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Jubilee Campaign Visits the International Criminal Court and the Chinese Embassy in The Hague on 'Human Rights Day'

Calls for an End to China's One Child Policy as Actionable Torture and Crimes Against Humanity Through the Forcible Abortion and Sterilization of Millions of Chinese Women

Contact: Samuel B. Casey, 202-587-5652, 703-624-4092 cell

THE HAGUE, The Netherlands, Dec. 11, 2012 /Standard Newswire/ -- The right to participate in political and public life is a fundamental right that forms one of the foundations of any free and democratic society. On December 10, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNCHR) celebrated "Human Rights Day." According to the UNCHR, the basic idea underpinning the day is simple:

    "Everybody has the right to have their voice heard and to have a role in making the decisions that shape their communities. Each one of us should be able to choose those people who will represent us in all governance institutions, to stand for public office, and to vote on the fundamental questions that shape our individual and collective destinies." 

Much of the focus of discussion will, rightfully, be on the role of women and people with disabilities in society, who for too long have been denied full participation in the public sphere. Participants in the Human Rights Day event will discuss how the fulfillment of the right to participate is fundamental to the functioning of a democracy and an effective human rights protection system. 

Yet there is likely one population group whose right to participate in public life will be, at best, blatantly ignored, or at worst, completely subrogated in the name of women's rights: the unborn baby girl. 

More than 40 million abortions are performed worldwide each year. More than 85% of all abortions occur in developing countries. Many of these abortions target unborn baby girls, chosen for abortion solely because of their gender. Around the globe, women are missing in the millions- aborted, killed, neglected to death. In 1990 an Indian economist, Amartya Sen, put the number at 100 million. As documented in the recent movie, IT'S A GIRL, debuted by the JUBILEE CAMPAIGN'S LAW OF LIFE PROJECT in the Netherlands in a private showing at the Dutch Parliament in the Hague, the toll is much higher now. This is due, in large part, to the fact that in China and northern India more than 120 boys are being born for every 100 girls. 

However, these problems are becoming pervasive even in the developed world. Just this past week, a Canadian MP pushed parliament to denounce sex-selection abortions at a time when studies show women in many countries are using ultrasounds to determine the sex of unborn children for the purposes of sex-selection abortions. Additionally, earlier this year, the U.S. House of Representatives rejected a sex-selection abortion ban. 

Abortion has become one of the most preeminent threats to human life and dignity because it directly attacks life itself, the most fundamental good and the condition for all others. Abortion, the deliberate killing of a human being before birth, is never morally acceptable, even in the name of furthering women's abilities to participate more fully in public life.

Samuel B. Casey, Managing Director & General Counsel of the JUBILEE CAMPAIGN said: 

    "On the occasion of Human Rights Day 2012, we encourage the international human rights community to remember, as most recently documented in the San Jose Articles, that there is no international human right to abortion and to be more gravely concerned that we are beginning to suffer the demographic consequences of not protecting the most basic of all human rights -- the right to life and human dignity as is protected by Article 1 of the INTERNATIONAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS, the Preamble and Article 6 of the INTERNATIONAL COVENANT ON CIVIL AND POLITICAL RIGHTS, and Article 3 of the UNIVERSAL DECLARATION ON BIOETHICS AND HUMAN RIGHTS. In assessing our obligation to protect human life, We must begin with a commitment never to intentionally kill, or collude in the killing, of any innocent human life, no matter how broken, unformed, disabled or desperate that life may seem." 

In recognition of Human Rights Day, on December 10, 2012, Mr. Casey, along with other members of the INTERNATIONAL TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION COMMISSION ON THE LAW OF LIFE, headquartered in the Netherlands, visited with officials of the International Criminal Court in the Hague, Netherlands to discuss whether China's One Child Policy, as it is currently being administered by government officials in the People's Republic of China constitutes actionable torture and crimes against humanity in violation of binding international norms. This group also visited the Chinese Embassy in the Hague to present to the Chinese Government "AN OPEN LETTER TO CHINESE PRESIDENT XI LINPING TO END CHINA'S ONE CHILD POLICY", enclosing a copy of the complaint by the COALITION TO END VIOLATION AGAINST PREGNANT WOMEN that the JUBILEE CAMPAIGN filed last August before the UNITED NATIONS COMMISSION ON THE STATUS OF WOMEN representing 37 Chinese women who were forcibly aborted, and/or sterilized, as well as subjected to confiscatory fines, by the Chinese government for alleged violations of China's One Child Policy. The Open Letter, signed by THE INTERNATIONAL TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION COMMISSION ON THE LAW OF LIFE, THE JUSTICE FOUNDATION, THE JUBILEE CAMPAIGN, WOMEN'S RIGHTS WITHOUT FRONTIERS, and THE COALITION TO END VIOLENCE AGAINST PREGNANT WOMEN concludes with this sentence: 

"President Jinping, you are in a unique position to stop this horrendous violence against women and the financial incentives and penalties that encourage it. As you commence your term as China's President may the end of the One Child Policy be your earliest legacy to the Chinese people."