Citizens’ initiative “Yes to Family, No to Gender” underway

Ordo Iuris

The Christian Social Congress and the Ordo Iuris Institute for Legal Culture, supported by dozens of pro-family organisations, have started a citizens’ legislative initiative “Yes to Family, No to Gender”. The aim of the initiative is to immediately terminate the gender-based Istanbul Convention and to commence work on a draft of the International Convention on the Rights of the Family and to present it at an international forum.

The Istanbul Convention undermines the foundations of the Polish legal order by questioning the autonomy and identity of the family and by restricting the right to raise children by their parents. It completely ignores the family’s parental rights, which are inherent human rights, widely corroborated in documents on human rights from the Constitution of the Republic of Poland (Articles 48, 53 and 72 in particular), to the European Charter of Fundamental Rights. Contrary to constitutional standards, it forces the authorities to uproot traditions and customs related to the roles of women and men (Article 12 of the Convention). By targeting the basic social institutions, it removes barriers protecting from violence. Officially the document is about “preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence”, but in fact it promotes gender ideology.

The advocates of the Istanbul Convention openly state that they also intend to use it to undermine the legal protection of the life of unborn children, wherever it is still in place.

Therefore, today, we are launching the citizens’ legislative initiative “Yes to Family, No to Gender”. Our draft law contains the consent to terminate the Istanbul Convention, and commits the government to commence work on the International Convention on the Rights of the Family – a document that will guarantee full protection of the rights of the family.

“Last Sunday, Poles renewed the mandate of the president, following a campaign focused on family rights. It is yet another element of social and international prosperity – along with the elections in Slovakia or the declaration of the Hungarian government, which offers a great opportunity to terminate the gender-based Istanbul Convention”, said representative of the Committee Marek Jurek, former Speaker of the Sejm, initiator of the International Convention on the Rights of the Family.

“The aim of the International Convention on the Rights of the Family is to strengthen the family and its members, because a well-functioning family is the best environment to protect against violence”, commented the deputy representative of the Committee, Karolina Pawłowska, Director of the Center of International Law of the Ordo Iuris Institute.

The answer to the problem of violence is not the further disintegration of the family, which has the opposite effect, but the support the basic unit of society, which is our duty imposed not only by the Polish Constitution but also by a number of treaties protecting human rights.

The website of the initiative including a signature sheet: www.chronmyrodziny.pl