For Immediate Release
Surrey, BC – May 3, 2012 – In the recent parliamentary debate on Motion 312, Liberal MP Hedy Fry accused the Prime Minister and his government of being “in contravention of the United Nations convention to abolish the death penalty, to which Canada is a signatory.” Ms. Fry was referring to the 2007 case where Ronald Allen Smith, a Canadian on death row in the United States, was refused clemency by the Harper government.
If Ms. Fry is so concerned about contravening UN declarations regarding the killing of guilty murderers, one wonders why is she not equally concerned about the killing of innocent children in the womb?
Ms. Fry, as all parliamentarians, should know that in 1991, the Canadian government ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), which they had signed onto in 1990. The UNCRC, like the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of the Child which preceded it, is very clear in stating that the rights and legal protection of children are paramount in both born and pre-born children. The preamble from the UNCRC states, “Bearing in mind that, as indicated in the Declaration of the Rights of the Child, “the child, by reason of his physical and mental immaturity, needs special safeguards and care, including appropriate legal protection, before as well as after birth”.
The 1989 Convention on the Rights of a Child that Canada signed onto, is a binding agreement that our country is in direct violation of.
Canada needs to adhere to the commitments made when signing the UNCRC, by passing abortion legislation. The lack of restrictions on abortion is not only way out of line with all other Western nations but is also an egregious infringement on the rights of children as recognized by the United Nations.
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Jessica Hansma
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