Amnesty International names Vatican in 2011 report on human rights violations - it's time the UN end the Vatican status as a "secular" state

Is the Vatican a "state" or country? It is only one building with a public square -- and no children and women are allowed to live there. Actually it is a homosexual building! The Vatican is much smaller than this aerial photo -- See a more precise aerial view of the country of the Vatican here http://popecrimes.blogspot.com/2011/09/benedict-xvi-uses-hitler-to-divert.html Read more below and the criminal charges against Cardinal Ratzinger, Pope Benedict XVI, for his Crimes agaisnt Humanity at the Hague in http://popecrimes.blogspot.com/



This is a historic first for Amnesty International to name the "country" of the Vatican among their list of infamous countries guilty of the violation of human rights – the Holy See’s crimes are the violation of children's rights in the priests’ sex scandal that has plagued the Catholic Church and was covered-up during the 27 years papacy of John Paul II and rule of Benedict XVI as Cardinal Ratzinger. Both these two rulers were like - a pair of hands - who ruled the Vatican and the Catholic Church for a quarter of a century and all they did was enjoy their lifestyle of the rich and famous at the Vatican as John Paul II traveled as a Head of State and spent taxpayers money for his pompous ceremonies of the sorcery of the flesh and blood of Christ and not once did he address the issue of priest pedophilia that was haunting him until his death. He traveled to Guadalupe with his beloved companion, Fr. Marcial Maciel, one of the most notorious members of his JP2 Army the John Paul II Pedophiles Rapists-Priests Army. Read our related article John Paul smelled Devil`s Bowels as roses for 27 years as he deified Father Marcial Maciel and deified Cardinal Bernard Law http://jp2m.blogspot.com/2011/04/john-paul-smelled-devils-bowels-as.html

Amnesty International placed the Vatican or Holy See (ironic name since John Paul II turned a blind eye to Fr. Marcial Maciel and Cardinal Bernard Law, his two Achilles Heels, and his JP2 Army of pedophiles pederasts priests) in the company of other countries such as China, Libya and Nigeria for their infamous human rights violations. Amnesty International makes detailed report documents especially about torture and other ill-treatments in 98 countries, specific restrictions on free speech in at least 89 countries -- but it failed to include that there is no freedom of speech in the Holy See as we can see the firing of Bishop Morris for speaking about women's ordination and other relevatn issues, read our related article Temple Police: The Australian is part of the Vatican media empire and the near-future demise of the Vatican Temple http://pope-ratz.blogspot.com/2011/05/temple-police-australian-is-part-of.html.

Amnesty International wrote that, “However, by the year’s end the Holy See had again failed to submit its second periodic report on the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, due in 1997, and the initial report on the UN Convention against Torture, due in 2003.” Do you Catholics get that? The Vatican is so busy beatifying John Paul II and so busy writing all kinds of books and papal speeches and busy performing all kinds of spectacle sorceries of the Flesh and Blood of Christ that John Paul II failed to submit these periodic reports due under his papacy – after all he died in 2005! And Benedict XVI is so busy with the fast-track beatification of John Paul II and his usual global appearances as he declares his pathological lies and books that he has not submitted the Holy See’s “periodic reports” to the UN due in 1997 and 2003, as the successor of John Paul II. It is quite a hypocrisy that the Vatican want to be a bona fide member of the United nation when it is a mere building and garden in Rome, but it cannot even submit this reports that the UN has been waiting for since 1997, that is over 14 years! It figures that the Vatican Bank which controls the Vatican Swiss Banks is interested only in hoarding the evil-gotten moneys of despots and therefore perpetuates the oppression of poor peoples and poor countries – perhaps Amnesty International should be investigating this too as this is the last frontier of the biggest crimes committed by the Vatican and John Paul II and Benedict XVI. Read our related article Holy Heist! John Paul II WYD had no role with Arab youths who liberated Egypt from Mubarak who stole then deposited billions into Vatican Swiss Banks http://jp2m.blogspot.com/2011_02_01_archive.html

Really, Catholics, it is time this sorcery of Christ end in this 21st century because Benedict XVI and Cardinals and Bishops and all priests cannot reincarnate dead cats and dead dogs and dead fishes, and therefore they cannot reincarnate the Creator God the Son Jesus Christ. This sorcery of Christ in the 9-seconds transubstantiation of the bread and wine can only match the hype for Harry Potter magic feel-good read our related article Magisterium Benedict VERSUS Holy Mary: Priests' transubstantiation instant reincarnation of Christ VERSUS Mary’s 9 months pregnancy& child birth http://stella0maris.blogspot.com/2010/01/magisterium-benedict-versus-holy-mary.html

And it is time the Vatican or Holy See be a holy house and garden and not anymore as a "secular" state so it can stop its powers as the Vatican Swiss Banks...

Read our sister weblog the John Paul II Millstone article Bill Donohue ‘should have his head examined’ for refuting Amnesty International indictment of Vatican violation of human rights : Analysis http://jp2m.blogspot.com/2011/05/bill-donohue-should-have-his-head.html

Read our articles on the beatification of John Paul II

Heil Satanas JP2 Patron Saint of Pedophiles, Pederasts Rapists-Priests! John Paul II is the same yesterday and today-- he cannot protect children http://jp2m.blogspot.com/2011/05/heil-satanas-jp2-patron-saint-of.html

9/11 victims 5,000. JP2 Army 100,000s. May Day: both Hitler and bin Laden Announced Dead on May 1 on John Paul II Beatification Day B-Day http://jp2m.blogspot.com/2011/05/911-victims-5000-jp2-army-100000s-may.html

Benedict XVI complemented bin Laden's death with JP2 Army! The Battle Hymn of the Republic! Not even the Almighty Vatican could see it coming http://pope-ratz.blogspot.com/2011/05/benedict-xvi-complemented-bin-ladens.html

MAY DAY: John Paul II,Adolf Hitler,Osama bin Laden share the same DAY OF INFAMY on MAY 1 = TEL Trio Evil Leaders of mass murders of souls and bodies http://jp2army.blogspot.com/2011/05/may-day-john-paul-iiadolf-hitlerosama.html

Compare the CRIMES and their VICTIMS in America

Victims - Attackers - Responsible Leaders

Pearl Harbor - 3,000 victims - 170 planes - Admiral Yamamoto

WTC & 9/11 attacks - 3,000 victims - 19 Muslims - Osama bin Laden

USA Priest Pedophilia - 15,736 victims - 6,000 priests - John Paul II & Benedict XVI & Opus Dei, the new Vatican Trinity

Opus Dei controlled the 27 years papacy of John Paul II and is therefore the foremost guilty party who aided and abetted and covered-up the John Paul II Pedophiles Rapists-Priests Army. Opus Dei wrote most of John Paul II’s books and writings and to ensure their perpetuity as “All things Catholic”, they want JP2 to be beatified and canonized now by Benedict XVI so as not to take any chances on other future popes. The FACE of Opus Dei is John Paul II and the PHANTOM Spirit of Opus Dei is their founder St. Josemaria Escriva.

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The Holy See did not sufficiently comply with its international obligations relating to the protection of children.

Amnesty International

Read the Amnesty report: Amnesty International Report 2011: The State of the World’s Human Rights http://www.amnesty.org/en/region/vatican/report-2011

Head of state and government
Pope Benedict XVI
Death penalty
abolitionist for all crimes

International scrutiny

In May, the Holy See submitted its initial reports on the optional protocols to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child which at the end of the year had yet to be considered by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child.

However, by the year’s end the Holy See had again failed to submit its second periodic report on the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, due in 1997, and the initial report on the UN Convention against Torture, due in 2003.

Children’s rights – response to child abuse

Increasing evidence of widespread child sexual abuse committed by members of the clergy over the past decades, and of the enduring failure of the Catholic Church to address these crimes properly, continued to emerge in various countries. Such failures included not removing alleged perpetrators from their posts pending proper investigations, not co-operating with judicial authorities to bring them to justice and not ensuring proper reparation to victims.

The Pope acknowledged the abuses during visits to countries where they had been reported, such as Ireland, Malta and the UK, and expressed regret. He affirmed that “just penalties” should be imposed to exclude perpetrators from access to young people and stressed that to prevent abuses education and selection of candidates for priesthood should be improved.

In March, in a letter to the Catholics of Ireland, the Pope admitted that “a misplaced concern for the reputation of the Church and the avoidance of scandals” had resulted in the “failure to apply existing canonical penalties and to safeguard the dignity of every person”. He exhorted bishops to fully implement the norms of canon law when addressing child abuse and “to continue to cooperate with the civil authorities in their area of competence”.

Amendments to the canon law promulgated in May introduced the “delicts” of paedophile pornography and abuse of mentally disabled people; the maximum punishment for these “delicts” is dismissal or deposition. Canon law does not include an obligation for Church authorities to report cases to civil authorities for criminal investigation. Secrecy is mandatory throughout the proceedings.

In November, Holy See representatives conducted an “apostolic visitation” to Ireland, to verify “the effectiveness of processes used in responding to cases of abuse and of forms of assistance provided to the victims”. Results of the visit were due to be announced in 2011.

vatican/report-2011">http://www.amnesty.org/en/region/vatican/report-2011


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Amnesty International names Vatican in 2011
report on human rights violations

Statements of Jeff Anderson and Marci Hamilton

Jeff Anderson: “The news that Amnesty International’s 2011 Annual Report on Human Rights Abuses names the Vatican because of its failure to protect children from sexual abuse is further evidence that the international community is now coming to the aid of child sex abuse victims everywhere. I applaud Amnesty International for its courage in making this historic decision, its dedication to human rights, and its extraordinary effort to protect children. It is also important to note that the Vatican has recently announced that it will be issuing new guidelines for the handling of child sex abuse by bishops. It does not appear, however, that it will be establishing mandatory rules that will protect children, like mandatory reporting of all allegations of abuse to the authorities. Children, therefore, remain at risk in the largest religious organization in the world, which is why Amnesty International, the United Nations and the courts of the world, will have to be the protectors of the children at risk of sexual abuse.”

Marci Hamilton: “In light of this most deserving attention to an egregious international problem, the Vatican is surely on notice that it cannot keep its secrets about child sex abuse anymore. Clearly, the Vatican cannot escape the fact that the world understands how it has harmed children repeatedly. Additionally, this report will be helpful in the lawsuits filed against the Holy See because it corroborates the experiences of the victims and supports the cases’ legal theories.”

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Excerpt from Amnesty International Report
“Increasing evidence of widespread child sexual abuse committed by members of the clergy over the past decades, and of the enduring failure of the Catholic Church to address these crimes properly, continued to emerge in various countries. Such failures included not removing alleged perpetrators from their posts pending proper investigations, not co-operating with judicial authorities to bring them to justice and not ensuring proper reparation to victims.”

http://www.amnesty.org/en/region/vatican/report-2011

Background

Attorneys Jeff Anderson, Marci Hamilton, and Michael Finnegan represent Oregon, Wisconsin, and Illinois victims of the Vatican’s cover-up policies in pending federal lawsuits against the Vatican. The Vatican has tried to avoid liability for its actions by arguing that it has sovereign immunity. Federal law, however, does not provide immunity to foreign sovereigns when they commit torts against Americans or when they engage in commercial activity that harms Americans. The Amnesty Report supports their claims.

Contact Information

Jeff Anderson: Office 651.227.9990 Mobile 612.817.8665 Jeff@AndersonAdvocates.com
Marci Hamilton: Mobile 215.353.8984 hamilton02@aol.com

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Amnesty International names Vatican in 2011 report of human rights violations

UNITED STATES
SNAP - Wisconsin

Contact: Peter Isely, SNAP Midwest Director, 414.429.7259/

The world’s largest human rights organization, Amnesty International, has named the Vatican in its annual global report today for failing to protect children from abuse and not complying with international mandates to protect children. (link to Vatican page of the report: http://www.amnesty.org/en/region/vatican/report-2011)

The Vatican joins the list this year of such infamous human rights violators such as China, Lybia and Nigeria.

The Amnesty report documents torture and other ill-treatment in at least 98 countries, specific restrictions on free speech in at least 89 countries, reports on unfair trials in at least 54 countries and highlights cases of prisoners of conscience in at least 48 countries.

Specifically the Vatican is named for not removing alleged perpetrators from their posts pending proper investigations, not cooperating with judicial authorities to bring them to justice and not ensuring proper reparation to victims “Canon law does not include an obligation for church authorities to report cases to civil authorities for criminal investigation. Secrecy is mandatory throughout the proceedings,” according to the report.

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Amnesty names Vatican over human rights abuses

VATICAN CITY/IRELAND
The Irish Times

PATSY McGARRY, Religious Affairs Correspondent

THE VATICAN and Ireland are criticised in connection with child protection issues in the Amnesty International Report 2011: The State of the World’s Human Rights, published later this morning on the eve of Amnesty International’s 50th anniversary.

The 400-page report examines human rights in 157 countries and, for the first time, also includes the Holy See.

It has found that, in Ireland, “child protection standards were inadequate in both law and practice” and that “the Holy See did not sufficiently comply with its international obligations relating to the protection of children”.

It found that the Irish Government “failed to implement a number of commitments it made in 2009 following the report of the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse .

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UK: Secularists welcome Amnesty naming Vatican over Child Abuse

http://secular-europe-campaign.org/2011/05/14/uk-secularists-welcome-amnesty-naming-vatican-over-child-abuse/
Posted on May 14, 2011

Secularists have welcomed Amnesty International’s naming of the Vatican in its 2011 report into human rights abuses around the world. Amnesty criticises the Vatican, and its political arm the Holy See, for failing to honour its obligations under the United Nations Charter on the Rights of the Child, to which it is a signatory. This is the first time Amnesty has reported on the Vatican.

Keith Porteos Wood, Chief Executive of the National Secular Society

The National Secular Society, whose Executive Director has been pursuing the Vatican at the United Nations Human Rights Council over its consistent failure to file reports as it is required to do under the terms of the Charter, congratulated Amnesty for drawing attention once more to this reluctance by the Vatican to face up to its responsibilities and admit its failures.

Keith Porteous Wood, Executive Director of the National Secular Society said: “from the highest echelons of the Vatican down to local level, the Roman Catholic Church continues to obstruct investigations into the horrific abuse of children under its care. It is beyond contention that the Vatican has broken at least six Articles of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

“That scandal is almost equalled by the failure, so far, of international bodies to bring the Vatican to account.

“We call on the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, the European Union and the Council of Europe – as well as their member states of goodwill – to call the Vatican to account for its past failures, in particular to press for the Vatican:

* to release its secret child abuse files to prosecuting authorities
* to require suspicions of child abuse within the Church to be reported to secular authorities without recourse to the Vatican
* to instruct all those under the control of the Church to cooperate with secular authorities over enquiries connected with child abuse, and
* to correct its continuing failure to file a report with the UN due in 1997 on child protection”

Keith Porteous Wood has made similar points at plenary sessions of the UN Human Rights Council in 2009, 2010 and most recently March 2011. He was speaking as an international representative of the International Humanist and Ethical Union.

National Secular Society | 13th May 2011

Also see: Previous IHEU report to UN and worldwide publicity

Read the Amnesty report: Amnesty International Report 2011: The State of the World’s Human Rights http://www.amnesty.org/en/region/vatican/report-2011

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Is the Vatican a "state" or country? It is only one building with a public square -- and no children and women are allowed to live there. Actually it is a homosexual building!

Is the Vatican Truly an Independent State?

April 11, 2010 — Terence Weldon
http://queeringthechurch.com/2010/04/11/is-the-vatican-truly-an-independent-state/

With extraordinary synchronicity I had just proposed in my last post, which I had not yet even published, that we should seriously question the Vatican’s claims to be treated as an independent state, when I saw an opinion piece in the LA Times on exactly the same topic.

The problem with the Vatican’s present status as a “state” is not just that is a quirky little oddity, an peculiar little legacy of the historical interrelationship between it and the rest of Italy, nor is it even that it leaves the Vatican beyond the legal reach of any external authority. No, it is worse. There are other tiny states (not quite so small) which are truly independent, and are not a problem to anyone. The real issue is that the Vatican’s claims are so one-sided: while their insistence on independent status excludes any other state from interfering in their internal affairs, they do not respect the balancing principle. Through their army of clerical staff, all under direct or indirect Vatican control, they are constantly busying themselves with the affairs of the entire world. They dictate moral rules to individual citizens, and they regularly attempt to influence the political process – as is seen most dramatically on abortion, marriage equality and gay adoption.

It is not right that they should be allowed to get away with these double standards. Which major country will be the first to withdraw recognition of the Vatican “state”?

From the LA Times:

Consequences of the Catholic Church’s claim of statehood

The practice of treating the Catholic Church as a state has been bad for women’s equality and gay rights. Now, the unfolding sexual abuse scandal reveals another dark side of the Holy See’s status.
Giuseppe dalla Torre, a top Vatican legal advisor, declared in a preemptive strike last week that Pope Benedict XVI could not be sued in an American court. His statement — in response to allegations that the pope played a role in covering up, among other scandals, the sexual abuse of children at a Wisconsin school for the deaf — was unequivocal. “The pope is certainly a head of state, who has the same juridical status as all heads of state,” Dalla Torre said, which grants him immunity from foreign courts.

But is the spiritual leader of the world’s Roman Catholics really a “head of state” as well?

Benedict XVI is the head the church’s governing body — known as the Holy See — which claims many of the privileges of a sovereign country. In recent decades the Holy See has welcomed ambassadors, signed international treaties and used its status to influence developments at the United Nations.

That the Holy See is often treated as a state is deeply troubling, for several reasons. For one thing, the Catholic Church isn’t truly a sovereign nation; to allow it to play one on the international stage perverts the meaning of statehood.

Moreover, the church’s claim to statehood gives it even more political influence than it would otherwise wield and grants outsized power to only one of the world’s many religions. And its claim is particularly worrisome now that the church — embroiled in a disturbing scandal that has reached from Boston to Berlin — is claiming the sort of immunity enjoyed by prime ministers and presidents.

How did this situation come about? The concept of sovereign statehood first developed in 17th century Europe, where the church was long treated as a quasi-state by Western powers. The Papal States existed within Italy for centuries. At their height, the Papal States comprised most of central Italy and parts of what is now southern France.

But the church’s territorial holdings were lost in battles over time, and by the end of the 19th century the church was essentially landless. Then, in the late 1920s, Vatican City was carved out of Rome via a treaty with Italy. The Holy See and Vatican City are legally distinct, but Vatican City was created to give the Holy See a territorial home and thereby safeguard its independence.

Despite opposition from many quarters, the Reagan administration initiated formal diplomatic relations with the Holy See in the 1980s. Today, nearly every country maintains diplomatic ties, and the Holy See is a “permanent observer state” at the U.N. This persists despite its lack of most of the key legal characteristics of statehood.

It’s true that Vatican City runs a popular post office and mints its own currency. But international law requires that a “state” have four attributes: territory, a permanent population, a functioning government and the ability to engage in international relations. The last requirement largely builds on the others: Whether a state can engage in international relations is decided by whether other states treat it like one.

As to the question of territory, there exists only the small parcel of land known as Vatican City. But as any visitor knows, Vatican City is in the middle of Rome and is little more than half the size of the Mall in Washington, D.C. In any event, the Holy See continues to claim that its international status is based on its religious authority, not its territorial enclave.

To say that Vatican City possesses a permanent population of the sort envisioned by international law is even more of a stretch. Most residents are simply members of the church hierarchy, a body composed solely of men. They number less than the student bodies of many high schools — about 800. As to the Catholics of the world, they are already represented by the governments of other nations.

Vatican City does have a functioning bureaucracy, and so has a government of sorts. Yet it is surely the most unusual government of the world, given its minute size and lack of any standard government functions, such as the administration of justice, education of the young or provision of defense. It even relies on Italy for its water, police and firefighting services.

For decades the strange practice of treating the Catholic Church as a state has been bad for women’s equality, gay rights and reproductive freedom. The Holy See’s fictive statehood allows it to promote its retrograde views on gender and sex in diplomatic settings and during treaty negotiations.

Now, the unfolding sexual abuse scandal reveals another dark side of the Holy See’s claim to statehood: the extraordinary immunities claimed by the pope in the face of conspiracy accusations that span the globe.

Pope Benedict XVI’s predecessor, John Paul II, recognized the tenuous claim to statehood. When Vladimir Putin visited Vatican City some years ago, he offered to invite the pope to Russia. Russian Orthodox leaders opposed the pontiff’s visit, seeing it as an encroachment by Rome on their turf. Putin proposed a solution. As Putin later recalled, he told the pope: “I am ready to invite you as the head of state. I, as the head of state, invite you as the head of state.” The pope replied, “Look out the window. What kind of state do I have here? You can see my whole state right from this window.”