Council of Europe to debate two anti-life and family resolutions

The council of Europe is scheduled to debate an anti life and an anti family measure in Strasbourg the week after next. The first report and resolution “Discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity” prepared by Andreas Gross a member of the Socialist Group will be debated on Wednesday January 27th. The second issue the Mc Cafferty report “Fifteen Years Since the International Conference on Population and Development Programme of Action” will be debated on Friday January 29th.

The Mc Cafferty report involves the promotion of abortion as a means of family planning and population control. The Report summary while it includes many important measures for the improvement of women’s health also calls for so called ‘sexual and reproductive rights’ to be upheld and this includes among other things, access to family planning, so called ‘emergency contraception’ and safe abortion, irrespective of age, community or country. Acomprehensive report on the critical issues involved intis report and resolution has been prepared by the European Centre for Law and Justice

The Gross report and the accompanying resolution is an attempt to mainstream the whole area of sexual orientation and includes concepts such as “Gender identity” which it says, refers to each person’s deeply felt internal and individual experience of gender, and it defines a “transgender person” as someone whose gender identity does not correspond to the gender he or she was assigned at birth.

According toa report by the European Centre for Law and Justice the draft resolution diminishes or even endangers the following fundamental rights:

• The freedom of speech
• The freedom of religion and conscience;
• The higher interest of children:
• The States’ sovereign interest and right to protect public morality, family and the best interests of the child.

Many of the other concepts set out in the report and resolution such as ‘hate speech’ are undefined and if they are to remain in the text tight definitions must be provided.

Please contactMembers of the European Parliament from your Country and ask them to reject these measures.