Free Republic

Flags of member nations flying at United Nations headquarters in New York City. (U.N. Photo by Eskinder Debebe) (CNSNews.com) – Y-PEER, a youth initiative of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), says "more needs to be done to ensure young people's sexual and reproductive rights" -- especially "the right to choose," a reference to abortion. The statement also says all young people globally have the "right to confidentiality" and the right to "be free from judgment."Tyler Ament of Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute (C-FAM) told CNSNews.com, "The statement doesn't mention the age specifically, but the UN defines youth...

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice this week issued a blistering rebuke of Russia, China and other countries that blocked the Security Council from adopting a statement linking the threat of climate change to international peace and security. During the Security Council’s first formal debate in four years on the environment Wednesday, Russia was not swayed by Western nations led by Germany, this month's council president, insisting that the 15-nation panel needs to respond to the effects that climate change has had on Sudan's Darfur region and in Somalia, where the United Nations say famine had struck two...

National Rifle Association's Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre addressed the United Nations this afternoon. He told the U.N. to not interfere with the Second Amendment freedoms of Americans and pledged to continue the fight to preserve civilian ownership of firearms in the U.S. He said the NRA will oppose any U.N. provision that seeks to prohibit or regulate U.S. civilian firearm ownership. LaPierre said in his remarks, "The cornerstone of our freedom is the Second Amendment. Neither the United Nations, nor any other foreign influence, has the authority to meddle with the freedoms guaranteed by our Bill of Rights, endowed...

Washington, DC --(Ammoland.com)- A UN committee wrapped up a week-long series of meetings on a massive treaty that could undermine both U.S. sovereignty and the Second Amendment. This is the third round of meetings by the so-called “preparatory committee” on the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) as the UN gears up for final negotiations in 2012. The most comprehensive treaty of its kind, the ATT would regulate weapons trade throughout the world on everything from battleships to bullets. And as information trickles out of Turtle Bay in New York City, it is obvious the UN is getting more clever about taking...

NEW YORK, July 7 (C-FAM) - In advance of the UN youth conference later this month, the International Planned Parenthood Federation has released two new publications on abortion and sexual rights for youth. The new documents are the latest part of the organization’s larger campaign targeted at teenagers and older children. The sexual rights guide “Exclaim!” calls for a cornucopia of sexuality and gender protections and entitlements under the guise of international law. “Governments must respect, protect and fulfill all sexual rights for young people,” the publication states. The guide is designed as a tool to help young people...

Pro-Hamas flotilla activists are thrashing in deep political waters without a life raft as support for their aim to break the counterterrorist maritime blockade on Gaza drifts further away. The Quartet – comprised of the United States, the European Union, the United Nations and Russia – has torn the sails of the flotilla movement and noted Saturday that Israel’s maritime blockade reflects its "legitimate security concerns that must continue to be safeguarded. It supported Israel’s position that anyone wanting to send aid to Gaza can use "established channels so that their cargo can be inspected and transferred via established land...

Who the hell does the UN think they are telling the state of Texas how to go about their business? "Hey UN, get the hell out of my country!"

On July 7, Humberto Leal Garcia, Jr is scheduled to die. He was convicted in a Texas court in 1994 of rape and murder–a capital offense for which he was sentenced to death. But this case is different from other Texas death penalty cases for the fact that Leal is a Mexican citizen. When he was arrested, he was denied the right under international law to contact the Mexican consulate. In 2004, Mexico sued the United States at the International Court of Justice for denying one of its citizens the his right under the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations. The...

The United Nations is more a comedy club than a sober forum for expanding humanity's civilization. How else can one explain that in the past few days Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has endorsed an anti-terrorism conference hosted by Iran and North Korea has assumed the presidency of a UN arms control agency? The foul Iranian regime is, after all, one of the world's most significant state sponsors of terrorism at home and abroad. The North Korean regime of Kim Jong Il has one of the world's worst records for the illegal sales of arms, missiles and nuclear weapons technology. Pyongyang is...

Barack Obama’s deal with the president of Mexico to allow Mexican trucks to carry their loads onto U.S. highways and roads is new evidence of his high-handed solo behavior that has become Standard Operating Procedure in the Administration. Here are ten reasons why Obama’s plan is dangerous and must be stopped by Congress and public protest. 1. Obama’s deal with President Felipe Calderon, announced on March 3, bypasses Congress, defies the wishes of the American people, and looks like the action of a Third World dictator who thinks representative government is a nuisance and can be ignored.

White House may regret letting judges based in the Netherlands take lead on LibyaThe Obama administration is backing the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) arrest warrants for Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi. It is a dangerous precedent for the United States to rush to affirm the jurisdiction of this relatively new international body, particularly with a president whose counterterrorism strategy has made his name synonymous with “targeted killing.” On Monday, ICC judges granted warrants for Col. Gadhafi, his son Seif al-Islam and regime intelligence chief Abdullah Sanussi. The court said there were “reasonable grounds to believe” that the trio were “criminally responsible...

...We may get to the point where the only way of saving the world will be for industrialized civilization to collapse.” Former Senator Timothy Wirth, representing the Clinton-Gore administration as undersecretary of state for global affairs, stated that public concern about global warming could be used to advance that cause: “We have got to ride the global warming issue. Even if the theory of global warming is wrong, we will be doing the right thing in terms of economic policy and environmental policy.” Wirth now heads the U.N. Foundation which has lobbied for hundreds of billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars...

Alternative report submitted to the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights when reviewing the second periodic report of Yemen: HUMAN RIGHTS SITUATION OF THE AL-AKHDAM IN YEMEN May 2011 [...] The All Youth Network for Society Development in association with the International Dalit Solidarity Network (IDSN) is pleased to submit this parallel report on the occasion of the review of Yemen to the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) at its 46th session.The report focuses specifically on the human rights situation of the Al-Akhdam community inYemen, a situation which has been addressed by the Committee...

In what the State Department is calling an “historic step” the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva Friday passed a resolution supporting equal rights for all, regardless of sexual orientation. The resolution, introduced by South Africa, is the first-ever U.N. resolution on the human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered persons. It passed with 23 votes in favor, 19 opposed and three abstentions, amidst strong criticism of South Africa by some African nations. Suzanne Nossel, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for International Organizations, tells CNN “It really is a key part in setting a new norm that gay...

The U.N. Human Rights Council is poised for a historic vote Friday on a U.S.-backed resolution in support of gay rights. Obama administration officials believe they have a slim majority of support in the 47-nation council in Geneva. The resolution would be the first gay rights statement to pass a U.N. vote. (snip) The U.S. has adopted a stronger advocacy of gay rights under President Barack Obama.

Industry lobbyists behind ‘scientific’ claims in IPCC press releaseThe entire world will soon depend on renewable energy so governments ought to start subsidizing these industries immediately. So said the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in a report released Tuesday. The study’s conclusion was such a blockbuster that the panel issued a press release last month previewing the finding. “Close to 80 percent of the world’s energy supply could be met by renewables by mid-century if backed by the right enabling public policies a new report shows,” it proclaimed. Since this statement was supposedly based on actual scientific...

GENEVA – The United Nations endorsed the rights of gay, lesbian and transgender people for the first time ever Friday, passing a resolution hailed as historic by the U.S. and other backers and decried by African and Muslim countries. The declaration was cautiously worded, expressing "grave concern" about abuses because of sexual orientation and commissioning a global report on discrimination against gays. But activists called it an important shift on an issue that has divided the global body for decades, and they credited the Obama administration's push for gay rights at home and abroad.

It may not come as surprising news to many of you that the United Nations doesn’t approve of our Second Amendment. Not one bit. And they very much hope to do something about it with help from some powerful American friends. Under the guise of a proposed global “Small Arms Treaty” premised to fight “terrorism”, “insurgency” and “international crime syndicates” you can be quite certain that an even more insidious threat is being targeted – our Constitutional right for law-abiding citizens to own and bear arms. While the terms have yet to be made public, if passed by the U.N....

“Peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations – entangling alliances with none.” — Thomas Jefferson The annual Bilderberg Conference will convene this weekend, thus throwing the Internet into a tizzy. One hundred forty or so of the world’s most powerful persons or their proxies, titans from industry, banking, media and a host of nongovernmental organizations, will covertly huddle at a ritzy Swiss resort. The Bilderbergers ostensibly meet each year to brainstorm about the day’s great international issues. Their discussions remain off the record so that politicians and others in sensitive roles can speak candidly without risking “gotcha” exposés. Conspiracy...

A United Nations report released Friday declares Internet access a human right. Presented to the General Assembly, the report by UN Special Rapporteur Frank La Rue states that, "the Internet has become a key means by which individuals can exercise their right to freedom and expression."As LaRue highlighted, Internet access can be particularly valuable during times of political unrest, as evidenced in the Arab Spring uprisings. LaRue emphasized the power of the Internet as a communication medium and said in his report that, "given that the Internet has become an indispensable tool for realizing a range of human rights, combating...