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To
the President of the European Parliament, Hans-Gert
Pöttering:
On
April 25, 2007, the European Parliament passed a resolution
condemning Polish officials for proposing educational
policies to protect their children from homosexual propaganda.
The EU resolution condemned the Polish government and
critized the Polish Prime Minister for saying that "promoting
a homosexual lifestyle to young people in school as
an alternative to normal life goes too far, and that
these kinds of initiatives in schools have to be stopped."
The Parliament asserts that this viewpoint and any implementing
legislation are a violation of European human rights
law. This is simply not true.
We,
thousands of citizens from all over the world, stand
in solidarity with the Polish people and strongly condemn
the European Parliament resolution on homosexuality
in Europe. The resolution is a blatant attempt to bully
the people of Poland from exercising their rights to
educate their sons and daughters according to their
cultural and national traditions. We call on the Parliament
to stop this promotion of a radical social agenda, including
the proposed "fact finding mission" to Warsaw
and the Parliament's threat of legal action against
Poland.
First,
the European Parliament has no competence in the area
of education.
Moreover, the legal instrument the Parliament is using
to pressure the Polish government, the Charter of Fundamental
Rights of the European Union, is not legally binding.
Finally, the legal document that is binding, the European
Convention on the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental
Freedoms (ECHR), makes absolutely no reference to homosexuality.
Neither does the Treaty of the European Union. Nor does
any binding international human rights treaty.
If
the accusations in the resolution had any legal merit
whatsoever, the Parliament would have already taken
legal action. It did not, and it cannot, because Poland
is acting within its rights as a European member state.
Poland is acting in accordance with its obligations
under international human rights law.
We
commend the Members of the European Parliament from
Poland who stood up to this harassment in the European
Parliament last week, Bogdan Pek and Konrad Szymanski.
Their courage to speak on behalf of the Polish people
is an inspiring example of the true meaning of fundamental
rights and freedoms in Europe.
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