Douglas Sylva is a Senior Fellow at the Center for Family and Human Rights Institute (C-Fam). As a Senior Fellow, Sylva researches topics related to international social policy and law, and his writings on these subjects are published widely. In addition, he counsels members of the United Nations community and governments on matters relating to international organizations, documents and law. He has addressed politicians and government officials including members of the European Parliament, the British House of Lords, the German Bundestag, and the US Congress.

Sylva also serves as an advisor to the Vatican on international relations. As such, he was a member of the Vatican delegation to the United Nations Ad Hoc Committee on the Rights and Dignity of Persons with Disabilities (2005-2007), and assisted the Vatican in negotiating the treaty that resulted from the Committee’s efforts. He has also served on Vatican delegations to various Organization of American States meetings, including the 19th Pan-American Children’s Congress in Mexico City and the 2005 Organization of American States General Assembly meeting.

During 2001-2004, Sylva was Vice President of C-Fam, during which time he participated in all major UN social policy negotiations. He was particularly involved in the UN’s Child Summit and the negotiations that resulted in an international declaration against all forms of human cloning. As the author of C-FAM’s Friday Fax, his distinctive reports on the UN were read each week by over 70,000 people around the world.

Sylva was also the Director of the International Organizations Research Group, where he wrote and edited comprehensive studies on international bodies and their agendas in relation to issues regarding life, family, religion and national sovereignty. His White Paper on the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) was highly influential within the Bush administration, and helped to lead to that organization being de-funded by the US government. His White Paper on the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has been widely seen as blueprint for reform of that agency.

In 2004, Sylva was a member of the Organizing Committee for the Intercultural Dialogue on the Family, which culminated in The Doha International Conference for the Family in Doha, Qatar.

Sylva is a widely published writer who served as a non-fiction book critic for the New York Times Sunday Book Review and the Washington Times. His writing has also appeared in publications such as National Review, National Review Online, Insight on the News, the National Catholic Register, the Weekly Standard, and the Daily Standard.

Sylva earned a doctorate in Political Science from Columbia University in 2001. His doctoral thesis investigated the philosophical foundations of conflicts over values and morals, and how political communities attempt to resolve such conflicts. Sylva also taught political philosophy at Columbia.

He graduated Magna Cum Laude from Dartmouth College in 1993, where he was a member of Phi Beta Kappa. He and his wife, Susan, are the parents of five children and reside in Summit, New Jersey.

 

Other Publications

“Aging World Population is Profound Crisis,” Human Events, April 15, 2010

“Sir Elton John Opposes Organized Religion” thefactis.org (November 28, 2006)

“Sophisticated Barbarians” thefactis.org (November 13, 2006)

“A Veil Descends on England” thefactis.org (October 30, 2006)

“Pope Benedict, Islam, and the European Death Wish,” thefactis.org (October 3, 2006)

“Are Migrants the Hope of Mankind, or a Blight on Man’s Future?” thefactis.org (September 20, 2006)

“Chirac Fiddles While the Twin Towers Burn” thefactis.org (September 1, 2006)

“An Inconvenient Dissident: Forced Sterilizations and the New York Times” thefactis.org (August 11, 2006)

“Billionaires Beyond Scrutiny” thefactis.org (July 10, 2006)

“To Russia, With Love” thefactis.org (May 16, 2006)

“Nicaraguan Bishops Fight Back Against UN Radicals” thefactis.org (March 21, 2006)

“The Stealth Strategy for Imposing Universal Abortion” thefactis.org (March 21, 2006)

“Blind Leading the Blind” thefactis.org (January 27, 2006)

“Europe’s Malaise” thefactis.org (November 15, 2005)

“What the Halloween Hullabaloo Says About Our Culture”thefactis.org (November 1, 2005)

“See No Evil: UN’s Human Rights Commissioner Should Listen to Blind Man” thefactis.org (October 3, 2005)

“Sacrificing Humans to the Condom Gods” thefactis.org (September 21, 2005)

“The Population Control Temptation” thefactis.org (July 11, 2005)

“Sir Elton John and Others Pontificate on Papacy” thefactis.org (June 13, 2005)

“Be Careful What You Wish for at the UN” thefactis.org (May 31, 2005)

“Kristof Defames Pope with Unfounded Accusations” thefactis.org (May 16, 2005)

“UNICEF Leader’s Tenure Marked by Failure” thefactis.org (May 2, 2005)

“Pope Led Unlikely Victory Over Pro-Death Forces at UN Conference” thefactis.org (April 18, 2005)

“Condom Distribution is a Deadly Ideology for Africa” thefactis.org (April 4, 2005)

“Forced Abortion: A Cause for Celebration?” thefactis.org (January 24, 2005)

“Future ‘Belongs’ to the Religious, Says Demographer” thefactis.org (May 1, 2004)

“Saving Life,” National Review (April 30, 2004)

“‘Catholics’ for a Free Choice Continue Assault on the Family” thefactis.org (January 6, 2004)

“UNICEF Devolves: A dangerous leftward slide,” National Review (October 31, 20003)