 | |
| Founded | 1997 |
|---|---|
| Type | 501(c)3 organization |
| 13-3964076 | |
| Focus | Social policy Lobbying Anti-abortion Anti-LGBT |
| Location | |
Area served | Worldwide United States |
Key people | Austin Ruse, President Lisa Correnti, Executive Vice President[1] |
| Website | www.c-fam.org |
TheCenter for Family and Human Rights (C-Fam) is aright-wingUnited States–basedadvocacy group, founded in 1997, in order to affect policy debate at theUnited Nations and other international institutions. It was formerly known as theCatholic Family and Human Rights Institute.[2] The501(c)(3) organization isanti-abortion andanti-LGBT.[3][4]
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The Catholic Family & Human Rights Institute was formally incorporated on 11 August 1997 in Suffolk County, New York, with three directors - Seth Perlman, Clifford Perlman and Jane Burke-Robertson[5] Initially nicknamed CAFHRI, the group was founded as an independent non-profit corporation by Human Life International-Canada and then with ongoing support from the headquarters ofHuman Life International (HLI), based in Front Royal, Virginia. Later nicknamed C-Fam, which subsequently became the group's corporate name, part of the group's mission was to work closely with the Holy See delegation at the UN.Austin Ruse subsequently replaced Anne Noonan as Director and shortly thereafter became president.[6]
In July 2013, Ruse was identified as a key member ofGroundswell, a coalition of conservative activists and journalists attempting to make political change within the United States from behind the scenes.[7] Ruse is also the author of two books;Fake Science: Exposing the Left's Skewed Statistics, Fuzzy Facts, and Dodgy Data, published by Regnery, andLittlest Suffering Souls: Children Whose Short Lives Point Us to Christ, published by TAN Books.
In 2015, Monsignor Anthony Frontiero resigned from the organization's board of directors in protest when Ruse commented "The hard-left human-hating people that run modern universities should be taken out and shot."[8] Ruse said this was a figure of speech and issued a formal apology.[9]
The Center for Family and Human Rights is a member of the advisory board ofProject 2025,[10] a collection ofconservative andright-wing policy proposals fromthe Heritage Foundation to reshape theUnited States federal government and consolidateexecutive power should theRepublican nominee win the2024 presidential election.[11]
In February, 2014, the 19-member NGO Committee of theUnited Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) unanimously approved C-Fam forSpecial Consultative Status. On April 23, 2014, the ECOSOC granted this status without objection.[12][13]
Jessica Stern of the LGBT rights advocacy groupOutRight Action International, commenting on C-FAM's United Nations mission, said that the organization "regularly releases homophobic vitriol". The civil rights advocacy organizationSouthern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) has listed C-Fam as ananti-LGBThate group,[4]: 1 [14] and pointed out that Ruse supports the criminalization of homosexuality.[15]
In 2015, Stefano Gennarini (Director of the Centre for Legal Studies at C-Fam) publicly criticised BishopMarcelo Sánchez Sorondo, chancellor of thePontifical Academy of Social Sciences and thePontifical Academy of Sciences in the Vatican, by accusing him of opposing the negotiating position of the Holy See on the issue of sexual and reproductive health. He also went on to accuse economistJeffrey Sachs, director of the Earth Institute atColumbia University and a senior UN advisor, and UN Secretary-GeneralBan Ki-moon of actively promoting abortion. This received a strong rebuke from ProfessorMargaret Archer of theUniversity of Warwick, president of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, who referred to "distorted criticism" and raised concern at Gennarini's "understanding of Catholic Social Doctrine”.[16] This, in turn, drew a rebuke from influential Catholic journalist Phil Lawler who wrote, "Archer’s ad hominem approach, and her unwillingness to engage the real issues in the debate, were unworthy of a social scientist. Her uncharitable attitude is unworthy of someone representing the Holy See."[17]
The London-based Guardian newspaper reported in May 2019 that C-Fam has "emerged from the extreme right fringe on abortion, sexual orientation and gender identity to become a powerful player behind the scenes at the UN. With a modest budget and a six-strong staff led by the president Austin Ruse, it has leveraged connections inside the Trump administration to enforce a rigid orthodoxy on social issues, and helped build a new US coalition with mostly autocratic regimes that share a similar outlook."[3] Subsequently,Reuters wrote, "Emails and memos from U.S. officials at the U.N. obtained by Reuters show the influence of the Center for Family and Human Rights, or C-Fam, a private U.S. research institute formed to affect policy at the U.N. to align with conservative Catholic views."[18] The SPLC has characterized the institute as being "heavily focused on global anti-LGBT work", citing its opposition toUnited Nations efforts to protectLGBT rights and to study and prevent anti-LGBT violence, and praise of American anti-gay activistScott Lively.[19]
Besides Ruse, who is the president of the organization, C-FAM lists four staff members:
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