A Milestone for the Human Family

by Catholic Bishops of Australia

The Australian Bishops urge the Catholic community to observe prayerfully and thoughtfully the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on 10 December 1998. We also express the hope that all of our fellow citizens will commit themselves on this occasion to strengthened support for human rights and social justice within and outside Australia.

This anniversary is an opportunity for us to reflect on the Declaration itself, the human rights era which it launched, the Church's participation in that movement, human rights issues in Australia and elsewhere, and a few particular questions that warrant consideration at this time.

1. The Declaration

Pope John XXIII's great Encyclical Letter Pacem in terns (1963) was the first papal document to refer specifically to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and to acknowledge its importance. Described in the addresses that Pope John Paul II gave, in 1979 and 1995, to the United Nations General Assembly as the "fundamental document" of that organization, as "a milestone on the long and difficult path of the human race"[1] and as "one of the highest expressions of the human conscience of our time",[2] the Declaration responded to the grave concerns raised by the Second World War, when "disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of humanity".[3]

The Declaration was one of the major early initiatives of the United Nations, published just over three years after the birth of that Organization. In the words used by the Pope in 1998 World Day of Peace Message, it was "a solemn act, arrived at after the sad experience of war and motivated by the desire formally to recognize that the same rights belong to every individual and to all peoples".[4]

The spirit of the document's 30 articles is enshrined in these words from its preamble: "Recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world".[5]

The most fundamental of the rights enumerated in the Declaration are the right to life, the right to freedom (including freedom of thought, conscience and religion) and the right to participate fully in society. Other rights flow from or complement these. The document sets down those political, civil, economic, social and cultural rights which are basic to every human person's dignity and development. They include: freedom of opinion, expression, association and assembly (political rights); equality before the law (a civil right); the rights to own property and to receive sufficient recompense for labour to enable oneself and one's family to enjoy an adequate standard of living (economic rights); the rights to education, to participate in the arts and to share in scientific advances and benefits (social and cultural rights). A number of these and other rights could be described collectively as the right to be free from the burden of poverty and socio-economic disadvantage.

The inviolable and inalienable rights listed in the Universal Declaration have certain other essential characteristics, notably their universality and indivisibility. They are universal in the sense that they apply equally and without exception to every human person everywhere and at all times, irrespective of race, gender, age, culture, conduct or any other circumstance. And they are indivisible in the sense that economic, social and cultural rights are just as essential as civil and political rights. The government which allows a person to vote but excludes him or her from education, health care, adequate housing or work opportunities is transgressing that person's human rights.

The Church's teaching has frequently upheld these characteristics of human rights. In his 1998 Message for the World Day of Peace, Pope John Paul II said: "These distinctive features must be strongly reaffirmed in order to reject the criticism of those who would use the argument of cultural specificity to mask violations of human rights and the criticisms of those who weaken the concept of human dignity by denying juridical weight to social, economic and cultural rights. Universality and indivisibility are two guiding principles which at the same time demand that human rights be rooted in each culture and that their juridical profile be strengthened so as to ensure that they are fully observed".[6] More recently, the Holy Father repeated this assertion in his address to those attending the World Congress on the Pastoral Promotion of Human Rights.[7] After the United Nations General Assembly had adopted the Universal Declaration, the UN Commission on Human Rights undertook the task of drafting two international instruments — one on Civil and Political Rights and the other on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. They were approved by the General Assembly in 1966 and came into force in 1976. As a member State of the UN, Australia has acceded to the two instruments, which, together with the Universal Declaration and some other implementation measures, are said to constitute the International Bill of Rights.

2. Human Rights since 1948

During the past half century the world has experienced much progress in the field of human rights and a growing consciousness of the implications of the Universal Declaration and the International Covenants. The Declaration's 50th anniversary should help to promote this awareness, falling as it does during the Decade for Human Rights Education (1995-2004), the aim of which is to promote "understanding, tolerance, gender equity and friendship among all nations, indigenous people, and racial, national, ethnic, religious and linguistic groups" (UN Plan of Action, 1995, 2c).

Some of this progress is related to such phenomena as the end of colonialism, the collapse of many corrupt and tyrannical regimes of the Left and the Right, the demise of apartheid, the fact that no outbreak of war on a global scale has occurred, mass movements against various forms of discrimination, advances made by the women's movement, extraordinary technological developments facilitating the rise in living standards and a general growth in awareness of the nature and importance of human rights.

It would be very wrong, however, to conclude that all is well, when so much injustice in the form of genocide, poverty, hunger, illiteracy, the practice of abortion, discrimination, torture, slavery, oppression and unnecessary suffering still exists in today's world. As the Pope has said, "Our century is still marked by very serious violations of basic rights".[8]

Absolute poverty afflicts the 1.3 billion people who try to survive on an average of less than one dollar a day. Many thousands of children and others die daily from malnutrition or preventable disease. Meanwhile, relative or less life-threatening poverty diminishes the possibility of human fulfilment for millions of others who, while able to survive, neither enjoy a fair share of the Earth's goods nor find it possible to participate in society on an equal footing with others. Among these are the thousands of refugees in today's world — those compelled to leave their own country as well as those forced to move from their homes or towns or villages to other regions within their native land. Their plight was noted with special concern at the World Congress on the Pastoral Promotion of Human Rights.

Organizations like Amnesty International draw attention to the large numbers of prisoners of conscience and victims of torture in different parts of the world. Minority groups suffer harassment and violence at the hands of racists and religious fundamentalists. Indigenous peoples experience numerous forms of oppression. While a third world war has been avoided, warfare at regional and local levels continues, with non-combatants invariably among those worse affected. Women and children are in the clear majority of those who suffer most from the effects of war, poverty, discrimination and other forms of injustice and abuse, including domestic violence.

The benefits flowing from technology and the revolution in transport and communication are far from equitably distributed. Indeed, certain advances in technology and science themselves give rise to grave moral, human rights and justice questions. Some of these, for example in the area of genetics and with regard to euthanasia, lead to a rejection of some of the principles behind the Universal Declaration. The document was in part a reaction to the kind of theories which led to history's most appalling acts of genocide and eugenic practices. Yet there are signs of a revival of thinking which, if the world is not vigilant, could lead to the re-emergence of Nazi-style policies of racial purification, of selecting "perfect" human specimens while eliminating the "flawed" and terminating the lives of the weak, the incapacitated, the terminally ill and the disabled (especially those in utero).

It is paradoxical that advocates of such policies should sometimes invoke the language of rights, proclaiming the "right" to a degree of autonomy or exaggerated individualism which is contrary to the spirit and philosophy of the United Nations Declaration.

3. The Catholic Church and the Human Rights Movement

The essential dignity of every person is the basis for human rights, as the Bible infers from the very first chapter of the Book of Genesis.[9] This has been recognized by the Catholic Church from the beginning, even if sadly at times serious offences against those rights have been committed in the Church's name or by individual Catholics. Although official Church teaching did not adopt the language of the modern human rights movement and some of its thinking until after it became current in the second half of this century, the Church was in fact upholding human rights long before the idea became popular in a sometimes secular form.

It should be remembered, however, that the Popes of the past century or more, beginning with Leo XIII, have championed the rights of the oppressed and the disadvantaged, especially through their development of a remarkable body of social justice teachings.[10]

The great social Encyclical Letters of Leo XIII and Pius XI were complemented during the Second World War by Pope Pius XII, notably in his Christmas Messages, calling for a new world order founded on the dignity of every human being and emphasizing the importance of the family.[11] And it was a French Catholic philosopher and writer, Jacques Maritain, who, in the spirit of his celebrated co-national Rene Cassin, played a significant role in preparing the way during the 1940s for the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. But it was above all Pope John XXIII who, especially through his Encyclical Letter Pacem in terris and through his summoning of the Second Vatican Council, moved the Church's slightly diffident or cautious approach to the UN and its Declaration to one of strong and articulate support.

Pope John said that there was no doubt that the Universal Declaration "represents an important step on the path towards the juridicial-political organization of the world community";[12] and that it was his earnest wish "that the United Nations Organization — in its structure and its means — may become ever more equal to the magnitude and nobility of its tasks, and that the day may come when every human being will find therein an effective safeguard for the rights which derive from his or her dignity as a person, and which are therefore universal, inviolable and inalienable rights".[13]

The catalogue of human rights in Pacem in terris resembles the list in the Universal Declaration, with some important new points of emphasis, for example the observation that the right to own property has limitations deriving from the social obligation inherent in that right. Pope John also relates rights to corresponding social obligations, allowing for the theoretical limitation of some claims to human rights, in cases of conflict, in the interests of the common good.[14]

The two documents of the Second Vatican Council which reaffirmed and developed Pope John's teaching on human rights were Dignitatis humanae (the historic Declaration on Religious Liberty) and Gaudium et spes (the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World). The latter speaks of "a growing awareness of the sublime dignity of the human person, who stands above all things and whose rights and duties are universal and inviolable".[15] The human person ought, therefore, "to have ready access to all that is necessary for living a genuinely human life".[16]

The teaching in these two documents opened the way in the postconciliar period to extraordinary activities by the Church in such areas as social justice, peace, development and aid. The pontificate of Pope Paul VI saw the creation of the Pontifical Commission (now the Council) for Justice and Peace and the Pontifical Council "Cor Unum"; the issuing of the Encyclical Letter Populorum progressio, which gave a strong impetus to development and aid work throughout the Church: and the 1971 session of the World Synod of Bishops, which produced the much quoted document De iustitia in mundo (Justice in the World) and helped to promote the formation and further growth of national and diocesan justice and peace commissions.

Paul VI also strengthened the Church's relationship with the United Nations by establishing the Holy See's Permanent Observer Mission in 1964; by visiting that organization's headquarters in 1965; by giving addresses on special UN occasions, including its 25th anniversary and the 20th and 25th anniversary of the Universal Declaration, and by setting 1 January as the annual World Day of Peace, the first Papal Message for which, in 1969, was titled "The Promotion of Human Rights, the Road to Peace".

During the pontificate of Pope John Paul II, the central place of human rights, social justice and the promotion of peace in the Church's mission to the world has been emphasized repeatedly. It has found expression in different forms in the Pope's major Encyclical Letters including his first, Redemptor hominis (1979), and his three social Encyclicals, Laborem exercens (1981), Sollicitudo rei socialis (1987), and Centesimus annus (1991). It has also been the theme of many of the Holy Father's other statements and addresses, particularly on his pastoral visits to all parts of the world. Pope John Paul has twice visited New York to address the General Assembly of the United Nations (in 1979 and 1995) and has continued his predecessor's practice of giving special addresses on anniversaries linked with the UN and its agencies or on the occasion of visits to the Vatican by the Secretary-General or other high office-holders. He has also continued to observe the World Day of Peace by issuing annual statements, all of which raise important human rights issues, as do the Pope's yearly addresses to the Diplomatic Corps accredited to the Holy See and his speeches to individual diplomats presenting their letters of accreditation.

The Holy See has also taken an active part in the world conferences or summits sponsored by the UN or its agencies during the present decade, on such issues as children (New York, 1990), nutrition (Rome, 1992) the environment and development (Rio de Janeiro, 1992), human rights (Vienna, 1993), population and development (Cairo, 1994), social development (Copenhagen, 1995), women (Beijing, 1995) and human settlement (Istanbul, 1996).

To mark the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration, the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace sponsored the World Congress on the Pastoral Promotion of Human Rights (mentioned above) in July of this year. It was attended by delegates representing Bishops' Conferences in many countries, including Australia. It has already been announced that the Pope's Message for the 1999 World Day of Peace will focus specifically on the Universal Declaration. And Bishops' Conferences everywhere have been asked by the Holy See to devise their own ways of marking the anniversary.

4. Australia and Human Rights

Over the past 50 years, the world-wide human rights movement has had significant repercussions in Australian society and also in the Catholic Church in this country.

As a founding member of the United Nations, Australia has subscribed to the human rights principles enshrined in the UN Charter and in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Australia is also bound by certain treaty obligations contained in the International Covenants on Civil and Political Rights and on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, as well as some of the other internationally adopted instruments dealing with specific areas of human rights.

Australian Governments have sometimes been criticized for falling behind in their reporting obligations to the UN[17] and also for their reluctance to criticize the human rights abuses perpetrated by major trading partners.[18] Nevertheless, important and praiseworthy legislation in the area of human rights has been enacted in this country, for example the Act establishing the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission and other Acts relating to equal opportunity, sex discrimination and racial discrimination. While amendments to such legislation may be needed from time to time, the community should ensure that Australia's commitment to human rights here and abroad is maintained and improved.

The Catholic Church in Australia can claim to have given a special form of attention to human rights issues since 1940, when the first in the continuing series of annual Social Justice Sunday statements was issued by the Bishops. Over the same period, many other actions have been taken by the Church's leaders and other Catholic agencies, sometimes by means of public statements and sometimes by direct lobbying of decision-makers, to present a position inspired by the Gospels and by Church teaching on human rights and social justice issues arising within and outside Australia.

In the period since Vatican II, the Bishops have created several organizations at national level to promote action and education in this and related areas. Established under various Bishops' Committees — the Committees for Justice, Development and Peace, for Aborigines, for Social Welfare and for Migrants and Refugees — they include Caritas Australia (formerly Australian Catholic Relief), the Australian Catholic Social Justice Council (which replaced the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace after 1987), the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Catholic Commission and the Australian Catholic Social Welfare Commission. Among these agencies, the Australian Catholic Social Justice Council has prime responsibility for monitoring and acting on human rights and social justice issues.

The work of these agencies is complemented by a network of other organizations set up by religious orders and congregations, by individual Dioceses or parishes or by concerned Catholics. Most of these bodies seek to work in consultation with other Churches and with other interested groups and individuals in the wider community.

Examples of the kind of human rights matters within Australia which draw the attention of these organizations are human life issues (notably abortion and euthanasia), unemployment, racism, sexism, immigration, Government policy and actions in regard to refugees, the treatment and rights of Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders, domestic violence, the exploitation of outworkers, environmental degradation, rural poverty, industrial relations, the prison system and inequities in the taxation system. Some of the Church's agencies specialize in monitoring such international issues as the use of land-mines in many countries and the human rights aspect of political and socio-economic situations in East Timor, Bougainville, Sri Lanka, Myanmar (Burma), Pakistan, China and other parts of the Asia-Pacific region, as well as other continents.

In spite of this evidence of considerable activity around human rights in Australia, it would be unrealistic to conclude that most people in our society or in the Church have a deep interest in or knowledge of the area. This presents a challenge which we should be aiming to meet on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration.

5. Matters for Reflection

The following propositions are among those deserving consideration when we focus our minds on human rights while commemorating the anniversary of the Universal Declaration.

• Strictly speaking, rights belong to human persons, singly or collectively, not to other creatures, but this does not relieve us of the obligation to care for creation.

Problems arise in the human rights area when words like "rights" or "freedom" are used loosely or imprecisely.

To act cruelly towards any creature is to behave in a way that does not conform with our God-given dignity; and to damage the environment or to leave the gifts of the earth in a worse state than it was when we inherited it is to betray our duty as stewards of God's creations. Nevertheless, to speak of the "rights" of animals or trees or even of future generations of human beings is to move away from the long accepted idea that only existing human persons have rights in the strict sense. This does not mean that animals may be mistreated or that forests may be wantonly destroyed or that the future needs of the human race may be ignored. Our obligations in this area are serious and are increasingly recognized today.[19]

• Freedom does not mean libertarianism, for we have duties as well as rights.

As far as the right to freedom is concerned, it must be remembered that the great gift of freedom is to be used responsibly. Only libertarians seek to do anything they please, refusing to accept obligations or the duty to obey laws. In their teaching on human rights, the Church's leaders have always emphasized that the possession of rights is accompanied by corresponding obligations.

The Church respects the freedom of expression by which people may give public voice to their opinions, provided that the public exercise of this freedom is not harmful to others or damaging to the fabric of society. At the same time, we continue to defend the right of religious bodies to exclude from their paid service those whose expressed beliefs or life-styles contradict the teachings and values which those bodies uphold. We would also oppose the introduction of any Bill of Rights formulated in a way which could lead to religious organizations being forced to act against their principles.

• Human rights apply collectively to families and to various groups.

The Universal Declaration recognizes that the family is "the natural and fundamental unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State" (Article 16, subsection 3). The Catholic Church, which has always defended the family and its values, will continue to support its central role and to oppose those forces which threaten family values.[20]

While the Declaration is not specific about other groups in the community, it is clear from its general principles that many other groups can be said to be collectively in possession of human rights. These include religious and ethnic groups and in particular those consisting of indigenous people. We note that delegates from the Pacific at this year's World Congress on the Pastoral Promotion of Human Rights drew attention to the question of self-determination for the region's indigenous peoples and to the sufferings they have experienced from human rights abuses.

• Nations also have rights.

Nations too have rights, even if there may be a need to define these more precisely than has been done so far in documents like the Universal Declaration. A middle way has to be found between xenophobic nationalism and the erosion of national autonomy or sovereignty.

While globalization (the new age of the "global village") can bring benefits to the human race, it also opens the way to serious abuses and to the possibility of exploitation of people and resources by unscrupulous international financial, trading and business enterprises. National sovereignty is undermined by such forces, while human suffering escalates as a result of unjust burdens of debt imposed on poor nations. The Church has consistently supported moves at a global level to remedy these faults by adequate measures, including such new forms of legal control as the recently formed International Criminal Court.[21]

In this whole area, the Catholic social principles of solidarity, the common good and subsidiarily have particular relevance. A spirit of solidarity at global level would encourage the peaceful evolution of a true family of nations, while an acceptance of the concept of the common good and of the principle of subsidarity would protect a united world from the kind of domination which has historically been the dream of would-be conquerors from Alexander the Great to Hitler and Stalin.

• The undermining of the Right to Life remains a serious concern in today's world.

The Church defends every human person's Right to Life from conception to death. This most fundamental human right has been ignored and transgressed in countless instances in the century which is now drawing to a close. This has occurred on a huge scale through acts of genocide and in the massacre of civilians in war. It continues to occur in thousands of cases every day because of the practice of abortion and through the innumerable deaths, especially of children, resulting from malnutrition, preventable illness and oppression. And, if some of its advocates have their way, euthanasia will be one of the next millennium's principal causes of the denial of this essential human right.

Moreover, capital punishment, which the Church's teaching now regards as unjustifiable in virtually every conceivable circumstance,[22] continues to be practised even in otherwise civilized communities, often in the face of protests and appeals from members of the hierarchy, led by the Holy Father himself. The Bishops of Australia would certainly oppose any move to reintroduce the death penalty in this country.

• Women's Rights are human rights. Recent world conferences organized by the United Nations (Vienna 1993 and Beijing 1995) have reminded the world of the extent to which the human rights of women and girls continue to be transgressed in many places. For example, women experience very restrictive and limiting situations through laws introduced in some countries. The practice of rape as an instrument of war and as a means of punishing a particular nation or ethnic group has been widespread in recent and current conflicts. And the plight of girl-children in some societies, where they receive less food, education and health care than boys, or where they are being sold or bonded for prostitution as a guarantee for monetary loans to families, continues to be horrific.

• The recovery of historical truth should have a priority in the human rights movement.

Since work for reconciliation and healing is an important part of the effort to promote human rights, it has to be remembered that this cannot be satisfactorily achieved if the truth about past and present abuses is not acknowledged. This has been well understood in places like South Africa and it needs to be accepted by those working for reconciliation in Australia, as it was by those who have expressed regret about the "Stolen Children" episodes. When historical truth is recovered and accepted, the ground is laid for forgiveness — a central theme of the coming Jubilee.

6. Conclusion

Remembering that there is a close link between the Church's mission of evangelization and its defence and promotion of human rights, we urge the Catholic community to observe the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in that spirit. The anniversary occurs at a time when the Church is preparing for the Great Jubilee in the Year 2000 A.D. An integral part of Catholics' celebration of the Jubilee should be a deepening of awareness of the Church's teaching on social justice and of the need to apply that teaching to human rights issues at home and abroad. In particular we recommend that support be given to reconciliation initiatives being undertaken at different levels in the Church and as part of a programme coordinated by the Bishops' Committee for Justice, Development and Peace. We express our gratitude to all those who are working for human rights inside and outside the Church community. We pray that their efforts will be richly blessed and will contribute to the ushering in of a new age in which justice and peace will prevail.

Endnotes

1 Pope John Paul II: Address to the General Assembly of the United Nations, 2 October 1979.

2 Pope John Paul II: Address to the General Assembly of the United Nations, 5 October 1995.

3 Preamble to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, quoted by Pope John Paul II in his 1995 address to the General Assembly. See also the Holy Father's Encyclical Letter Redemptor hominis (1979), n. 17.

4 Pope John Paul II: World Day of Peace Message, 1 January 1998.

5 Preamble to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

6 Pope John Paul II: World Day of Peace Message, 1 January 1998.

7 Pope John Paul II: Address to the World Congress on the Pastoral Promotion of Human Rights, Rome, 4 July 1998.

8 Pope John Paul II: Address to the World Congress on the Pastoral Promotion of Human Rights, Rome, 4 July 1998.

9 Book of Genesis, 1:26: "Then God said: 'Let us make human kind in our image, according to our likeness...'",

10 The major social Encyclical Letters have included Rerum novarum (1891), Quadragesimo anno (1931), Mater et Magistra (1961), Pacem in terris (1963), Populorum progressio (1967), Laborem exercens (1981), Sollicitudo rei socialis (1987) and Centesimus annus (1991). They are supplemented by many other papal addresses and documents and by the teachings of the Second Vatican Council and the World Synod of Bishops.

11 For example, the 1941 Christmas Message, Acta Apostolicae Sedis, 26 January 1942.

12 Pacem in terris (1963), section 4.

13 Pacem in terris (1963), section 4.

14 The New Dictionary of Catholic Social Thought, the Liturgical Press, Collegeville, 1994, p. 460.

15 Gaudium et spes, n. 26.

16 Gaudium et spes, n. 26.

17 Cf. Nick Cowdery QC. "The Universal Declaration of Human Rights-50 Years On", in Australian Lawyer (Newsletter of the Law Council of Australia), May 1998.

18 Cf. Prof. Hilary Charlesworth, Centenary Lecture in St Patrick's Cathedral, Melbourne, published in Eureka Street, November 1997.

19 Cf. Pope John Paul II's Message for the World Day of Peace on 1 January 1990: Peace with God the Creator: Peace with All of Creation.

20 Cf. the Holy See's Charter of the Rights of the Family, 22 October 1983.

21 Cf. statements by Archbishop Renato R. Martino (Apostolic Nuncio), L'Osservatore Romano English edition, 25 June 1998, p. 4: and Archbishop Jean-Louis Tauran, Secretary for Relations with States, L'Osservatore Romano English edition, 22 July 1998, p. 1.

22 The Catechism of the Catholic Church (nn. 2266-2267) has been amended in the light of this development in the teaching authority's approach to capital punishment. Referring to Pope John Paul II's Encyclical Letter Evangelium vitae (n. 56), the Catechism says that the cases in which the execution of an offender is an absolute necessity "are very rare, if not practically non-existent" (n. 2267).

© L'Osservatore Romano, Editorial and Management Offices, Via del Pellegrino, 00120, Vatican City, Europe, Telephone 39/6/698.99.390.

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