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