The petition urges the Commission to make the family its focus, by acknowledging that human rights start with the family.
Unalienable Rights, in Washington D.C., Feb. 21, 2020. Ruth Institute
February 26, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) – A petition signed by 8,000 people asking President Trump to “make the family great again” by making life, marriage, and the family guiding principles
in U.S. foreign policy was delivered on Friday to the US State Department’s Commission on Unalienable Rights in Washington D.C.
The Ruth Institute along with LifePetitions presented its
“Make The Family Great Again” petition
along with its signers to the Commission’s Chairman, former Ambassador to the Holy See Mary Ann Glendon.
“We are concerned about the rights of the family and the rights of children,” said Ruth Institute Founder and President Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse
prior to hand-delivering the petition. The Ruth Institute is a global non-profit organization equipping Christians to defend the family and
build a civilization of love. Also present at the petition delivery was Gualberto Garcia Jones, Director of Advocacy at LifePetitions.
Great Again’ petition, Washington D.C., Feb. 21, 2020. SOURCE: LifeSiteNews.com
After delivering the petition, Morse spoke at a meeting of the Commission. She outlined in a video prior to delivering the petition what she was
going to speak to the committee about.
“I’m going to tell them that we hold these truths to be self-evident: that every person comes into the world as a helpless baby, that every person
has a mother and a father, that every society needs some structured institutions for getting children from helpless infancy to responsible
adulthood, and that the needs of children place limitations on the behavior of adults, including adult sexual behavior,” she said prior to
delivering the petition.
Morse told LifeSiteNews that after delivering the petition, Ambassador Glendon told her that she was “grateful for our interest in the Commission’s
work and promised that our petition would be permanently stored in the State Department’s archives.”
It’s been a long road from when the Ruth Institute launched its petition last September,
in partnership with LifePetitions, to the meeting at the State Department on Friday.
In July, the Commission on Unalienable Rights was appointed by Secretary of State Michael Pompeo to advise his department on how to incorporate an understanding
of authentic human rights into its dealings with international bodies and foreign governments.
Morse said that the petition “urges the Commission to make the family its focus, by acknowledging that human rights start with the family.”
It declares that the Commission should work for an understanding of the rights which undergird the family, including:
- The right of every child to a relationship with their natural mother and father except for an unavoidable tragedy
- The right of every person to know the identity of his or her biological parents
- The right to life from conception to natural death
- The right of parents to educate their own children in their faith tradition and values without being undermined by the state.
Besides 8,000 online signers at LifePetitions.com, the petition was also signed by an illustrious array of leaders in the United States and from around
the world.
Leadership signers included:
- Gary Bauer (President, American Values)
- Brent Bozell (Founder and President, Media Research Center)
- Fr. Shenan Boquet (President, Human Life International)
- Janice Shaw Crouse (Author, Columnist and Speaker)
- Pat Fagan (Director, Marriage and Religion Research Institute)
- Jor-El Godsey (President, Heartbeat International)
- Governor Mike Huckabee (commentator and former Governor of Arkansas)
- Alveda King (Author and Activist)
- Michael Pakaluk (Professor, Busch School of Business, Catholic University of America)
- Tom Morrison (State Representative, Ill. District 54)
- Steven W, Mosher (President and Founder, Population Research Institute)
- C. Preston Noell (President, American Society for Tradition, Family and Property)
- Sharon Slater (President, Family Watch International)
- Steven Smoot (President, Family First Foundation)
- Mathew D. Staver, Esq. (Founder and Chairman, Liberty Counsel)
- Michael Voris (Founder and President, St. Michael’s Media)
Signers from outside the United States included:
- Rebekah Ali-Gouveia (Pro-Family Leader, Trinidad)
- Bishop Emmanuel Badejo (Bishop of Oyo, Nigeria)
- Moira Chimombo (Former Executive Director, Sub-Sahara Family Enrichment, Malawi)
- Silvio Dalla Valle (Executive Director, Association for the Defense of Christian Values, Italy)
- Ann Kioko (President, African Organization for Families, Kenya)
- Lech Kowalewski (Board Member, Polish Federation of Pro-Life Movements)
- Christa Leonhard (Foundation for Family Values, Germany and the Swiss Foundation for the Family)
- Gwen Landolt (First Vice President, REAL Women of Canada)
- Warwick and Allison Marsh (Founders, Dads4Kids, Australia)
- Dr. Theresa Okafor (Director, Foundation for African Cultural Heritage, FACH, Nigeria)
- Fr. Boniface Ssenteza, (Youth Chaplain for the Kasana-Luweero Diocese, and National Scouting Chaplain, Uganda)
- Christine Vollmer (Founder and President, Latin American Alliance for the Family, Venezuela)
- Andrea Williams (Chief Executive, Christian Concern, United Kingdom)
- Levan Vasadez (Pro-Life Activist, Republic of Georgia).
Morse testified at the Commission meeting that day: “Pro-family leaders from around the world have signed our petition, which we undertook in partnership
with LifePetitions. The pro-family leaders from Latin America and Africa are especially aware of the harm international agencies can do when they ignore
the rights of the family mentioned in our petition. All too often, the United States government has collaborated in the promotion of destructive policies
which undermine the rights of children to their parents, and parents’ rights and responsibilities toward their children.” Read complete testimony
here.
The Ruth Institute intends to continue pressing the Commission on Unalienable Rights and the State Department to make the family the basis of its human
rights policy.