UN-Linked Group Accused of Making Sick Age of Consent Proposal - UN, AP, Experts Say Accusations Untrue
CLARIFICATION, April 28, 2023: The Associated Press has fact-checked articles like this one, ruling “false” the claim that a U.N. report calls for decriminalizing sexual activity between adults and minors.
“A report published in March by the International Commission of Jurists in collaboration with the U.N.’s AIDS agency called for enforcing minimum age of consent laws in a non-discriminatory manner,” the April 21 fact check said. “It did not call for decriminalizing all sexual activity between minors and adults, spokespersons for the U.N. and the commission confirmed.”
The AP is correct that the report “did not call for decriminalizing all sexual activity between minors and adults.” However, the final paragraph in the section titled “Principle 16 – Consensual Sexual Conduct” could be read as encouraging the decriminalization of some sexual activity between minors and adults:
“Moreover, sexual conduct involving persons below the domestically prescribed minimum age of consent to sex may be consensual in fact, if not in law. In this context, the enforcement of criminal law should reflect the rights and capacity of persons under 18 years of age to make decisions about engaging in consensual sexual conduct and their right to be heard in matters concerning them. Pursuant to their evolving capacities and progressive autonomy, persons under 18 years of age should participate in decisions affecting them, with due regard to their age, maturity and best interests, and with specific attention to non-discrimination guarantees.”
The AP, however, cites two experts and a U.N. statement contending that is not the case.
This article and its headline have been revised to reflect a broader view of the report.
A group linked to the United Nations included a rather disturbing suggestion about sex with minors in its March report.
The International Commission of Jurists describes itself as “a nongovernmental organization (NGO) defending human rights and the rule of law worldwide.”
Its website says the ICJ does human rights advocacy at the United Nations, working with U.N. mechanisms to submit proposals to the Human Rights Council.
The group’s latest report to the U.N. provides what its title describes as “Principles for a Human Rights-Based Approach to Criminal Law Proscribing Conduct Associated with Sex, Reproduction, Drug Use, HIV, Homelessness and Poverty.”
Buried in the 32-page report, however, is a line that many took to indicate the ICJ is trying to undermine laws about the age of consent.
On page 22 of the proposal, under the heading “Consensual Sexual Conduct,” the report said that “sexual conduct involving persons below the domestically prescribed minimum age of consent to sex may be consensual in fact, if not in law. In this context, the enforcement of criminal law should reflect the rights and capacity of persons under 18 years of age to make decisions about engaging in consensual sexual conduct and their right to be heard in matters concerning them.”
“Pursuant to their evolving capacities and progressive autonomy, persons under 18 years of age should participate in decisions affecting them, with due regard to their age, maturity and best interests, and with specific attention to non-discrimination guarantees,” it concluded.
Many took that to mean minors can consent to sex with adults.
The report did not say governments should abolish age of consent laws, but critics said the ICJ was trying to use the United Nations to undermine them and legitimize pedophilia.
ICJ Report by The Western Journal
The proposal also decried restrictions on LGBT and trans “rights” in several countries, saying, “No one may be held criminally liable for conduct or status based on their gender identity or gender expression. This includes gender identities and forms of gender expression that are perceived not to conform to societal expectations or norms relating to gender roles, the sex assigned to a person at birth or a male-female binary, among others.”
In addition, it lambasted restrictions on abortion, saying, “Criminal law may not proscribe abortion. Abortion must be taken entirely out of the purview of the criminal law.”
If the United Nations is linked to a group trying to legitimize sexual relations with minors, as well as advance the trans agenda and abortion, it again raises the question of whether the United States should continue to be involved with the U.N.
The organization was founded in the wake of World War II with the aim of bringing the nations of the world together in order to ensure that warfare between countries on such a drastic scale was never seen again.
While this early aim was admirable, since then, the United Nations has devolved into advancing a leftist, globalist agenda around the world.
It has no regard for national sovereignty or the rule of law, either human or divine. Instead, it seeks to impose objective moral evils on the world.
If the United States wants to remain a shining beacon of freedom to the world, can it really remain a part of an organization that might be open to imposing evils such as abortion and pedophilia on the world?
This also reminds us of what conservatives have been saying for a while now: The left is obsessed with sexualizing children.
Truth and Accuracy
We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.
Advertise with The Western Journal and reach millions of highly engaged readers, while supporting our work. Advertise Today.
