(Human Life International) — Children and families in the Western Hemisphere are now safer than they were prior to the 54th General Assembly in Asunción, Paraguay.
Last month, Luis Martinez, Human Life International’s Director of the Mission to the Organization of American States, led the Coalition for Human Development in the daunting task of defending life and family throughout the Americas. The global Catholic pro-life organization played a major role in influencing international policy to the benefit and protection of children and the preborn.
As the Organization of American States, the Western Hemisphere’s lead policy making body, gathered June 26 to 28 in the urbanized South American capital, the Coalition for Human Development sought to stop multiple proposed changes of language that would endanger children and families and demonize pro-life and pro-family groups.
“The General Assembly in Asunción was a watershed that reopened a strong debate on life and the family and put it back at the center of the discussions,” explained Martinez, adding that “Human Life International played a solid relevant role in the 54th Regular Session of the Organization of American States General Assembly.”
Martinez listed the coalition’s successes, which came as a result of lobbying and strategic collaboration with delegations from life-affirming nations, especially Argentina and Paraguay.
The Human Life International Coalition for Human Development effectively…
- Neutralized manipulation of the term “hate speech” preventing it from being used to censor and persecute pro-life and pro-family organizations.
- Eliminated “sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights” from several attempts to introduce them into resolutions, and fully removed all other references to “sexual and reproductive health.”
- Blocked Canada’s attempt to elevate sexual and reproductive rights organizations and women’s rights groups to a more privileged status.
- Strengthened religious freedom references to protect pro-life and pro-family groups.
- Abolished the inclusion of the politically dicey term “intersectionality” and blanket references to women and girls “in all their diversity.”
Discussion over the issues was controversial, Martinez reported.
In one scenario, Canada wanted to include the term “sexual and reproductive rights” attempting to enshrine abortion in the text. Moderate delegates offered to amend the passages to read “sexual and reproductive health,” an expression that was supported by the pro-life representatives.
Annoyed, the Canadian representative proposed complete elimination from the concerned text, stating, “If sexual and reproductive rights are not included, then it makes no sense to include sexual and reproductive health.”
To which the Argentinean delegate remarked, “It is unbelievable that for Canada, if there is no abortion, there can be no health either.”
Martinez also pointed to the favorable election of the two pro-life judges to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, Paraguay’s Diego Moreno, and Peru’s Alberto Borea, noting this is an historical first for the court.
The coalition worked extensively with those delegations favoring the pro-life pro-family position, which include Paraguay, Argentina, Peru, El Salvador, Grenada, Saint Lucia and Jamaica.
Those nations whose representatives worked against pro-life initiatives include the United States, Canada, Mexico, Costa Rica, Chile, Colombia, Antigua and Barbuda, Brazil, Bolivia, Belize, Honduras, Panama and Ecuador.
Led by Human Life International, the Coalition for Human development is composed of forty-five pro-life organizations throughout the Americas, which holds membership in the assembly as a Civil Society Organization.
Along with Human Life International’s Martinez, representatives of Coalition for Human Development organizations from the United States and Canada that attended the Organization of American States 54th General Assembly included Campaign Life Coalition, Heartbeat International, Missionary Image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, ProLove Ministries, Real Women of Canada, Sacred Heart Institute, and Terri Schiavo Life and Hope Network.
The Organization of American States is composed of the thirty-four independent nations of North, Central, and South America, and the Caribbean. Learn more about the Organization of American States here [https://www.oas.org/en/].
About Human Life International
Human Life International is the only US-based authority on global life issues, including abortion, contraception, and end-of-life concerns. Human Life International is engaged in providing aid, training, and advocacy around the world and is the largest global pro-life and family organization, active in more than 100 countries on six continents. Human Life International provides resources and education on life issues from a Catholic perspective, while providing assistance around the globe, and prepares those training for and those active in ministry to address these matters in their vocation. For more information, visit hli.org.
Republished with permission from Human Life International.