The Government is appealing a recent Court of Appeal decision which upheld Family First as a charity.

Bob McCoskrie, Family First's National Director says the case is not about his group.

"The attempt by the Government to deregister Family First is a watershed event, not just for Family First, but for the whole country," he says.

Over the past week, McCoskrie says Family First has been swamped with messages of support and with contributions to their Legal Fighting Fund.

The events leading to the appeal - which began yesterday and is expected to finish today - involved a series of judicial decisions.

It all began back in April 2013, when the Charities Board notified Family First that they were going to deregister it as a charity.

"The Board considers that the Trust's opinion(s)…. are fairly described as controversial in contemporary New Zealand society," the Board said.

"We challenged their decision in the High Court, and in 2015 the judge told the Charities Board to reconsider their decision," McCoskrie recalls.

The Court told the Board: "…Members of the Charities Board may personally disagree with the views of Family First, but at the same time recognise there is a legitimate analogy between its role and those organisations that have been recognised as charities."

McCoskrie says the Board informed them after their "reconsideration," that they would still proceed with deregistering their charitable status.

"So we went back to the High Court in 2018 to challenge their decision again. But that particular judge agreed with the Charities Commission. We did not accept the High Court's analysis or its conclusions and appealed to the Court of Appeal."

Family First won that battle in the Court of Appeal last year.

The Court's decision said: "The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and other similar instruments, affirm a right to family life. That provides considerable support for the proposition that Family First's support of, education about, and advocacy for, the family and its related institution of marriage may, other things being equal, be charitable."

This week's head-to-head at the Supreme Court with the Government will be expensive for both parties, says McCoskrie.

Nonetheless, he says any charity has the right to represent a sector of the community.

"We're just asking for a level playing field. We have fought and will continue to fight this decision because of the threat it places on us but also on other charities and churches who hold what would be termed as conservative viewpoints, and our collective freedom to speak on behalf of our supporters in a civil society," McCoskrie says.

Source

• Supplied - Family First
• Image: Otago Daily Times

Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, the Vatican's Secretary for Relations with States, said recent attempts to reinterpret certain terms in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and to introduce "ambiguous expressions and ideological positions" ignore the foundations of human rights and threaten their universality.

He did not specify what "new rights" he was referring to, but the Vatican has previously criticised a 2011 resolution on sexual orientation and gender identity.

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This is a particularly uplifting story of achievement against the odds, one we need so as to bolster up our determination to build a viable future for our planet. ‘All is connected…'

Dan Bidois left school at 15, and worked in a supermarket before studying for two degrees at Auckland University. At Harvard he studied economic and financial public policy, and worked with the NZ Education Ministry on lowering the cost of early childhood education and increasing participation rates for Maori and Pasifica children.

Natalie Coates followed a more traditional path, studying at Otago University before going on to study human rights and social justice law at Harvard.

It seems these two young people want to make the world a better place, using their talents to change outcomes for the better for their communities. They seized the opportunities offered to them, rather than giving up, or blindly treading outworn paths.

We need that hope for the future. I believe that young people are taking up the challenge. Witness the young who went to Rio plus 20 to ask for a future for humankind. Sadly, the adults - politicians, bureaucrats, entrenched in the old ways of doing business, were not equal to the challenge. No matter that those ways no longer work and disaster is looming closer every hour. Are they frightened of grasping the nettle? Or do they have no vision?

Here are some more optimistic observations of the Rio conference by Mary Robinson, the former President of Ireland, currently a member of the Elders and the Club of Madrid, and an Honorary President of Oxfam International.

‘The Rio declaration does set some important processes in train, like developing Sustainable Development Goals, which address all three dimensions of sustainable development: environmental, social and economic ... Processes have also been established to strengthen environmental governance at the international level and to make progress on financing for sustainable development. These should be action oriented, aspirational and measurable, so that they complement the Millennium Development Goals.'

Likewise, we must thank God that the Rio Principles and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights were reaffirmed, in face of some opposition. It is now up to the ordinary people of the world - us - to take the initiative in building a more sustainable future, making use of the processes agreed to at Rio. It is grassroots stuff and we need to keep pressure on our elected representatives - employed by us - to follow our lead now, as we in turn follow youth's example with courage and trust in our Compassionate Creator. Tricia Kane.