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Office of Morals, Doctrine, and Spirituality: ŒCOCW Responds To UN Convention On The Rights of Persons With Disabilities
Office of Morals, Doctrine, and Spirituality: ŒCOCW Responds To UN Convention On The Rights of Persons With Disabilities
The Holy Synod of the Œcumenical Canonical Orthodox Church Worldwide (ŒCOCW)
following its review of the well-intended United Nations Convention on the Rights of
Persons with Disabilities (the Convention) discourages the Congress of the United
States and President Obama from ratifying this particular international convention.
The ŒCOCW finds several aspects of this Convention discomforting based upon the
potential for misapplying certain articles and provisions contained within this document.
Particular concerns involve such matters as:
While the ŒCOCW does not support this Convention in its entirety, as a religious
organization concerned with human rights and freedoms, the ŒCOCW stresses
observation, respect and protection in the following areas:
1. The dignity and value of women as persons and in their role as mothers and
caregivers must be respected.
2. The nature of the family as the fundamental social structure must be recognized, and
the rights of the family must be protected, not modified.
As an international entity, the ŒCOCW and the member hierarchs of her Holy Synod
are experientially sensitive to living in nation states where religious freedom is absent
and where the rights of individuals is made subordinate to that of the State, and
imprisonment for the exercise of human rights are punishable by law. ŒCOCW
member hierarchs have also experienced the confiscation of churches, the closure of
church operated schools and similar restrictions of highly valued freedoms.
Additionally, the ŒCOCW encourages the Congress of the United States and the
Obama Administration to investigate alternative responses to the UN Convention and
provide leadership in the protection of persons with disabilities or other limitations that
can result in substandard social inclusion and participation both at home and aboard,
while protecting the future of our Constitutionally guaranteed religious freedom.