Fundamental Rights Agency attempts to appoint biased director

BRUSSELS – ADF International is asking the European Commission to disclose all relevant information pertaining to the selection procedure for the new director of the European Union Fundamental Rights Agency.

The request includes the disclosure of all applicants, their resumes, and the criteria used to determine potential candidates or to refuse applicants. The short list of candidates presented to members of Parliament just three days before the parliamentary hearing all have a track record of advocating for special rights for those who identify as homosexual or transgendered.

“The EU Fundamental Rights Agency should serve Europe without bias and provide expertise and reliable data instead of a political agenda,” said ADF International EU Advocacy Director Sophia Kuby. “We ask that the European Commission to disclose how the current short list was created and to make sure that the future FRA director have a neutral viewpoint, which this position requires.”

The three candidates are Lousewies van der Laan, Professor Michael O’Flaherty, and Ilze Brands Kehris.

Van der Laan is a Dutch politician affiliated with D66, a radical, secular party. When she was a member of Parliament, her platform consisted in pushing for legalizing drug use, redefining marriage, and promoting abortion and euthanasia.

O’Flaherty is a university professor in applied human rights at the University of Nottingham and former vice chair of the UN Human Rights Committee. He is the author of the “Yogyakarta Principles,” a highly controversial document pushing for sexual orientation and gender identity as international human rights. He is also known as a leading international proponent for LGBT and transgender rights.

Kehris is a human rights scholar from Latvia. She served as a member and chairperson of the FRA Management Board and Executive Board from 2007 to 2012. She is a known Latvian advocate for LGBT rights.

ADF International is calling on the European Commission; the members of the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs; the Council; and the FRA Management Board, which holds the final power-making decision, to comply with the rules established in Article 15 (2) of Regulation 168/2007, which require a “transparent selection procedure.”

ADF International is an alliance-building, non-profit legal organisation that advocates for the right of people to freely live out their faith.