On condoms, “young people” and parents providing guidance, “morally acceptable behavior.” and resources committed to the care of HIV/AIDS infected population. (The following is verbatim from the official record of the UN General Assembly -1093 – as recorded by the UN Department of Public Information). Resources Committed JANE ADOLPHE, speaking on behalf of Archbishop Francis Chullikatt, Permanent Observer for the Holy See, (PHOTO ABOVE - Holy See is accredited as "Observer to UN), said that, through its approximately 117,000 health-care facilities around the world, the Catholic Church alone provided more than 25 per cent of all care for those living with HIV and AIDS, especially children. Those Church-affiliated institutions were at the forefront of providing a response that viewed people with dignity and worth as brothers and sisters and neighbours of the same human family, rather than as statistics. There was a growing international consensus that abstinence and fidelity-based programmes in parts of Africa had been successful in reducing HIV infection, where transmission had largely occurred within the general population. However, despite that, groups continued to deny those results and were instead largely guided by ideology and the financial self-interest spawned by the disease. HIV/AIDS was also a moral question, and the causes of the disease reflected a serious crisis of values. Prevention, first and foremost, should be directed towards individual development and education in proper human behaviour. “Morally Acceptable Behavior” Speaking after the vote, a representative of the Permanent Observer Mission of the Holy See said that the Catholic health care knew well the importance of access to treatment, care and support for the millions of people living with HIV/AIDS. However, the reference to “young people” did not enjoy international consensus. The international community must respect parents’ right to provide appropriate guidance to their children, which included the primary responsibility to raise their children as they wished. States must acknowledge that the family based on marriage was indispensable for the fight against HIV and AIDS. It was the family that taught children moral values, and it was there that care and support was provided. The Holy See rejected references to terms such as “populations at high risk” since those references treated persons as objects and gave the impression that some types of behaviour was morally acceptable. Additionally, she said the Holy See did not promote the use of condoms in sexual education and HIV prevention. Efforts should focus, not on trying to convince the world that dangerous behaviour formed part of an acceptable lifestyle, but on risk-avoidance that was ethically and empirically sound. The only safe and completely reliable method to prevent HIV was abstinence before marriage and respect and mutual fidelity within marriage, which was and must always be the foundation of any discussion of prevention and support. The Holy See did not accept so-called “harm reduction”, and efforts related to drug abuse, as such an approach did not respect the dignity of those suffering from drug addiction, as it only falsely suggested that they could not break free from the cycle of addiction. Such persons must be provided with the necessary spiritual and psychological support to restore dignity and encourage social inclusion. She said the Holy See also rejected the characterization in the text of persons who engaged in prostitution as that gave the impression that prostitution could be a legitimate form of work. Governments and society must not accept such a dehumanization and objectification of persons. What was needed was a value-based approach to counter the disease of HIV and AIDS, which provided the necessary care and moral support for those infected and promoted living in conformity with the norms of the natural moral order, respecting fully the inherent dignity of the human person. Related Reports at “Humanitarian” Channel - diplomaticallyincorrect.org/c/humanitarian ---LAST REPORT- “Ambitious Goals to Overcome HIV/AIDS” diplomaticallyincorrect.org/films/blog_post/ambitious-goals-to-overcome-hivaids-by-ambassador-mo/28870 ---“Liz Taylor/UN Fight AIDS” - diplomaticallyincorrect.org/films/movie/liz-taylor-un-fight-aids/26152 By Ambassador Muhamed Sacirbey FaceBook – Become a Fan at “Diplomatically Incorrect” Twitter – Follow us at DiplomaticallyX