U.N. receives 5.4 million signatures in favor of the unborn and the family

Brussels, Belgium, Dec 11, 2008 / 12:26 pm

Wednesday, December 10 marked the 60^th anniversary of the U.N.’s Declaration on Human Rights.  To make evident the number of people around the world who support interpreting the declaration as protecting the lives of the unborn and the family, a coalition of European groups presented 5.4 million signatures at the U.N.

The coalition of groups interested in defending the unborn and the family launched their initiative which they dubbed “Familiokratos” on December 10, 2007 after a meeting in Strasbourg.

Spearheaded by Carlo Casini and Anna Záborská, Directors of European Forum of the Rights of Man and the Family (FEFA), the leaders met October 25-26, 2008 in Bratislava to count the signatures. They found that they had 5.4 million signatures from the efforts of the 60 European organizations they had enlisted to help.

Yesterday, the names were presented along with a petition to the U.N. ambassador from Gabon, the ambassador from the Holy See and other ambassadors in order to be distributed among the U.N. delegates.

Anna Záborská commented on the need for the petition, saying, "The family is where we learn that the authentic role of the state is to serve its people; and not to reinvent humanity along the lines of some artificial ideology: the first and last sign of the approach of totalitarianism is the collapse of the family. Finally, we promote the family because it is the primary repository of love in our society."

The petition calls upon the U.N.to interpret the Declaration on Human Rights as securing the right to life to all members of the human family, including the unborn child. It also calls on governments to protect the family "as the fundamental group unit of society," give special assistance to mothers and children and to promote the rights of parents.