Here's a translation:
Louviers, 13 February 2002
Dear Sir,
We are happy to respond to your recent letter. We salute above all your desire to obtain first-hand information from us on the subject that has troubled you.
A certain number of articles were recently circulated on the internet and in the press, notably in the English newspaper The Guardian, concerning the ties Jehovah’s Witnesses have had with the United Nations Organization. As you noticed, the questioned texts are most often colored with animosity towards Jehovah’s Witnesses, when they are not outrightly tainted with anger and bitterness. Therefore, it is well to put the facts mentioned, as well as their significance, in greater perspective.
With all due respect to the authors of these articles, it was in all good faith that the Watchtower Society enrolled itself as a non-governmental organization (ONG) with the Department of Information (DPI) of the United Nations in 1991. The objective was to be able to continue to gather documentation in areas such as health, ecology and social sciences from the UN’s library. Now, beginning in 1991, it was no longer possible to have access to this library unless one was registered as an NGO. Nothing in the enrollment forms in our possession went against our Christian position, and it was even made clear that “to register as an NGO associated with the DPI did not integrate one into the United Nations system, neither did it confer any privilege, exoneration or special status to those organizations seeking admission nor to their personnel.”
That being the case, where the registration criteria of the NGOs, at least in their most recent form, were formulated in terms to which we could not subscribe, we immediately informed the DPI of our withdrawal as an NGO, said withdrawal having been effective in October of 2001. Nevertheless, we are grateful that this matter was brought to our attention.
Thus, we have not changed our position as regards the United Nations. We remain convinced that only God’s Kingdom will be able to permanently alleviate the plagues from which mankind suffers (Isaiah 25; Psalm 72). Despite their lofty goals, the objectives of the United Nations and all other human organizations are thus, according to the Holy Scriptures, destined for failure. This is the message that we will continue to preach.
Hoping to have responded to your expectations, and happy to count you as one of the readers of our publications, we send you, dear Sir, our warm Christian greetings.
Cultural Association of Jehovah’s Witnesses of France
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It's what you learn after you know it all that counts -- John Wooden
