Paraguay Defies Organization of American States, Defends Unborn and Family

By Marianna Orlandi, Ph.D. | June 2, 2016

Paraguay member of Parliament José María Ibañez (ANR), drafter of the declaration

WASHINGTON, June 3 (C-Fam) President Horacio Cartes of Paraguay has vowed to fight any threat from the Organization of American States to impose abortion or redefine the family to include homosexual couples.

“Here we will stand, defending the rights of life and family, as we always did,” stated President Cartes.

He acted immediately after Paraguay’s Parliament approved a declaration asking its president to defend life and family from serious and repeated attacks by the Organization of the American States (OAS).

The OAS has a history of undermining the fundamental right to life and the family. But the most recent steps taken by the organization were so troublesome that Paraguay’s President was compelled to intervene.

Notwithstanding the Inter-American Convention on Human Rights explicit protections for children from the moment of conception, the Court that oversees the treaty’s application came to the conclusion in 2012 that children in the womb are not persons and do not have a right to life.

Similarly, Article 17 of the same treaty speaks of the family as the “Natural and fundamental group unit of society,” but OAS entities, including the Inter-American Court, equate the family to relations between individuals of the same sex, extending the protection and rights reserved for the family to the latter.

These apparent contradictions are said to be the result of an “evolutionary interpretation” of the treaty. Other controversial interpretations that have been proposed include state sanctioned and funded artificial reproduction and so-called same-sex “marriage,” among others.

Last March, the General Secretariat of the OAS adopted an Executive Order that went beyond any previous controversial recommendation of the OAS system.

The order includes a never before seen definition of “man” and  “woman.” According to the top OAS bureaucrat the word “woman includes lesbian, bisexuals, trans and intersex women and the language ‘men’ includes gay, bisexual, trans and intersex men.”

The Executive Order unilaterally attempts to expand the concept of “gender equality” to encompass special protections for individuals who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transsexual, or otherwise (LGBT) on the basis of their sexual preference, behaviors and subjective identification as male or female irrespective of their biological or genetic sex.

It directs all OAS entities, agencies and, most importantly, all OAS financial resources dedicated to “gender equality” projects to be used to promote LGBT rights as a dimension of gender equality.

This was evidently too much for Paraguay.

The OAS secretariat does not have a mandate to expand the substantive obligations of OAS member states to include notions that have not been agreed upon by the members. Nevertheless the OAS bureaucracy’s peculiar interpretation of “gender equality” is expected to spread rapidly in the OAS system following this directive unless other OAS member states join Paraguay in opposing it.

Paraguay socialist congresswoman Rocío Casco spoke against the declaration, stating that rejecting the Executive Order of the Secretary General is a step backwards in protecting human rights. Casco proposed a counter-declaration, calling for respect of “social equity, dignity, plurality, development.” Her document would include alternate forms of families.

While this counter-declaration is expected to enjoy the support of OAS’ bodies, agencies, and experts, a CitizenGo petition to the Secretary General of the OAS provides a way for citizens –  particularly those in countries affected by OAS – to express support for life and family..

 

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