FRONT ROYAL, Virginia (Human Life International) — Human Life International will be in Asunción, Paraguay, June 26 to 28, 2024, to protect children against dangerous policies proposed to the Organization of American States. As the Western Hemisphere’s lead policy making body gathers for its 54th General Assembly, a coalition led by Human Life International seeks to block resolutions that put minor children and the preborn at risk.
Luis Martinez, Human Life International’s director of the mission to the Organization of American States, leads the Coalition for Human Development. The group intends to stop multiple proposed changes of language that would endanger children and families and demonize pro-life and pro-family groups. He details several of the particular initiatives that the group is working to block:
- In the arena of “hate speech” and human rights, there is language that allows for ideological manipulation and influences the legal handling of the issues. Martinez explained that the Human Life International coalition is supporting Peru and Paraguay in proposing two modifications that help avoid language that puts the interests of children and their safety in jeopardy as well as restricts the freedom of pro-life and pro-family groups.
- A section of a resolution on strengthening democracy puts special emphasis on promoters of so-called “sexual and reproductive rights,” elevating them to a privileged class. Additionally, the Canadian delegation is trying to separate “women’s rights organizations” whenever a resolution talks about civil society organizations, thereby granting these groups special treatment. The life advocacy coalition will work to block these moves that are intended to rank abortion above all other interests, including the safety of preborn children, young girls, and their mothers.
- The Human Life International coalition seeks to disqualify proposed changes in human rights and democracy that would impose deceptive text about diversity in elections and religious freedom. This proposal, which could work to the disadvantage of children and families, was submitted by an LGBT activist group after the April 25, 2024, cutoff, a deadline that the coalition will urge be respected.
- The life advocacy group also wants to prevent the use of disingenuous language that the same LGBT activists have added to policy resolutions on digital citizenship and the use of the internet by minor children and adolescents, putting them at risk of attack by sexual predators.
In 2023, Human Life International’s involvement at the Organization of American States’ 53rd General Assembly delivered a victory for its pro-life constituency. Leading the Coalition for Human Development, Human Life International neutralized multiple attempts to include abortion as a “right” in policy resolutions, most prominently, the Declaration on the Protection and Integration of Migrant and Refugee Children.
Martinez noted that in Paraguay, the coalition will support two candidates for the three open positions of judge at the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. Paraguay’s Diego Moreno Rodríguez will be promoted by Human Life International and its coalition affiliates, as will Peru’s Alberto Borea Odria. Both of these candidates ascribe to a pro-life worldview.
The Coalition for Human Development is a Human Life International-led group composed of 45 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 attending the OAS 54th General Assembly include Campaign Life Coalition, Heartbeat International, Missionaries of the Poor, Missionary Image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, ProLove Ministries, Real Women of Canada, Sacred Heart Institute, and Terri Schiavo Life and Hope Network.
The OAS is composed of the 34 independent nations of North, Central, and South America, and the Caribbean.
About Human Life International
Human Life International is the only U.S.-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.