NRL News
Page 4
November/December 2009
Volume 36
Issue 11-12

Peter Smith Honored for 15 Years of Pro-Life Service at the UN
By Jeanne E. Head, R.N., Vice President for International Affairs

On November 12, 2009, National Right to Life co-sponsored, with other members of the United Nations (UN) Pro-Life/Pro-Family NGO (Non-Governmental Organization) Coalition, a dinner in New York for Pro-Life/Pro-Family UN Delegates. The main purpose of the dinner was to honor my colleague Peter Smith for his 15 years of dedicated service in the defense of life and family at the UN and throughout the world. Peter is UN Representative for the United Kingdom’s (UK) Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC) and International Right to Life Federation.

In addition to honoring Peter, the dinner served to provide a very relaxed and enjoyable social evening outside the UN with the Delegates we work with throughout the year. It was a very successful evening.

It was a tribute to Peter that at least 20 Delegates/Ambassadors representing countries from throughout the world took time out of their busy schedules to attend. In addition to the delegates, 40 of his NGO colleagues from as far away as Nigeria; from the Pro-Life/Pro-Family NGO Coalition, including NRLC President, Wanda Franz, Ph.D., and NRLC Co-Executive Director, Darla St. Martin; and from the Christian Embassy (a division of Campus Crusade for Christ) attended the dinner.

As MC, I had the honor of introducing His Excellency, Archbishop Celestino Migliore, Aposotolic Nuncio, Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the UN, who gave the Invocation before the meal. After giving thanks to God for bringing us together to honor Peter Smith, the Archbishop’s remarks included a charge to us all:

“As we celebrate this occasion, we call to mind our responsibility to protect and promote all human life—from conception until natural death—and the integrity of the family, the original cell of social life.” He concluded with a final prayer: “As we celebrate this evening, we pray that the serene efforts of representatives of many faith traditions to protect and promote the inherent value and dignity of the human person will bring about the necessary transformation of society and the world for the betterment of the entire human community. We ask this through Christ our Lord.”

The short program after the dinner which was meant to be a “toast and a roast,” included the presentation to Peter by Wanda Franz, Ph.D., of an award from NRLC—a beautiful plaque with the inscription: “In recognition of his 15 years of unwavering and tireless dedication to protecting innocent human life worldwide.” Austin Ruse, President of C-Fam and Patrick Buckley, of Ireland, Peter’s SPUC colleague at the UN, provided both a “toast” and a “roast.” After Peter gave a short thank you and response to the “roasts,” Rev. Philip J. Bené, Legal Attaché for the Holy See Mission, gave some final congratulatory words and the Benediction.

This is the third successful dinner sponsored by the Pro-Life/Pro-Family NGO Coalition to honor key pro-life/pro-family leaders representing NGOs at the UN. Previous events honored myself and Prof. Richard Wilkins (formerly Director of the BYU World Family Policy Forum) for his dedicated work on behalf of life and family at the UN meetings and Conferences.

In addition to the National Right to Life Educational Trust Fund, co-sponsors of the dinner were Campaign Life Coalition (Canada), Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute (C-Fam), Focus on the Family, Richard Wilkins of the Doha International Institute for Family Studies and Development (Qatar), Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (UK), Family Watch International, and United Families International.

Jeanne E. Head, R.N., is NRLC’s Vice President for International Affairs and UN Representative. NRL’s Educational Trust Fund has Special Consultative Status with the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) as a Non-Governmental Organization—a subsidiary body of the UN General Assembly. Jeanne was the first representative at the UN in New York for the International Right to Life Federation when it received its ECOSOC status in 1987 and still serves in that capacity as well..