HUMAN
RIGHTS
Human Rights and the Family
Kathryn O. Balmforth, Former Executive Director, World Family Policy Center
A world view which denies the simple and fundamental importance of family, motherhood,
and children, can't have all the answers for everyone. A world view which would
force grotesque social experiments, undermining the values which have held families
together for millennia, cannot be right for everyone. Proponents of this view--a
small minority of the world's people--should not be permitted to capture and
hold international human rights mechanisms. They should not be permitted to
warp and distort fundamental human rights language into something strange and
repugnant to most of the world's people.
The language of the "international Bill of Rights"--that is, the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights, and the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights,
as that language was understood by the states who agreed upon it, gives a central
place to family, home, and the prior right of parents to guide the education
of their children. These human rights are fundamental. These must be constantly
reaffirmed in international instruments and thereby preserved.
To read the entire document, click
here.
Related Articles (alphabetical
by author)
Justiciability
of Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights: Entitlements or Empty Promises
Michael J. Dennis, Attorney Advisory: Human Rights and Refugees, U.S. Department
of State
Presented at the World Family Policy Forum 2002
Human
Rights and Family in Islam
Farooq Hassan, Secretary General, American Asian Institute of Strategic Studies,
Boston
Presented at the World Family Policy Forum 2002
Thomas
Jefferson on the Moral Foundations of Individual Rights
Matthew S. Holland, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Brigham Young
University
Presented at the World Family Policy Forum 2002
Human Rights in Islam
Syed Shahid Husain, Senior Advisor, Permanent Observer Mission of the Organization
of the Islamic Conference to the United Nations, New York
Presented at the World Family Policy Forum 2002
Natural Rights, Family, and the Conditions
of Freedom in the American Founding
Thomas L. Krannawitter, Director of Civic Education, The Claremont Institute
Presented at the World Family Policy Forum 2002
Conflicts Among Political Philosophies:
"Human Rights"
Dr. Balint Vazsonyi, Founder/Director, Center for the American Founding
Presented at the World Family Policy Forum 2002
