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PARLIAMENT GIVES UP SOVEREIGNTY - APPROVES UN COURT

OTTAWA, June 16 (LSN.ca) - On Tuesday, the House of Commons passed Bill C-19, which would institute the Rome statute of the International Criminal Court in Canada. The bill was passed 224-36, strictly along party lines, with all parties in favour except the Canadian Alliance. (See link to voting below) The legislation was sneaked through as the House was preparing to go into recess, thus giving little opportunity for careful consideration of this matter of monumental significance.

Numerous problems with the legislation were pointed out during the final debate by Gurmant Grewal, the Alliance's chief foreign affairs critic. Grewal noted that not only does the legislation give up Canadian sovereignty, it does so without the final rules and regulations of the ICC being defined. "This is a travesty of democracy. Bill C-19 requires Canadians to support something that is still under negotiation by the international community," said Grewal.

Grewal said that a Canadian Alliance government would repeal the bill. He noted that the Liberal government rejected an amendment to the bill that would have prevented the handing over of Canadian sovereignty. The government rejected the addition of the following lines: "notwithstanding anything (in) this act, Canada's national sovereignty is to be protected" and "international law is not to be permitted to supersede Canadian law".

One warning of critics, that the International Criminal Court creates a one world government mechanism, is borne out by the fact that law is the function of government and the ICC will supercede all national laws and decisions of democratically elected legislatures. In fact, the absolute supremacy of the ICC over Canadian law is indicated in the explanatory material on the bill released by the Canadian government: "It would not be a defence that an offence was committed in obedience to the law in force at the time and in the place of its commission." This position is compounded by the fact that once the ICC is in place (when 60 countries ratify it) it will have universal jurisdiction in the eyes of its adherents, even over those countries which object to it.

As of June 12, the Rome statute had 96 signatures with twelve countries having already ratified the agreement. The full 60 ratifications are expected by December this year. Recent ratifications include that of France on June 9 and Venezuela on June 7. Extreme feminist groups and their usual allies strongly favour the ICC as a tool for enforcing their anti-family social ideology on all nations.

Bill C-19 must still receive final approval in the Canadian Senate.

See the final debate on C-19 at:
http://www.parl.gc.ca/36/2/parlbus/chambus/house/debates/113_2000-06-13/han113-e...

See the way the MPs voted on C-19 at:
http://www.parl.gc.ca/36/2/parlbus/chambus/house/debates/113_2000-06-13/han113-e...

See LifeSite's critique of Bill C-19 at:
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/1999/dec/99121301.html http://www.lsn.ca/ldn/2000/mar/000314a.html

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US SENATE AND HOUSE PROPOSE LAW TO BLOCK UN COURT

WASHINGTON, June (LSN.ca) - US Senate and House Republicans have proposed the "American Servicemen's Protection Act" to stop the International Criminal Court (ICC) from impinging on US sovereignty. Since the ICC will claim universal jurisdiction over even the US, which has opposed the international court and refused to sign the statute, the proposed law will address eventualities that might lead to conflict over US sovereignty.

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Jesse Helms spoke on the bill Wednesday saying it "will bar any U.S. cooperation with the ICC, so long as the U.S. has not signed and ratified the Rome Treaty." Given that the UN depends heavily on US personnel for its peacekeeping operations, the bill hits hard, requiring that "U.S. personnel be immunized from the ICC's jurisdiction before the U.S. can participate in any UN peacekeeping operation."

Helms says that "it prevents the transfer of classified national security information to the Court, and bans U.S. military assistance to any country that has ratified the Rome Treaty (with a waiver for U.S. allies who have agreements that protect Americans from extradition)." And finally it "authorizes the President to use all means necessary and appropriate to bring home any U.S. or Allied personnel detained against their will by or on behalf of the Court."

The Bill is available in pdf format at:
http://www.senate.gov/~foreign/2000/pr061400_leg.pdf

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PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH MODERATOR QUESTIONS FEMINIST MARCH

OTTAWA, June 16 (LSN.ca) - The soon to be released May/June issue of Reality magazine, a publication of REAL Women Canada, reveals that at least one Protestant church listed as supporting the feminist March of Women 2000 has questioned its endorsement. Reality reports that a pamphlet promoting the March 2000 reveals that it is endorsed by the Anglican, Presbyterian and United Churches in Canada, in addition to the Catholic organizations previously mentioned in LifeSite.

REAL Women sent a letter to the heads of the Protestant churches pointing out the conflict of the March's objectives with Christian principles. While the Anglican Church has not yet responded, both the United and Presbyterian Church moderators sent back an answer to the letter.

Presbyterian Church of Canada Moderator,Dr. Art Van Seters, e-mailed REAL Women on May 31st, expressing his astonishment that the Presbyterian Church in Canada was listed as a sponsor of the World March of Women 2000. He stated that there were no references to this in either the Minutes of the 125th General Assembly of June 1999, nor in any of the reports going to the upcoming Assembly. He requested information that would indicate an official endorsement by his church of the March. He was immediately faxed the World March of Women 2000 pamphlet. Dr. Van Seters stated that he asked a member of the National Office staff to explore the matter and get back to him with her findings.

REAL Women has also received a letter dated May 23, 2000, from Rev. William Phipps, Moderator of the United Church. He stated that his church supported the March for Women with full knowledge of its objectives. With regard to promotion of homosexuality by the March, he explained that the United Church "has recognized that our gay and lesbian members want to make the same life-long commitments that the heterosexual members do and to make their solemn vows before witnesses who will support them in their commitments."

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MINISTER LAMENTS ABORTION AND LESBIANISM NOT IN UN DOCUMENT

UNITED NATIONS, June 16 (LSN.ca) - Speaking at the United Nations at the conclusion of the United Nations General Assembly on Beijing +5, Canadian Secretary of State for the Status of Women, Hedy Fry, lamented the lack of language promoting homosexuality and abortion.

"We would note that we have made no gains from Beijing on the inherent right of the person to make decisions about her sexual and reproductive life," said Fry in a veiled reference to the pro-life forces at the conference which were successful in supporting developing countries to resist the West's pro-abortion agenda.

Fry also complained that a paragraph on human rights "makes no specific reference to sexual orientation." Sulkingly she complained that "discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation is a violation of human rights." Supposedly speaking on behalf of all Canadians she said "we regret that the document fails to include a more explicit reflection" of homosexual rights. She added that "Canada considers that the matter of sexual orientation is encompassed in the reference to "other status" in paragraph 2bis. Canada considers paragraph 2bis. to constitute an unqualified condemnation of discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation."

See Fry's full statement at:
http://www.swc-cfc.gc.ca/news2000/0614-e.html

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LIFESITE NEWSBYTES

* The Globe and Mail reports that citizen's of Moncton New Brunswick will be subjected to the first Gay Pride parade in their community tomorrow.

* ABORTION PROMOTING RADIO IN CHINA -In a partnership between the China Family Planning Association, IPPF and the BBC, Sexwise, IPPF's radio broadcast series is due to be launched in China on the 18th July in Mandarin on the BBC World Service. It will provide sex education and cover a variety of issues regarding sex and reproductive health.

* ABORTION PROMOTING RADIO IN AFRICA - IPPF's first Sexwise project for Africa will be launched in Ghana on 27th June with regular broadcasts on all issues relating to sexual and reproductive health starting on 7th July. Millions of listeners across Africa will be able to tune into the BBC World Service for sex education information and discussion. A Sexwise hotline has also been set up in Ghana and a Sexwise guide will be made available shortly.

* Catholic World News reports that some Brazilian bishops have expressed support for allowing the use of condoms to combat AIDS, according to the bishops' conference's Health Pastoral committee. The French bishops' conference floated the idea in 1996, but the Vatican quickly reiterated that artificial contraception is always unacceptable proposing instead chastity before and faithfulness during marriage. http://www.swc-cfc.gc.ca/news2000/0614-e.html

* An "International Conference on Adolescent Reproductive Health: Evidence and Programme Implications for South Asia" will take place in Bombay in November. The conference will be organized by the Indian Society for the Study of Reproduction and Fertility, the Institute for Research in Reproduction, and the UNDP/UNFPA/WHO/World Bank Special Programme of Research, Development and Research Training in Human Reproduction.

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US NEWS ROUNDUP

* The Catholic bishops of the New England region issued a joint statement this week, expressing their opposition to Vermont's recently passed "civil union" law which sets up a parallel system of same-sex partnerships that are the legal equivalent of marriage. The statement, issued by the Archdiocese of Boston and signed by the sixteen New England bishops, said: "The legislature of the State of Vermont, by passing the civil unions bill, has attacked centuries of cultural and religious esteem for marriage between a man and a woman and has prepared the way for an attack on the well-being of society itself." http://www.ewtn.com/vnews/getstory.asp?number=3985

* MARRIAGE STUDY - A new Heritage Foundation study, entitled "The Effects of Divorce in America," found that the children of divorce are increasingly the victims of abuse, exhibit more problems (health, behavioral and emotional), and are more frequently involved in crime and drug abuse. "By age 18, only four out of 10 American kids are living with their mom and dad," said Patrick Fagan, the lead author of the study.

http://heritage.org/library/backgrounder/bg1373es.html

* TRANSVESTITE RIGHTS - A bill expanding California's nondiscrimination law to include a broad range of sexual-orientation choices has passed a significant hurdle. By one vote, the California Assembly recently passed AB 2142, which would stretch employment protection in California to include transvestites, cross-dressers and drag queens. The bill would penalize non compliant business owners up to $50,000. Property owners who run afoul of the law could be fined by as much as $150,000. http://www.family.org/cforum/fnif/news/a0011824.html

* The Catholic League asked Vice President Al Gore to intervene in the World Gay Pride Event that is scheduled to take place in Rome, July 1-July 9. The Vatican has asked that the event either be postponed or moved to another city so that its Jubilee 2000 celebrations could proceed without undue problems. Gore has balked at the appeal, refusing even to acknowledge the request. The league has asked Catholics to voice their opinions to Gore.

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CORRECTIONS

The following web addresses were given in error and are here corrected: The final senate debate on Bill C-23 (homosexual benefits) is available at:
http://www.parl.gc.ca/36/2/parlbus/chambus/senate/deb-e/66db_2000-06-14-e.htm#0....

The final document for the Beijing +5 conference is available at:

http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/followup/finaloutcome.pdf

The family forum link re: the AT&T story and pornography:
http://www.family.org/cforum/fnif/news/a0011781.html

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