Madam, – Both Noeleen Hartigan and Noelle Moran (August 5) claim Article 16 of the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights recognises the right of all people, including same-sex couples, to marry. It does nothing of the sort. Instead it recognises the right of men and women to marry and found a family. The mention of men and women is not accidental.
When this declaration was formulated, same-sex marriage was far from anyone’s thoughts and it is inconceivable that the signatory nations had same-sex marriage in mind when they signed up to this document.
Of course, it will be argued that interpretations of documents such as this can change with time. But in a way this illustrates my point. The interpretation of Article 16 being pushed by organisations such as Amnesty International is just that, an interpretation, and it is still rejected by the vast majority of nations that belong to the UN. It is not even close to being a definitive interpretation of Article 16. Instead, it is a highly contentious, not to mention disingenuous one pushed mainly by a Western liberal elite. – Yours, etc,