ASSEMBLY PRESIDENT CALLS HUMAN RIGHTS DECLARATION UNIVERSAL FRAME OF REFERENCE
Press Release
GA/SM/60
ASSEMBLY PRESIDENT CALLS HUMAN RIGHTS DECLARATION UNIVERSAL FRAME OF REFERENCE
19980914 Addresses Opening of NGO/DPI Conference at HeadquartersFollowing is a statement made today by the President of the General Assembly, Didier Opertti (Uruguay), on the occasion of the DPI/NGO Conference entitled, "The Fiftieth Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: From Words to Deeds":
In 1945, at the San Francisco Conference which adopted the Charter of the United Nations, a draft declaration of basic human rights was presented. However, it was not adopted.
The concept of protection of human rights was, nevertheless, embodied in the Charter itself, for Article 1, paragraph 3, refers to "promoting and encouraging respect for human rights and for fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion".
On the basis of that provision of the Charter, the General Assembly, at its first session, in 1946, considered a draft declaration of rights and freedoms, which was referred to the Economic and Social Council and the Commission on Human Rights.
In 1947, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) established a group of experts composed of Edward Carr (United Kingdom), Richard McKean (United States), Harold Lasky (United Kingdom), Chung Shu Lo (China), Pierre Auger (France), George Friedman (France) and Mahatma Gandhi (India).
The aforementioned document is of great interest and, in our opinion, is fully up to date when it states: "So as to ensure that all peoples and all Governments are aware of the authority and goodwill of the United Nations, its Members should proclaim to the civilized world a declaration of rights. However, a declaration of this type depends not only on the authority through
which such rights are protected and promoted, but also on a common understanding that would make their proclamation and faithful application feasible".
A drafting committee was formed under the chairmanship of Eleanor Roosevelt, the Chairman of the Commission on Human Rights. Rene Cassin, of France, played a crucial role in the drafting of the Declaration, and was later honoured with the Nobel Peace Prize in 1968.
At the Latin American level, the Ninth International Conference, held in Bogota in April 1948, adopted the American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man, which served as one of the precedents for the Universal Declaration.
I take this opportunity to point out that, following a proposal by an Uruguayan jurist, Justino Jimenez de Arechaga, a provision on the duties of individuals to the community was introduced in article 29 of the Universal Declaration.
In 1948, the Declaration was submitted to the General Assembly, meeting in Paris.
On that occasion, at that key moment for human rights at the international level, Mrs. Roosevelt stated: "First of all, it represents a declaration of fundamental principles intended to serve as a common standard for all nations, and it may go on to become a Magna Carta for mankind".
The Declaration was adopted in resolution 217 A (III) of 10 December 1948, by 48 votes to none, with 8 abstentions.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights saw the light of day without adopting the form or the direct legal effects of a treaty or convention, but has nonetheless won recognition as customary law that is considered essentially binding in international doctrine and practice.
In addition to its juridical status, the Declaration possesses irrefutable moral authority and constitutes, from the political standpoint, a universal frame of reference; domestic judges and international tribunals invoke respect for it and derive inspiration from it.
In this connection, it is useful to point out that, at the first International Conference on Human Rights, held in Tehran in 1968, 120 States solemnly declared by consensus that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was binding on the international community.
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Also in 1968, Mr. Cassin, a true mentor for the Declaration, stated: "While there has been no significant decrease in the number of breaches of fundamental human freedoms, the very fact that resignation and hopelessness are steadily declining, that the wall of silence is steadily crumbling and that the shortage of avenues of recourse is steadily being remedied, presents humanity with encouraging prospects which must on no account be dimmed".
It would be impossible to take up the subject of this meeting without emphasizing the role of the United Nations both in the genesis of the Declaration and in the promotion and protection of human rights.
This was the context in which the Conference on Human Rights that met in Vienna in 1993 took place, attended by 5,000 delegates from 171 countries and a large number of international organizations, at a time when the issues of peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the restoration of institutional normality in Somalia were being pointed to as shortcomings on the part of the United Nations. It is also essential to indicate that from 1968 to 1993 significant developments took place.
Thus, preparatory documents for the Vienna Conference went so far as to assert that human freedoms and rights vary as a function of specific national or regional characteristics, to the point where one of the participating States maintained that each country has the freedom to define the rights of the human person.
The Uruguayan Ambassador and essayist Adolfo Castells, summing up the situation in his book The United Nations, Wars and Half-Peaces, states that:
"The debates at this Conference are enlightening as to the mandate the majority of countries want to give to the United Nations; its Members do not have the same idea of law and political legitimacy".
Beyond nuances and differences of approach, the concept of universality is the one on which discussion centres, and at the same time the very essence of the extent of application of and compliance with the Declaration itself. What Jean-Francois Revel called, as Ambassador Castells recalls, "denial of the universality of rights in favour of juridical and cultural relativism" could become one of the central issues in the process of renewing our United Nations.
The debate about the transition from theory to action, "from words to deeds", will undoubtedly be complex. As long as the United Nations accepts it as part of its aspiration to universality, without exclusions or prejudices, the debate may be postponed or deferred, but it will finally have to be resolved in the context of an in-depth review of the Organization.
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Returning to the Universal Declaration as a "common ideal of peoples and nations" incorporated into the positive domestic law of a good number of States Members of the United Nations, it was followed by a series of international instruments covering genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity and their imprescriptibility, the status of refugees, the Covenants on Civil and Political Rights and on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Punishment and Treatment and the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The participation of non- governmental organizations in the promotion and approval of these instruments is a noteworthy fact to which due recognition should be given.
Certainly, the progressive development of international human rights protection instruments is at one and the same time a theoretical reaffirmation of rules and principles, on the one hand, and on the other an undeniable deepening of the conscience of the international community. Nevertheless, what is fundamental is to respect human rights, and this applies to all, to States and governments, to individuals and organizations.
What is also fundamental is to find within the State ruled by law and under the supremacy of the law, ways of harmonizing observance of and respect for human rights with the principles of order and social harmony, without which no human rights will be accorded due protection and institutional backing. We must, all of us, direct our best efforts towards stimulating and promoting the rights of the individual as the leading value of our times.
Perhaps it is relevant to recall here, in conclusion, the enlightening statement in the constitution of UNESCO proclaiming that since wars -- the greatest violation of human rights -- begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defences of peace must be constructed. And this is undoubtedly a task for education and culture, in their most valid and profound senses.
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