In the United States, a commission questions human rights – rts.ch

Mary Ann Glendon, Harvard law professor and one of the thinkers in the abortion rights movement, will lead an "inalienable rights" commission in the State Department – "Commission on Unalienable Rights" ".

This panel of ten people "must reflect on the most fundamental question: what does it mean to say, or to pretend, that something is a human right?", Said Mike Pompeo, saying he relies on "the ideas of the founding fathers on individual freedom and constitutional government".

In May, during the creation of this commission, he described his goal: "to propose a new thought on the speech of the humans right when this kind of discourse moves away from the founding principles of the natural law and the natural rights of the United States of America ".

Because for the US Secretary of State, an evangelical Christian who often evokes his faith, "international institutions, thought and constructed to defend human rights, have moved away from their original mission".

Mike Pompeo, however, highlighted the diversity of the new commission, composed of "human rights experts, philosophers and activists, Republicans, Democrats and independents". Among them is Katrina Lantos Swett, a Democrat whose father, Tom Lantos, was an opponent of dictatorial regimes.

Concerns around the new commission

Amnesty International criticized the new commission, saying the various US administrations had backed the UN's 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights: "This politicization of human rights for what appears to be an attempt to pursue Hateful policies targeting women and the LGBT community is shameful, "said Joanne Lin of Amnesty International USA.

Mary Ann Glendon with Pope Benedict XVI, when she was American ambassador to the Holy See. Vatican, February 29, 2008. [Osservatore Romano Vatican – Reuters]

This panel "risks undermining many of the international human rights standards that the United States has helped to establish, including LGBTQI rights, as well as other rights whose protection is in danger", also regretted Eliot Engel, the Democratic leader of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the House of Representatives.

Many associations and religious leaders have expressed their concern to Mike Pompeo by an open letter. They criticize the choice of members among whom one said admire Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, another defended Saudi Arabia, even though she was accused of murdering journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Twenty-two senators also sent an open letter to the Secretary of State expressing their "deep concern".

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In addition, its president, Mary Ann Glendon, is a former American ambassador to the Vatican, known for her stand against abortion and same-sex marriage.

Finally, all the commissioners are accused of concentrating only on religious freedom during their professional and academic career. Among them, some have even sought to elevate it above other fundamental rights.

Commission delight Conservatives

The Family Research Council, a group of American fundamentalist activists fiercely opposed to the recognition of homosexuality, on the contrary hailed the "historic" creation of this commission.

Some US conservatives denounce the major human rights organizations, blaming them for their rights to women's reproductive rights, gay rights and equal pay.

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Radio topic: Noriane Rapin

Web adaptation: Stéphanie Jaquet and afp