Leo van Doesburg

Together with Anca Bulica (Care for Europe), I wrote an article about the fact that with the proposal for the new anti-discrimination legislation in Moldova with as title: "Freedoms of Religion and Conscience under serious attack in the Republic of Moldova". You can read the article here . That this threat is serious (even before the acceptance of the proposed anti-discrimination law), is proven by the fact that Marian Vitalie is taken into court by the organization "Gender Doc-M" that defends the rights of sexual minorities in the Republic of Moldova. On August the 1st, the court issued a conclusion, by which he was banned from disclosing to the public while the charges against him have not been proven by the court yet.  Even in case the new law on anti-discrimination would not be accepted by the Moldovan parliament, it seems that already the freedom of expression is in quite danger in the Republic of Moldova. Therefore he started a campaign: "In the Rep...

The Observatory on Intolerance and Discrimination against Christians has just published its 500th case, and behind every case there is a personal story. Working in almost 30 countries with many different languages makes it impossible to research and document all incidents which take place in Europe. The documentation of the Observatory is only exemplary of a phenomeon which is often overlooked, sometimes denied and rarely addressed because it is multi-causal and multi-facetted. The Observatory researches, documents and analyses the problem, which is the first step towards a remedy. Through its work, politicians, decision-makers, journalists, intellectuals and all those interested are able to grasp what is going on, gain a fuller picture and develope adequate responses.You can find the cases here

We welcome the adoption, by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), of a  Resolution setting the principle that “ Euthanasia, in the sense of the intentional killing by act or omission of a dependent human being for his or her alleged benefit, must always be prohibited .” This is the first time, in the past decades, that euthanasia is so clearly rejected by a European political institution. This Resolution is a major victory for the protection of life and dignity; it comes a year after the European Court asserted that there is no right to euthanasia or assisted suicide under the European Convention. It is a new major victory for life and dignity, states Grégor Puppinck, Director of the ECLJ. It should have a direct impact on the upcoming judgement of the European Court in the case Koch v. Germany concerning the ban of assisted suicide in Germany.  More information, read more here (Source: the European Center for Law and ...

UK Prime Minister Cameron gave an interesting speech during the 400th anniversary of the Kings James translation of the Bible. He described clearly the role and influence the Bible.  He also mentioned amongst others that the UK is a Christian country and should not be afraid to say so. Further he said that the Bible has helped to give Britain a set of values and morals which make Britain what it is today and that these values should be actively be defended. See his speech here .     

WHY THE LEFT-LIBERAL PUSH IN THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AGAINST CONSERVATIVE GOVERNMENT WILL NOT BOOST DEMOCRACY  Following the recent protests that took place in Hungary, the social-liberal opposition in Romania also pushed people in the street today using spontaneous demonstrations that have been held earlier days this week. This comes as a second attempt to the one that unfolded last year, when buses with demonstrators were brought to the Constitutional Square to demonstrate when the Romanian Parliament was discussing the third motion of no confidence. By coincidence, it happened that I had meetings in the Romanian Parliament that same day. The Romanian Military Police did not want to let me in, because some of the demonstrators in the parliament balcony had thrown something down. The Military Police got an order not to let any stranger in the parliament. Eventually I fortunately succeeded and after the meeting I went to the balcony to see the parliamentary debate abou...

In the Council of Europe, during its next session on 23rd January 2012, the PACE (Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe) will elect the Commissioner for Human Rights . It is important that this position will be occupied by someone who shares our values. Therefore I support and recommend Pierre Yves Monette. He shares our values and we would like to motivate you to contact your Members of Parliament who are also member of the PACE to ask them to vote in favour of Pierre Yves Monette. Here is the list of your National representatives in the PACE Pierre Yves Monette   i s also supported by  the EPP  group in the  EU: The EPP President, Wilfried Martens , made public at the Marseille meeting last December that Pierre Yves Monette should be supported. Also Joseph Daul   (EPP Chair in the European parliament) supports Mr Monette and recommended him to his colleague s in the PACE . Please find here the link to the website of M...

On Saturday 17 December, the Belarisuan Christian Democratic Party (BCD) organized their 4th constituency party, legally necessary in order to legally register and found the party. Find a report about this congress  here. The Belarusian authorities continue to put pressure on the citizens of Belarus, who became founders of the Belarusian Christian Democracy Party. Thus, the head teacher of school № 1 in Minsk demanded of her colleague, who is a BCD founder, to withdraw her signature from the list of the BCD founders, threatening her with problems at work. According to some sources this head teacher has been actively involved in the falsification of votes during elections.

The Youth Association of the ECPN, the European Christian Political Youth Network (ECPYN) develops the special CrossroadS- Christian Political Academy .C rossroadS  - Christian Political Academy provides a series of academy events with Christian democratic political content and professional skills for young political decision makers at national or European level, who are close to the Christian democratic political philosophy. The academic course has been prepared to offer training and inside knowledge not only on Christian Democratic issues, but also in a wide range of organisational and managerial skills.