Major See Change Advance (fwd)

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"The See Change Campaign" <info at seechange.org> 2000.11.22. 11:45:49 -5h-kor írta:

Dear Colleagues,

Below please read about a significant advance in The "See Change" Campaign.
Dutch parliamentarians, drawing attention to the Vatican's opposition to the
use of condoms to prevent the spread of HIV and AIDS, have called into
question the Vatican's status at the UN.

This is very exciting development and an excellent opportunity for See
Change endorsers to encourage parliamentarians in other countries (yours!)
to support this initiative and also to attract press interest for the
campaign and your own organization.

What you can do:

Contact politicians who are likely to be sympathetic to the initiative and
ask them to send messages of support to these parliamentarians.
Consider asking women's and HIV/AIDS awareness groups in and out of
parliament to support the campaign.
Contact journalists who cover international and domestic politics, the EU,
health care and women's issues alerting them to this story, and your
willingness to comment as an endorser of the campaign.
Encourage other organizations to endorse the campaign and use it as a means
to collect more postcard and petition signers.

I am, of course, willing and able to give you all the support you need.
Please contact me by phone, fax or email if I can be of any assistance. I
will be out of the office on Thursday and Friday as it is Thanksgiving, but
will check my messages and if it is urgent, leave me a phone number and I
will call you back. And let me know how you get on!

T: +1 (202) 986 6093, ext 208; F: +1 (202) 332 7995; E:
djnolan at catholicsforchoice.org

All the best,

David Nolan

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Agence France Presse; November 18, 2000; International news
HEADLINE: Dutch MPs protest Vatican international voting rights over AIDS

A group of Dutch politicians launched a campaign on Saturday against the
Vatican City being represented as a state in the UN because it can block
vital decisions on women's rights and AIDS.

Three European Parliament deputies called on the Netherlands and other
European Union member-states to break diplomatic relations with the Vatican
City.

"There is a misconception that the Vatican does not have voting rights in
the United Nations," they said. "That is true of the Generaly Assembly but
not of conferences."

The deputies say the Vatican does not represent any people, and should not
be able to force the UN into policy concessions on on women and youth.

"The consequences of these concessions are especially visible in poor
countries where hundreds of millions of women die as a result of illegal
abortions, and millions are contaminated by the AIDS virus," said
Euro-deputies Lousewies van der Laan, Elly Plooij van Goorsel, and Joke
Swiebel.

The three point particularly to Vatican attempts to prevent use of condoms
in Africa in direct contradiction to European Union-supported programmes.

The Vatican City State, seat of the Roman Catholic Church, was created in
1929 under the terms of a treaty with the Italian Fascist government of
Benito Mussolini.

"The Catholic Church is the only religion that is represented as a state in
world politics, and this is unjust," said the deputies' joint statement,
published in the newspaper Trouw.

"We wish the Catholic Church to have the same role as other religions, but
no longer to be at the table where decisions are taken," they urged.
The deputies belong to three parties-centrist, liberal and Social
Democrat-serving in the Dutch coalition government.

About a third of the Dutch population is Roman Catholic. Dutch Catholic
bishops have only just reaffirmed their opposition to use of condoms in the
fight against AIDS, causing anger in Dutch Catholic lay circles.

The Vatican City is the world's smallest fully independent nation-state,
occupying 109 acres (44 hectares) in the centre of Rome, with a population
of 1,000, mostly priests and nuns.

A long-running dispute between the Italian state and successive popes was
resolved in 1929 by the Lateran treaties that recognised the Vatican City's
sovereignty and granted Roman Catholicism special status in Italy.

The Vatican is a monarchical-sacerdotal state whose head of state is the
head of the Catholic church. The pope is elected for life by a college of
cardinals. The pope appoints the head of government, known as the secretary
of state, and his cabinet, known as the pontifical commission.

The Holy See maintains permanent observers at the United Nations in New York
and Geneva and at UNESCO.


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Join the “See Change” Campaign - www.seechange.org
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
David Nolan, Senior Associate, Communications and Education
Catholics for a Free Choice, 1436 U Street, NW #301
Washington, DC 20009-3997, USA
T: (202) 986 6093; F: (202) 332 7995;
E: djnolan at catholicsforchoice.org U: http://www.catholicsforchoice.org/
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