Hello all pass this good news on ! visit my web site at http://www.voicenet.com/~wbacon My ICQ# is 79071904 ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Thu, 14 Sep 2000 19:29:13 -0700 From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: SNET: Fwd: Friday Fax/Australia Withdraws from UN treaty monitoring system -> SNETNEWS Mailing List Dear Colleague: We report today some very good news. The government of Australia has pulled out of the UN treaty monitoring system. This means they will no longer cow-tow to unelected "experts" who tell them how to run their own country. And this points up the essential powerlessness of UN commissions. All it takes is one government saying "no." Perhaps this is a harbinger of more good news to come. Spread the word. Yours sincerely, Austin Ruse President Action item: Email the Australian Mission to the United Nations and congratulate them for standing up for their sovereignty by pulling out of the UN treaty monitoring system ([EMAIL PROTECTED]). P.S. I will be giving a lecture tour in Ireland next week. Called "A Wake Up Call to the Nation," it is being sponsored by Human Life International -- Ireland. I will be touring with HLI's Dr. Brian Clowes talking about the UN and the family. Join us at one or more of the following venues: September 18, Regency Hotel, Drumcondra, Dublin September 19, Newpark Hotel, Kilkenny September 20, Metropole Hotel, Cork City September 21, Ryan Hotel, Limerick September 22, (hotel undetermined), Galway September 23, Rest and Care Center, Knock Shrine All lectures from 7:30 to 10:30. Call Patrick McCrystal, HLI -- Ireland for more details, tel: (35) 3 18 55 2504 _________________________________________ Catholic Family & Human Rights Institute 866 United Nations Plaza, Suite 4038 New York, New York 10017 Phone: (212) 754-5948 Fax: (212) 754-9291 E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Website: www.c-fam.org FRIDAY FAX September 11, 2000 Volume 3, Number 42 AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT WITHDRAWS FROM UN TREATY MONITORING SYSTEM * In a highly controversial move, the coalition government of Prime Minister John Howard recently announced Australia will no longer report to UN bodies charged with monitoring compliance with UN human rights treaties. The government announced it was capable of monitoring its own human rights record. * UN documents are mostly aspirational documents with no force in law yet they establish committees to oversee implementation of treaties before which governments must periodically appear. These committees also send "special rappateurs" to investigate the country within its own borders. * Governmental complaints to this system are growing and are multi-faceted. They complain UN treaties have begun to assert international standards that have the force of law. In some cases national courts have begun to adjudicate using non-binding UN instruments. At the very least, governments are put under tremendous pressure to succumb not just to the letter of the document, but also what the unelected monitoring committee determines is its spirit. * The most controversial examples of what some see as overreaching by a UN committee come from the one established by the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). Although the CEDAW document condemns prostitution, the CEDAW committee directed China to legalize it. Although CEDAW does not mention abortion, the committee criticized Ireland for having restrictive abortion laws. The committee directed Kyrgystan to legalize prostitution, and criticized Belarus for instituting Mother's Day. In what may be the oddest directive, the CEDAW committee directed Libya to reinterpret the Koran in order to fall within committee guidelines. * Governments also complain about the growing and some say menacing role of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in deciding UN policy and in pursuing what they see as human rights miscreants. NGOs frequently run investigations of their own and then approach UN treaty monitoring bodies to bring the recalcitrant government into line. * The move of Australia should be seen within this context. Australia's specific complaint comes from what it sees as unfair criticism from UN bodies and NGOs over its treatment of Aborigines and asylum seekers. The government began a review of the treaty monitoring system last March. It's report found that UN human rights treaty bodies "need a complete overhaul." The report singled out for criticism the role of NGOs, which frequently override the role of "democratically elected governments." The report, issued by Alexander Downer, Minister for Foreign Affairs, also insists the "treaty committee system work within its mandate." * It is believed this is the first time a government has pulled out of the treaty monitoring system. Given the frequently odd reports of the treaty committees the move by Australia may embolden other governments to follow suit. * Pro-life Australians give credit for this move to a conservative NGO, Endeavour Forum. Copyright - C-FAM (Catholic Family & Human Rights Institute). Permission granted for unlimited use. Credit required. ----------------------- Headers -------------------------------- Return-Path: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Received: from rly-yg02.mx.aol.com (rly-yg02.mail.aol.com [172.18.147.2]) by air-yg02.mail.aol.com (v75_b4.3) with ESMTP; Thu, 14 Sep 2000 21:40:03 -0400 Received: from mail.nyct.net (bsd4.nyct.net [216.139.128.6]) by rly-yg02.mx.aol.com (v75_b3.9) with ESMTP; Thu, 14 Sep 2000 21:39:42 -0400 Received: from c-fam.org ([216.139.151.12]) by mail.nyct.net (8.9.3/8.8.7) with ESMTP id MAA40847; Thu, 14 Sep 2000 12:29:57 -0400 (EDT) (envelope-from [EMAIL PROTECTED]) Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Thu, 14 Sep 2000 12:32:41 -0400 From: Austin Ruse -- C-Fam <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.75 [en] (Win98; U) X-Accept-Language: en MIME-Version: 1.0 To: Friday Fax List <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Friday Fax/Australia Withdraws from UN treaty monitoring system Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit -> To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] ___________________________________________________________ T O P I C A The Email You Want. http://www.topica.com/t/16 Newsletters, Tips and Discussions on Your Favorite Topics
Dear Colleague: We report today some very good news. The government of Australia has pulled out of the UN treaty monitoring system. This means they will no longer cow-tow to unelected "experts" who tell them how to run their own country. And this points up the essential powerlessness of UN commissions. All it takes is one government saying "no." Perhaps this is a harbinger of more good news to come. Spread the word. Yours sincerely, Austin Ruse President Action item: Email the Australian Mission to the United Nations and congratulate them for standing up for their sovereignty by pulling out of the UN treaty monitoring system ([EMAIL PROTECTED]). P.S. I will be giving a lecture tour in Ireland next week. Called "A Wake Up Call to the Nation," it is being sponsored by Human Life International -- Ireland. I will be touring with HLI's Dr. Brian Clowes talking about the UN and the family. Join us at one or more of the following venues: September 18, Regency Hotel, Drumcondra, Dublin September 19, Newpark Hotel, Kilkenny September 20, Metropole Hotel, Cork City September 21, Ryan Hotel, Limerick September 22, (hotel undetermined), Galway September 23, Rest and Care Center, Knock Shrine All lectures from 7:30 to 10:30. Call Patrick McCrystal, HLI -- Ireland for more details, tel: (35) 3 18 55 2504 _________________________________________ Catholic Family & Human Rights Institute 866 United Nations Plaza, Suite 4038 New York, New York 10017 Phone: (212) 754-5948 Fax: (212) 754-9291 E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Website: www.c-fam.org FRIDAY FAX September 11, 2000 Volume 3, Number 42 AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT WITHDRAWS FROM UN TREATY MONITORING SYSTEM * In a highly controversial move, the coalition government of Prime Minister John Howard recently announced Australia will no longer report to UN bodies charged with monitoring compliance with UN human rights treaties. The government announced it was capable of monitoring its own human rights record. * UN documents are mostly aspirational documents with no force in law yet they establish committees to oversee implementation of treaties before which governments must periodically appear. These committees also send "special rappateurs" to investigate the country within its own borders. * Governmental complaints to this system are growing and are multi-faceted. They complain UN treaties have begun to assert international standards that have the force of law. In some cases national courts have begun to adjudicate using non-binding UN instruments. At the very least, governments are put under tremendous pressure to succumb not just to the letter of the document, but also what the unelected monitoring committee determines is its spirit. * The most controversial examples of what some see as overreaching by a UN committee come from the one established by the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). Although the CEDAW document condemns prostitution, the CEDAW committee directed China to legalize it. Although CEDAW does not mention abortion, the committee criticized Ireland for having restrictive abortion laws. The committee directed Kyrgystan to legalize prostitution, and criticized Belarus for instituting Mother's Day. In what may be the oddest directive, the CEDAW committee directed Libya to reinterpret the Koran in order to fall within committee guidelines. * Governments also complain about the growing and some say menacing role of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in deciding UN policy and in pursuing what they see as human rights miscreants. NGOs frequently run investigations of their own and then approach UN treaty monitoring bodies to bring the recalcitrant government into line. * The move of Australia should be seen within this context. Australia's specific complaint comes from what it sees as unfair criticism from UN bodies and NGOs over its treatment of Aborigines and asylum seekers. The government began a review of the treaty monitoring system last March. It's report found that UN human rights treaty bodies "need a complete overhaul." The report singled out for criticism the role of NGOs, which frequently override the role of "democratically elected governments." The report, issued by Alexander Downer, Minister for Foreign Affairs, also insists the "treaty committee system work within its mandate." * It is believed this is the first time a government has pulled out of the treaty monitoring system. Given the frequently odd reports of the treaty committees the move by Australia may embolden other governments to follow suit. * Pro-life Australians give credit for this move to a conservative NGO, Endeavour Forum. Copyright - C-FAM (Catholic Family & Human Rights Institute). Permission granted for unlimited use. Credit required.
