certain societies. As far as I understand, these societies are very well organized and developed, different than societies which do not acknowledge these new forms and facilities and yet stay deteriorated. Please give me your reflection here.
Answer
While it is true that there are distinct variations among nations today with respect to the new “forms of the family” that you mention, yet the agenda in
the UN that pushes these is often driven by powerful NGOs (non-governmental organizations) and their substantial funds. What I see happening is a concerted effort by well-organized and committed minorities to foist their agenda on societies that would never of themselves adopt such policies.
Name
Malik
- Canada
Profession
Question
How much clout does the US have at the UN in these family issues? As far as these are concerned, will it make any difference who gets elected in November?
Answer
Four years ago when a new President of the US was elected, there was a complete reversal from the previous administration in term of support for policies in the UN that affect families. In my work at the UN, I have been amazed at the power that the US President has to affect the social policies under consideration at the UN. The current administration is openly pro-life and pro-family, and the delegations sent to the UN have made a decisive difference in the last four years. Yes, the outcome of the upcoming election in the US will make a huge difference to families throughout the world, as the two candidates are extremely polarized on such issues.
Name
wessam
- Egypt
Profession
Question
What will bring Muslims and non-Muslims together to fight these new norms (the bad morals)?
Answer
There is already substantial cooperation in the halls of the UN between Western groups like the one I represent, and Muslim delegates. Despite a host of other political realities that at times strain relationships between Islamic countries and the West, there is a growing awareness that the forces that seek to undermine the natural family are formidable enough as to require cooperation on these key issues. Our situation is not unlike that of the ancient Greek city-states, which were always contending with other but finally had to unite out of self-preservation when threatened by the mighty Persian Empire. The foundational nature of the family to civilization requires us to stand united in defense of the family.
Name
Ruth
- United Kingdom
Profession
registered nurse
Question
Family values have deteriorated dramatically over the past decades. In the UK you can't even discipline your child if he misbehaves. So what can the "man in the street" do to help protect parental rights/family values from being further undermined.
Answer
An excellent question. The decline of family values seems to be sweeping the world as a dangerous tidal wave, and many feel almost helpless. I have been continually impressed, however, by the power generated by even one voice. Often the silent majority are willing to rally to one courageous voice standing up for principle and willing to speak out for decency and goodness. Margaret Mead once said: “Never doubt that a small group of dedicated individuals can change the world; indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” In addition, it is imperative that like-minded groups cooperate and create necessary synergy in the battle to preserve the family and family values.
Name
Aziz
- Guyana
Profession
Question
If countries don't like these UN agreements or conferences, why do they sign them? Why don't they just refuse?
Answer
The UN exerts tremendous pressure to create “consensus” documents, and has a mechanism whereby a country can file a “reservation” with respect to a provision with which the country disagrees. In addition, an individual document often is a very mixed bag, containing a host of provisions, some of which are amenable to a particular country and some of which can be abhorrent. Another compelling factor inducing countries to cooperate is the potential funding available through UN agencies and IMF and World Bank by those countries who do cooperate. Added to all this is the foreign aid by socially liberal countries that is sometimes made contingent to lesser developed nations based on their level of cooperation in signing on to the UN documents.
Name
Abida
-
Profession
Question
What are your recommendations for pro-family groups in the upcoming conference in New York ["Beijing +10 in February/March 2005]? How can they promote and activate their agendas in a predominantly anti-family atmosphere? How can they work their ways in such a complicated environment? Do you think that coalescing more and coming with a single unified agenda would be more effective?
Answer
From my experience, each pro-family group brings to the table a unique strength that when combined, can create great strength. To make that strength felt in the UN, and to have the maximum effect on the process, these groups must cooperate within the process. My organization, United Families International, along with a few others, seek to provide consistent representation and consultation at the major UN conferences. I would welcome your cooperation and input. My email is dclark@unitedfamilies.org.
