“If this is what the UN’s new definition of human rights might look like, it is a very serious matter” – Sherlock
Ireland’s new Government will appear before the UN’s Human Rights Council in Geneva today as part of the UN’s Universal Periodic Review. Among the issues Tánaiste and Minister for Justice Francis Fitzgerald will be questioned on is Ireland’s abortion law.
Speaking from Geneva in advance of today’s UN session, Cora Sherlock of the Pro Life Campaign said: “The UN’s focus on Ireland’s abortion laws is becoming way too predictable and one-sided. The rights of the unborn child and the negative after effects of abortion for women have been sidelined from the debate. That doesn’t represent reasoned debate. It’s agenda politics.
“Ireland is one of the safest countries in the world for pregnant women. The UN is fully aware of this. Yet, all in the name of human rights, it spends an enormous amount of time pushing abortion in Ireland but never finds time to condemn the horrendous abuses in the abortion industry or countries like Canada and England where babies born alive after botched abortions are routinely left to die alone without receiving any medical assistance. If this is what the UN’s new definition of human rights might look like, it is a very serious matter.”
Ms Sherlock continued: “In recent years the Irish Government has deferentially and passively rolled over when challenged by UN representatives on abortion. It’s time our government challenged the UN’s now predictable line pushing abortion and asked the UN representatives in question what right they have to gloss over and ignore, for example, the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child which states that the child is entitled to appropriate legal protection ‘before as well as after birth.’
“I sincerely hope the Tánaiste will not greet predictable questions with predictable answers today but will for once speak up for the right to life.”
ENDS
Please note: The Pro Life Campaign is an accredited UN NGO.
