On March 8, 2023, an organization called UNAIDS (which apparently represents the U.N.’s efforts to fight AIDS), came together with The International Committee of Jurists (ICJ), and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) to officially launch a new set of ‘expert jurist legal principles to guide the application of international human rights law to criminal law.’
In other words, these groups are launching something called the ‘8 March Principles.’ However, for some reason, the document just got attention in the last few days, and … oh boy:
The United Nations issued this report calling on member nations to decriminalize sex between adults and minors. Should adults be allowed to convince kids to perform sex acts with them? The UN says yes. https://t.co/qihbfzlwAe pic.twitter.com/YTZVf0GcoS
— @amuse (@amuse) April 15, 2023
Why? A new report from the United Nations has called for all forms of drug use and sexual activity to be decriminalized globally – even consensual sex between adults and kids. https://t.co/Hfw7jzFMrB
— @amuse (@amuse) April 15, 2023
According to the United Nations, children may consent to sex with adults. This has been the plan all along.
Source: https://t.co/gu3YpclgWh pic.twitter.com/Vm1DfyPTpO
— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) April 16, 2023
Could someone verify this? Is this real? If it is, extremely worrying.
How can a child consent to sex? #safeguarding #PastoralTwitterUN report calls for decriminalization of all sexual activity, including between adults and children https://t.co/jDWZs2THhy
— Maria O’Neill (@Maria0Neill) April 16, 2023
We have looked up this document and it is frankly a mealy-mouthed mess, but here’s the key paragraph:
Moreover, sexual conduct involving persons below the domestically prescribed minimum age of consent to sex may be consensual in fact, if not in law. In this context, the enforcement of criminal law should reflect the rights and capacity of persons under 18 years of age to make decisions about engaging in consensual sexual conduct and their right to be heard in matters concerning them. Pursuant to their evolving capacities and progressive autonomy, persons under 18 years of age should participate in decisions affecting them, with due regard to their age, maturity and best interests, and with specific attention to non-discrimination guarantees.
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So they’re saying they disagree with certain unspecified laws on the age of consent and therefore all the people in charge of enforcing the law—basically cops and prosecutors in America—should ignore the law if they feel the child can actually consent. That’s not quite saying all children can consent or that we should do away with all age-of-consent laws, but they definitely think many age-of-consent laws are already too high and they are disturbingly vague about what the cut-off should be. Indeed, one can even interpret it as arguing that shouldn’t be any age of consent, but rather a vague test determining whether the child is capable of meaningful consent.
Also, they do say that prostitution should be legal in nearly all cases: ‘The exchange of sexual services between consenting adults … may not be criminalized, absent coercion, force, abuse of authority or fraud.’
Naturally, there has been some pushback.
Children cannot consent. They can only comply.
Get the US out of the UN, and boot them out of NYC.— 🇺🇸 Be Prepared 🇺🇸 (@ScoutMotto) April 16, 2023
How would the head of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights @volker_turk put these principles into place?
Children cannot consent to sex.
This surely undermines every effort by the UN to eradicate child trafficking and sexual exploitation. https://t.co/6uQLwZ0wHV— Sonia Gallego🪬 (@SoniaGallegoAJE) April 16, 2023
You need to read doc to believe it, but even then beggars belief. As if wholesale decriminalisation of "sex work" wasn't bad enough – with pitiful cognisance of systemic conditions of oppression – Principle 18 p.27 appears to obliterate age of consent. https://t.co/5k3QhZdMEU https://t.co/ogh7t7LTx8
— Shahrar Ali (@ShahrarAli) April 15, 2023
This tweet sounded hyperbolic, so I checked the report – it’s 100% true.
It’s suggesting that children can consent to sexual activity with adults, and UN countries should legislate accordingly.
Children would be accountable to the state, not their parents. This is horrible. https://t.co/SToekfnrKE pic.twitter.com/8M1c3sGXJb
— Yung Yuri (@reactive_yuri) April 15, 2023
By definition, children are not competent to consent. This is a perverted and criminal proposal. Those originating and supporting it should be registered as sex offenders
— Andrew Phillips (@AJPhillipsEsq) April 15, 2023
The specific wording used by the UN comes straight from the MAP handbook. We knew this was coming when politicians and institutions began telling us that children can consent to medicalization for life. https://t.co/En4USc3ZJz
— Samantha Brown 🦖💜🤍💚 (@Sammie_Brown86) April 15, 2023
MAP stands for ‘Minor Attracted Person’ which is a term being used to try to rebrand pedophiles as something other than monsters.
🚨 Why is the United Nations supporting the argument that “sexual conduct involving persons below the domestically prescribed minimum age of consent to sex may be consensual in fact, if not in law”?? Is this in line with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals? 🚨… pic.twitter.com/OQobY3qeLd
— Jordan Henry (@irrationalhenry) April 15, 2023
Hey @UN what's going on here big guy? https://t.co/pYObAdu6h5 pic.twitter.com/GBNuDc8a22
— Count Dankula (@CountDankulaTV) April 15, 2023
Even Legal Feminist, which describes itself as a ‘Collection of feminist lawyers’ was disturbed and shared some highlights:
This is a troubling document from the UN. https://t.co/UBZTEoWWKB pic.twitter.com/q6UUm831cZ
— Legal Feminist (@legalfeminist) April 15, 2023
From the recitals: pic.twitter.com/w8KyPec1is
— Legal Feminist (@legalfeminist) April 15, 2023
from the introduction: pic.twitter.com/pNbZrKqrwF
— Legal Feminist (@legalfeminist) April 15, 2023
Principle 14: pic.twitter.com/AN4y9ZJu6E
— Legal Feminist (@legalfeminist) April 15, 2023
Principle 14 continued: pic.twitter.com/ZM7dozCM5H
— Legal Feminist (@legalfeminist) April 15, 2023
Their community was bothered, too:
I've had to read that twice, I thought I was misunderstanding it. Jesus.
— O'Se. #NoahsArmy ⚡#PleasehelpfindDaniel (@NOShea_1) April 15, 2023
Jesus Christ
— Gold Finch (@g0ldf1nch) April 15, 2023
Ffs
— Elizabeth Ross (@Elizabe67796771) April 15, 2023
Launched on International Women's Day of all days.
— ManaWāhineKōrero (@MKorero) April 15, 2023
Some people connected a few other dots:
The UN have been into this for years with impunity.
Children CANNOT CONSENT you evil bastards. https://t.co/ogmwVyHQJI pic.twitter.com/8RlxVMOxOd— Sezz (@SezzWooll) April 16, 2023
With the amount of child sexual abuse going on with UN peacekeepers is this really a big shock?
— CEO of WTF (@MildGoofening) April 16, 2023
They’re just trying to legalize what their “peacekeepers” are already doing. https://t.co/WVPkyqsAyp
— Johnny F-150 (@JOHNNYFone50) April 15, 2023
UN undermining age of consent
Who benefits when children are sexualised and available for sex with adults? https://t.co/V2jSoTZAMp
— Katherine Deves 🇦🇺🚺 (@deves_katherine) April 15, 2023
Yes, a lot of people who work for the UN have been accused of child sexual abuse.
— Mehcat (@MehcatCat) April 15, 2023
never forget they ran a child sex ring in Haiti for 10 years https://t.co/6cWlYVyh4L
— Mehcat (@MehcatCat) April 15, 2023
Several people tried to defend it by inserting words:
It doesn't even say anything about sex with adults. Is this just you projecting your fantasies? It just says that sometimes minors choose to have sex, assumptively with each other but maybe not always, which is and always has been very true.
— DARIN BASHAW (@DarinBashaw) April 16, 2023
This is one of many who made this claim. And was (verbally) smacked down:
The fact that the language is not specifically mentioned leaves the door open for adults to engage in sexual acts with minors and get away with it.
An obvious intentional loophole— Suz (@SuzCrimi) April 16, 2023
The UN article would legalize child sexual abuse . It was obviously worded to include adults abusing minors or they would have worded it far differently. The fact that you refuse to view it this way is telling. The UN is suggesting that 27+13 should be legal. They are wrong
— Grey Zone (@greyzone513) April 16, 2023
We’ll go with Suz and ‘Gray Zone’ on this. The language is not limited to children having sex with other children—and it really wouldn’t be hard to say so if that is what they meant. But to be charitable to the ‘Darins’ of the world, what UNAIDS said is so evil it would be normal for some people to have trouble believing UNAIDS actually meant what they said.
A sillier defense was offered by ‘Mildred’s Moustache’:
🧵The organisation LiveAction is claiming that the UN wants to decriminalise sexual activity between adults and children.
Let's examine this … pic.twitter.com/VLAZZXs5j4
— MildredsMoustache (@MildredsTache) April 15, 2023
First I checked the website – it took a few seconds to discover it is *purely* anti-abortion material. I also googled Live Action and found the same. They are an ANTI-ABORTION organisation. pic.twitter.com/k5afNbHSIA
— MildredsMoustache (@MildredsTache) April 15, 2023
That’s a weird place to start. The more logical place to start, when someone says a document says something is to look at the document itself. And LiveAction provides a link to the UNAIDS website, which in turn links to the source document. So ‘Moustache’ could simply figure out for him or herself whether or not this is true as step 1. That was our starting point: are they actually saying it?
Instead, this person starts with an ad hominem.
Sadly, ‘Mustache’ goes on:
Then I had a scan through the original UN document. https://t.co/9nvLg5TOmy
I found a couple of sections that might be of interest to Live Action. pic.twitter.com/3HCdTyc2X6
— MildredsMoustache (@MildredsTache) April 15, 2023
That’s right, he or she is looking at everything but what UNAIDS says about consent.
It seems likely that an *anti-abortion organisation* might object to this document because of the sections about abortion.
But they know there is an easier way to get the general public to turn against it…
— MildredsMoustache (@MildredsTache) April 15, 2023
That's right, PEDOS!!!
At this point I am very suspicious.
So what does the document actually say about consent?
— MildredsMoustache (@MildredsTache) April 15, 2023
At this point, they are spinning conspiracy theories, rather than addressing the actual claim.
Oh, it says the age of consent must be applied fairly (e.g. to both sexes). Just like in current UK law. pic.twitter.com/gFT9AlMu1s
— MildredsMoustache (@MildredsTache) April 15, 2023
No one objects to that part. So add straw man to the list of fallacies this person has employed.
And it says that adolescents – under 18s – have evolving capacity to consent and this should be taken into account alongside the legal age of consent when deciding whether to prosecute.
Just like in current UK law, as explained here by NSPCC. pic.twitter.com/g6xlIKqnp1
— MildredsMoustache (@MildredsTache) April 15, 2023
In other words, they are basically right.
Beyond that, it doesn't say much. The preamble says this is general human rights principles based on current international good practice.
It certainly doesn't say anything about abolishing the age of consent, or about legalising sex between adults and children.
— MildredsMoustache (@MildredsTache) April 15, 2023
Except it does say that age-of-consent laws should be routinely ignored and doesn’t limit their analysis to minors.
The anti-abortion organisation wants you to think there's a high-level pedo conspiracy at the UN.
— MildredsMoustache (@MildredsTache) April 15, 2023
‘Conspiracy’ is just a dog whistle here to try to distract you from the words UNAIDS actually said—ironically after ‘Mustache’ spun their own conspiracy theory.
All-in-all a terrible attempt at debunking.
So, this is the latest garbage from the U.N., which is fundamentally a trash organization. Maybe at one time, the U.N. was useful, but today it is little more than a club for dictators pushing values that rightly horrify most Americans.
And just as a reminder, this document promoting sex—promoting children being more sexually active and promoting prostitution—is coming from an organization that allegedly wants to fight AIDS. The mind boggles.
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