BRUSSELS- Last day 19, the General Assembly of One of Us and events of the 9th Week for Life took place in the European Parliament. Some members of the European Parliament and the EPP Working Group on Bioethics and Human Dignity hosted the Week for Life and organized the events with One of Us collaboration. Herman Van Rompuy, Former Prime Minister of Belgium and first President of the European Council, and Mrs. Obianuju Ekeocha, the Nigerian founder of “Culture of Life Africa” attended the events with a speech.
Van Rompuy claimed that the European crisis is an existential crisis with ethical implication. He said that is the lack of solidarity what takes Europe to the refugee’s plight, to the Brexit and the economic crisis, and remind that all the European dilemmas are related to people. “Compassion failed away, only worried by identity and security,” he said, but he also stated “The debate on identity must not make us forget that what our society needs is respect, dignity and to show love. Our society needs a soul outside money and hate, something that gives meaning. The sense of life only comes to its sense when it focuses on the other”.
Ekeocha talked about the Primacy of Reproductive Rights and Ideological Colonialism in Africa. She explained that in her native language – the Igbo language- abortion always has a negative connotation no matter how it is said. “At the core of my people’s value system is the profound recognition that human life is precious, paramount, and supreme. For us, abortion, which is the deliberate killing of little ones in the womb, is a direct attack on innocent human life. It is a serious injustice, which no one should have the right to commit”, she claimed.
A 2013 global study by Pew Research Center surveyed more than 40,000 respondents in 40 countries what they thought about various moral issues including abortion. The overwhelming majority of Africans surveyed said that abortion was morally unacceptable: 92% of those surveyed in Ghana, 88% of those surveyed in Uganda, 82% of those surveyed in Kenya and 80% of those surveyed in Nigeria, said that they considered abortion to be morally unacceptable. The proportion of Africans opposed to abortion contrasts with those in the developed or first world countries.
Ekeocha said that, in most cases, the donor nations are reluctant to consider African cultural views and values when they deal with them. Moreover, that puts the Africans in an awkward position where the donors get to determine the framework of our policies, direction of funding and the solution to Africans problems. Ekeocha pleaded that the aid projects reflect more the people’s real needs than the donors’ ideological positions.
At midday, the General Assembly of One of Us started, chaired by the president of the federation Jaime Mayor Oreja. In this session, the federation members approved the new budget, and they fixed the main goals for the next months.
