The United Nation’s Committee on the Convention on the Rights of the Child held a hearing today on the Holy See’s handling of sexual abuse. Commenting on it is Bill Donohue:
The U.N. Committee that was charged with probing the Holy See’s response to the sexual abuse of minors is composed of 18 “independent experts,” from as many nations. Some of the committee members who profess an interest in the rights of the child, such as Hiranthi Wijemanne of Sri Lanka, say that human rights should not extend to nascent human life; a child in the first trimester, she said in an interview, should not be considered a child.
Many of the “experts” on human rights come from nations that are known for oppression, not liberty. Just this week, the Pew Research Center released a report on religious oppression worldwide. Nations with “experts” on the U.N. panel that earned a “High” rating are Bahrain, Sri Lanka, Ethiopia and Tunisia. Even worse are those nations that merited a “Very High” rating: Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Russia and Malaysia.
Freedom House listed Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Ethiopia as among the most oppressive places on earth. Open Doors listed the same nations as the Pew study (save for Russia) in its top 50 nations known for persecuting Christians.
Female genital mutilation has not stopped in Egypt, a nation where more than 90 percent of women have been subjected to it. This same barbaric practice is going on today in Ethiopia. Ghana, which also has an “expert” on the panel, is now witnessing a spike in female cutting, despite a ban on it.
So these are some of the nations that are sending their “experts” to question a delegation from the Holy See about human rights. No wonder the U.N. continues to lose credibility. It would be as if a panel appointed by the heads of baseball, football, basketball, and hockey chose Alex Rodriguez to investigate cheating in professional sports.
