MAJOR UN/WTS NEWS- UN LETTER & 1992 Press R...

by hawkaw 589 Replies latest watchtower scandals

• 

  Moxy

  i apologize if im asking dumb questions hawk, it IS a lot to keep up with but thx for replying so quickly. im just trying to clarify. i had searched for the numbers 1267 & 1268 which you mentioned twice as UN resolutions and couldnt find anything. i see now that that was probably just a typo for 1296 & 1297.

  re 'Criteria for Association': kent posted the application form, 4 scanned pages and some html.
  ( http://watchtower.observer.org/apps/pbcs.dll/artikkel?Avis=WO&Dato=20011002&Kategori=NEWS&Lopenr=110020001&Ref=AR )
  the html has 2 headings:
  REQUIRED APPLICATION MATERIALS
  and
  CRITERIA FOR ASSOCIATION WITH THE DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC INFORMATION
  are these letters that are included with the app? 2 seperate letters? im just trying to figure out when gillies refers to the 'Criteria for Association' being published, if he is refering to a specific publication and if we can determine when it was first published.

  mox
• 

  bluesapphire

  Hawk, what do you mean when you use the word "optics"?
• 

  Pathofthorns

  Does anyone really believe that the UN hands out access to their libraries or grants an organization associate status with them without requiring a signature?

  Everything these days, including access to a public library card requires a signature on some sort of application. A signature is probably the single most basic thing required on any application form.

  Talk about continuing to make a mockery of the UN.

  Path
• 

  Pathofthorns

  And another thing... Why does the WTBS always answer the media right away? Why can't their own members get an immediate response over the phone or by means of email?

  Of course, the anwser is obvious, but it is very frustrating.

  Path
• 

  Pureheart

  Does anyone have any information concerning any other religeous group in France that have been denied religeous freedoms?
• 

  anewperson

  Someone had said that W.L. ("Lloyd") Barry had signed the application for the Watchtower Society to be a Non-Government Entity in association with the U.N., which puts the lie to the notion that some low level Bethelite simply wanted to do LIBRARY research at the U.N. since Barry (now deceased) was a Governing Body member of the Watchtower Society. Farther, for 10 years the AWAKE is full of positive type quotes of U.N. branches like UNESCO, UNICEF and WHO (World Health Organization), even one with a picture in it of U.N. Secretary General Kofianan and an interview with U.N. staff. Plus they had to fill out the application year after year for all 10 years, and as also pointed out the U.N. had years before the Watchtower's first application in 1991 spelled out in plain writing that all who get NGO associate status with it must support its objectives. The hypocrisy is that the Watchtower Society leaders over Jehovah's Witnesses earthwide simultaneously denounced the U.N. in the AWAKE's companion magazine, the Watchtower. Others have also noted that being a U.N. associate gave Gilead missionaries U.N. passes for free airfare.

  Perhaps now people and governments of various nations as well as the European Union and U.N. staff will believe it when they are told that the Watchtower Society staff has made false statements to various nations such as in Bulgaria where in order to get recognition by that government they said that JWs who take blood transfusions are not subject to disciplinary actions. They later said "We don't disfellowship (shun) members who get blood transfusions, for they disfellowship themselves by doing so. And we don't disfellowship those getting transfusion but only disfellowship them if they get a transfusion WITHOUT being repentant that they did so. In similar manner the Watchtower Society stated in writing about 2 years ago in the Watchtower magazine that JW members can vote but then sent out Circuit Overseers to orally tell members in the U.S. and possibly other lands, "no, we do NOT permit you to vote here, that's for somewhere else." They were doing this just to try to get back legal recognition in places like France in order to regain the tax exemptions they had had until reclassified as not the public good (i.e. nonprofit).

  Print these comments in newspapers everywhere!
• 

  MadApostate

  I posted this in anther thread, but thought it should go in this one, also.

  Parl:

  This is the current webpage which DOES NOT include the WTS:
  
  . http://www.un.org/MoreInfo/ngolink/ngodir/NGODirSubj/sub0A7D4.HTM

  This is an old webpage that evidently was revised, but was not deleted, which DOES include the WTS:

  . http://www.un.org/MoreInfo/ngolink/ngodir/NGODirSubj/sub0D9A2.HTM

  This is also an older page that includes the WTS:

  . http://www.un.org/MoreInfo/ngolink/ngodir/NGODirAlph/alp0AA5A.HTM

  Hopefully the PO knows a little something about URLs.
• 

  MadApostate

  I ran across this on a United Methodist Church Website. I thought others might be interested in the UMC's "take" on being a UN NGO. The WTS quotes the UDHR so frequently, I'd be surprised if Ciro missed this session.

  Annan Calls for NGO-UN Partnership

  hailing the work of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in shaping UN policy, the United Nations Secretary-General on Sept. 14 called for the international agency and civil society to enter into a partnership to coordinate their efforts to monitor human rights violations worldwide and to hold member governments responsible for signing the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR).

  "We need partnerships, partnerships that will allow democratic participation in decision-making; that will enable governments to back down from their mistakes; and that will enable United Nations fact-finding missions and other mechanisms to operate with integrity," said Kofi Annan, UN Secretary General.

  Annan said a partnership is necessary because there are no limits to what a strong civil society can achieve in partnership with governments. "There is no turning back in the revolution of human rights," he emphasized. "There is no turning back from the global NGO revolution. So let us move ahead in partnership."

  The Secretary-General made these remarks in an address to more than two thousand NGO representatives at the 51st Annual DPI/NGO Conference commemorating the 50thAnniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The Declaration is an international framework of rights and fundamental freedoms.

  The conference was attended by Liberato Bautista, GBCS UN representative and Assistant General Secretary, and staffers of the United Methodist Office for the UN. Some 35 United Methodists from the New York Annual Conference also attended the conference's opening session.

  NGOs must have the freedom of expression to transmit information about human rights abuses around the world, reiterated Claretta Nesbitt, chair of the Planning Committee for the 51stAnnual DPI/NGO Conference. Nesbitt, a staff person of the Women's Division of the General Board of Global Ministries, pointed out that NGOs can complement the work of the United Nations. "That's our goal," she said of the partnership.

  She urged NGO representatives to strive for the elimination, not just alleviation of all forms of discrimination and suggested that the issue of racism should not be "glossed over."

  In a video message, Mary Robinson, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, insisted that the UDHR's anniversary is a time not only to celebrate, but to "recommit ourselves" to its principles.

  Robinson stressed that since people throughout the world are still denied food and health care, the Declaration should be promoted for human dignity.

  Following the opening UN conference session, UMOUN staffers and church leaders from the New York Annual Conference attended a luncheon, seminar and worship on the significance of the UDHR at the Church Center for the UN.

  The tenets of human rights are biblical concepts, said David Wildman, seminar designer for the United Methodist Seminars on National and International Affairs in New York.

  Wildman related the role of NGOs of the United Nations to the prophets in the Bible. "The prophets were the independent monitors," said Wildman. "They said, 'You guys are messing up and we are not going to leave it to you to fix it. . . '"

  He stated that NGOs hold UN member
  governments' "feet to the fire," which forces the governments to stop and listen.

  Bautista, the GBCS representative to the UN, noted that church leaders were instrumental in the drafting and later the promotion of the UDHR. In celebration of the UDHR's 50th anniversary, he encouraged United Methodists to continue witnessing and promoting the Declaration.

  The ecumenical service for human rights and the UN highlighted human rights abuses against ethnic Chinese in Indonesia, particular the massive rapes of women.

  ACTION: Celebrate UN Day Sunday on October 25. For information contact Liberato Bautista at the GBCS UN Office, 212/682-3633.

  
  
  
  
• 

  Trilobite

  I wonder if Gillies is even aware of the Gdn Weekly story which contains explicit quotations from Hoeffel's letter? He only refers to the two Gdn articles. The Weekly isn't that widely read in the UK and he must have composed the letter over the weekend, slow thinker that he is. Unless you subscribe to the Weekly it's hard to find out what's in it. If Gillies is not aware, then, maybe he should be told of the Gdn Weekly's story - with a cc: to Hoeffel of course at [email protected]. Gillies' publicly available e-mail address is ; [email protected]. T
• 

  LoneWolf

  Hi, All,

  Here's another sample press release that I thought was excellent. David Brown is the author and has sent out many. Make your own modifications and have fun sending them to every paper you can think of. The more the merrier. We need as many different versions by as many different people to the most newspapers as possible.

  Tom Howell
  Alias: LoneWolf

  Press release October 21, 2001 Two pages

  For immediate release

  Contact: Tom Howell
  541-946-1231
  [email protected]

  Jehovah's Witnesses quit UN affiliation
  "Strict neutrality in political affairs" questioned

  Responding to criticism from current and former members the Watch Tower Society (parent organization for Jehovah's Witnesses) this month withdrew its formal association with the United Nations as a NGO (non-governmental affiliate organization). The Watch Tower Society had quietly affiliated with the UN in 1991 in an agreement to "support the Charter" of the United Nations--also agreeing to promote the UN among its members. Watch Tower publications have long labeled the UN as one of the "beasts" of the biblical book of Revelation--the archenemy of the kingdom of God. Some critics of the 6 million member denomination, well known for its aggressive door to door missionary work, believe this is the greatest scandal to hit Watch Tower leadership. "It's comparable to a Catholic finding out that the Vatican had privately agreed to support Planned Parenthood and abortion rights," stated ex-member David Brown of Central Point, Oregon.

  The refusal of Witnesses to salute a flag, vote or hold public office has often brought them official persecution. Apparently, the Watch Tower Society's affiliation with the United Nations was to get help in their religious freedom struggles. "Their affiliation with the UN as a NGO was much more than just registering with the UN to get help for their members," says Brown. In a letter explaining the sect's withdrawal as a UN affiliate, UN official Paul Hoeffel states that NGO membership involves "support and respect of the principles of the Charter of the United Nations and commitment and means to conduct effective information programmes with its constituents and to a broader audience about UN activities." The Watch Tower Society's affiliation with the UN gave them political clout, status and connections they could not have had otherwise. The connection was not announced in Witness publications and was only recently discovered when it was noticed that the Watch Tower Society was listed on a UN webpage as a NGO member. The public criticism of this connection led to the Watch Tower's disassociation as a UN affiliate. "In October 2001, the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York requested termination of its association with DPI [Department of Public Information of the UN]. Following this request, the DPI has made decisions to disassociate the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York as of 9 October 2001," explains UN official Hoeffel.

  Membership as a NGO of the UN required annual re-certification. "There have been several seemingly positive articles in the Witnesses' news magazine Awake! discussing the UN in the past few years. It seemed out of character to read such things in Watch Tower publications but it didn't make sense why they were there until now," says Brown. "The Society's Writing Department evidently used UN press releases for Awake! articles and then they could submit these to show they were informing their members of UN activities and keep their NGO membership."

  Ex-members and many current members feel this was hypocrisy of the highest caliber. Witness theology has understood the United Nations as "the disgusting thing that causes desolation" (from Matthew's gospel) and as "the image of the wild beast" from Revelation chapter 13. Witnesses believe that all other religions have prostituted themselves to the UN (their interpretation of "Babylon the Great" riding the "scarlet colored wild beast" in Revelation chapter 17) and that soon the UN will turn on "false religion" (all other religions) and destroy them. Improbable as that scenario is the Witnesses believe that because of their "strict neutrality in political affairs" they will not be affected when the UN acts to destroy "false religion" (this being the immediate predecessor of Armageddon). "Most Witnesses have no idea that for the past 10 years the Watch Tower Society was certified as an affiliate organization of the UN along with Catholics, Orthodox, Protestants and other religious bodies promoting its agenda just as the other religions promote theirs," says Brown. "Actually, I think this was a positive development in the history of Jehovah's Witnesses. Unfortunately, it was hypocritical to do so while still demonizing the UN in their doctrinal publications. Sadder still, the Watch Tower organization still maintains a policy that effectively excommunicates members who get involved in any political activity."

  Documentation can be found at this website:

  http://www.thetruthhurts.freeservers.com/unitednations.htm

  For further information, contact:

  David Brown
  541-664-7715
  [email protected]

  Watch Tower Society News Office
  718-560-5600

  Paul Hoeffel
  Chief NGO Section
  Department of Public Information at the United Nations
  212-963-8070

  [Page 2 of Press Release: "Jehovah's Witnesses quit UN Affiliation"]