UN to Draft Sweeping Convention on Disabilities

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UN to Draft Sweeping Convention on All "Disabilities"

Next week the United Nation convenes a working group to continue drafting an international convention on people with disabilities. The eventual treaty will set domestic legislation on disabilities as treaties are legal documents binding states that ratify them. There is a strong push to finish the Convention this year, and currently the draft contains several terms of concern to pro-life and pro-family advocates involved with the process.

The draft Convention contains provisions that some view as granting the disabled the "right to die." One portion of the draft language stipulates that states will "Prevent unwanted medical and related interventions and corrective surgeries from being imposed on persons with disabilities," while another calls for "...individual autonomy, including the freedom to make one's own choices, and independence of persons." On the face of it, these may seem like reasonable aspirations, but seen the light of the euthanasia movement, they could become ominous.

Other parts of the treat ensure that the disabled have access to "reproductive and family planning education, and the means necessary to enable them to exercise these rights," while another requires the disabled to have the "same range and standard" of "sexual and reproductive health services" as "other citizens." In UN parlance, "sexual and reproductive health services" have long meant access to abortion and contraception.

Additionally, in what some view as a potential back door for homosexual unions, treaty language calls for the disabled to have "equal opportunity to experience their sexuality, have sexual and other intimate relationships, and experience parenthood," as well as the right "to marry...and to found a family."

Pro-family advocates say the treaty could be used to promote homosexual rights because the draft Convention does not define "disability." The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) specifically excludes "transvestism, transsexualism, pedophilia, exhibitionism, voyeurism, gender identity disorders not resulting from physical impairments, or other sexual behavior disorders." Homosexuality and bisexuality are also excluded, as are age and economic status.

Experts worry that signing the Convention would be signing a blank check because the Convention could later be applied to unintended situations. The results will be far-reaching, especially in light of the fact that the UN will create a compliance committee that would scrutinize compliance of the Convention by signatory states. A similar monitoring body, the UN Human Rights Committee which reviews implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, recently directed Poland to liberalize its national laws on abortion, even though that treaty is silent on abortion.

Copyright 2004 - C-FAM (Catholic Family & Human Rights Institute).
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