Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute

Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute

Founded	1997
Type	Non-governmental organization
Focus	International Law Family Law Social Policy
Location	New York City/Washington, D.C., U.S.
Area served	World United States
Key people	Austin Ruse, President
Website	www.c-fam.org

The Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute—nowadays known as the Center for Family and Human Rights (C-FAM)—is a United States-based research institute/think tank, founded in 1997, in order to monitor and affect the policy debate at the United Nations and other international institutions. Referring to human dignity and a conventional understanding of related law and national sovereignty, it describes its mission as "to defend life and family at international institutions and to publicize the debate", with its core values including ″Fidelity to the teachings of the Church″.

People

C-FAM's Board of Patrons includes Lord Nicholas Windsor, Mary Ellen Bork, Robert P. George, Leonard Leo, and Hadley Arkes. In July 2013, Austin Ruse, its current president, was identified as a key member of Groundswell, a coalition of conservative activists and journalists attempting to make political change behind the scenes.

Controversies

The Southern Poverty Law Center has designated C-FAM an anti-LGBT hate group. The SPLC has characterized the institute as being "heavily focused on global anti-LGBT work", citing its opposition to United Nations efforts to protect LGBT rights and to study and prevent anti-LGBT violence, and praise of American anti-gay activist Scott Lively. In a statement posted on its website, C-FAM responded that SPLC's criteria is biased against its "conservative opponents"; that SPLC has been accused of inflating its list of hate groups; and that the charges were false.

UN recognition

In February, 2014, the 19-member NGO Committee of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) unanimously approved C-FAM for Special Consultative Status. On April 23, 2014, the ECOSOC granted this status without objection.

See also

• List of organizations with consultative status to the United Nations Economic and Social Council

External links

• Center for Family and Human Rights

• "Hate Map: DC" splcenter.org
• Could Austin Ruse’s Violent Rhetoric Endanger C-FAM’s Status with the UN?