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Mr President, Ladies and Gentlemen,
As I begin my address to this Assembly, I would like first of all to express
to you, Mr President, my sincere gratitude for your kind words. My thanks go
also to the Secretary-General, Mr Ban Ki-moon, for inviting me to visit the
headquarters of this Organization and for the welcome that he has extended to
me. I greet the Ambassadors and Diplomats from the Member States, and all
those present. Through you, I greet the peoples who are represented here.
They look to this institution to carry forward the founding inspiration to
establish a "centre for harmonizing the actions of nations in the attainment
of these common ends" of peace and development (cf. Charter of the United
Nations, article 1.2-1.4). As Pope John Paul II expressed it in 1995, the
Organization should be "a moral centre where all the nations of the world
feel at home and develop a shared awareness of being, as it were, a 'family
of nations'" (Address to the General Assembly of the United Nations on the
50th Anniversary of its Foundation, New York, 5 October 1995, 14).
Through the United Nations, States have established universal objectives
which, even if they do not coincide with the total common good of the human
family, undoubtedly represent a fundamental part of that good. The founding
principles of the Organization - the desire for peace, the quest for justice,
respect for the dignity of the person, humanitarian cooperation and
assistance - express the just aspirations of the human spirit, and constitute
the ideals which should underpin international relations. As my predecessors
Paul VI and John Paul II have observed from this very podium, all this is
something that the Catholic Church and the Holy See follow attentively and
with interest, seeing in your activity an example of how issues and conflicts
concerning the world community can be subject to common regulation. The
United Nations embodies the aspiration for a "greater degree of international
ordering" (John Paul II, Sollicitudo Rei Socialis, 43), inspired and governed
by the principle of subsidiarity, and therefore capable of responding to the
demands of the human family through binding international rules and through
structures capable of harmonizing the day-to-day unfolding of the lives of
peoples. This is all the more necessary at a time when we experience the
obvious paradox of a multilateral consensus that continues to be in crisis
because it is still subordinated to the decisions of a few, whereas the
world's problems call for interventions in the form of collective action by
the international community.
Indeed, questions of security, development goals, reduction of local and
global inequalities, protection of the environment, of resources and of the
climate, require all international leaders to act jointly and to show a
readiness to work in good faith, respecting the law, and promoting solidarity
with the weakest regions of the planet. I am thinking especially of those
countries in Africa and other parts of the world which remain on the margins
of authentic integral development, and are therefore at risk of experiencing
only the negative effects of globalization. In the context of international
relations, it is necessary to recognize the higher role played by rules and
structures that are intrinsically ordered to promote the common good, and
therefore to safeguard human freedom. These regulations do not limit freedom.
On the contrary, they promote it when they prohibit behaviour and actions
which work against the common good, curb its effective exercise and hence
compromise the dignity of every human person. In the name of freedom, there
has to be a correlation between rights and duties, by which every person is
called to assume responsibility for his or her choices, made as a consequence
of entering into relations with others. Here our thoughts turn also to the
way the results of scientific research and technological advances have
sometimes been applied. Notwithstanding the enormous benefits that humanity
can gain, some instances of this represent a clear violation of the order of
creation, to the point where not only is the sacred character of life
contradicted, but the human person and the family are robbed of their natural
identity. Likewise, international action to preserve the environment and to
protect various forms of life on earth must not only guarantee a rational use
of technology and science, but must also rediscover the authentic image of
creation. This never requires a choice to be made between science and ethics:
rather it is a question of adopting a scientific method that is truly
respectful of ethical imperatives.
Recognition of the unity of the human family, and attention to the innate
dignity of every man and woman, today find renewed emphasis in the principle
of the responsibility to protect. This has only recently been defined, but it
was already present implicitly at the origins of the United Nations, and is
now increasingly characteristic of its activity. Every State has the primary
duty to protect its own population from grave and sustained violations of
human rights, as well as from the consequences of humanitarian crises,
whether natural or man-made. If States are unable to guarantee such
protection, the international community must intervene with the juridical
means provided in the United Nations Charter and in other international
instruments. The action of the international community and its institutions,
provided that it respects the principles undergirding the international
order, should never be interpreted as an unwarranted imposition or a
limitation of sovereignty. On the contrary, it is indifference or failure to
intervene that do the real damage. What is needed is a deeper search for ways
of pre-empting and managing conflicts by exploring every possible diplomatic
avenue, and giving attention and encouragement to even the faintest sign of
dialogue or desire for reconciliation.
The principle of "responsibility to protect" was considered by the ancient
ius gentium as the foundation of every action taken by those in government
with regard to the governed: at the time when the concept of national
sovereign States was first developing, the Dominican Friar Francisco de
Vitoria, rightly considered as a precursor of the idea of the United Nations,
described this responsibility as an aspect of natural reason shared by all
nations, and the result of an international order whose task it was to
regulate relations between peoples. Now, as then, this principle has to
invoke the idea of the person as image of the Creator, the desire for the
absolute and the essence of freedom. The founding of the United Nations, as
we know, coincided with the profound upheavals that humanity experienced when
reference to the meaning of transcendence and natural reason was abandoned,
and in consequence, freedom and human dignity were grossly violated. When
this happens, it threatens the objective foundations of the values inspiring
and governing the international order and it undermines the cogent and
inviolable principles formulated and consolidated by the United Nations. When
faced with new and insistent challenges, it is a mistake to fall back on a
pragmatic approach, limited to determining "common ground", minimal in
content and weak in its effect.
This reference to human dignity, which is the foundation and goal of the
responsibility to protect, leads us to the theme we are specifically focusing
upon this year, which marks the sixtieth anniversary of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights. This document was the outcome of a convergence
of different religious and cultural traditions, all of them motivated by the
common desire to place the human person at the heart of institutions, laws
and the workings of society, and to consider the human person essential for
the world of culture, religion and science. Human rights are increasingly
being presented as the common language and the ethical substratum of
international relations. At the same time, the universality, indivisibility
and interdependence of human rights all serve as guarantees safeguarding
human dignity. It is evident, though, that the rights recognized and
expounded in the Declaration apply to everyone by virtue of the common origin
of the person, who remains the high-point of God's creative design for the
world and for history. They are based on the natural law inscribed on human
hearts and present in different cultures and civilizations. Removing human
rights from this context would mean restricting their range and yielding to a
relativistic conception, according to which the meaning and interpretation of
rights could vary and their universality would be denied in the name of
different cultural, political, social and even religious outlooks. This great
variety of viewpoints must not be allowed to obscure the fact that not only
rights are universal, but so too is the human person, the subject of those
rights.
[Continuing in English]
The life of the community, both domestically and internationally, clearly
demonstrates that respect for rights, and the guarantees that follow from
them, are measures of the common good that serve to evaluate the relationship
between justice and injustice, development and poverty, security and
conflict. The promotion of human rights remains the most effective strategy
for eliminating inequalities between countries and social groups, and for
increasing security. Indeed, the victims of hardship and despair, whose human
dignity is violated with impunity, become easy prey to the call to violence,
and they can then become violators of peace. The common good that human
rights help to accomplish cannot, however, be attained merely by applying
correct procedures, nor even less by achieving a balance between competing
rights. The merit of the Universal Declaration is that it has enabled
different cultures, juridical expressions and institutional models to
converge around a fundamental nucleus of values, and hence of rights. Today,
though, efforts need to be redoubled in the face of pressure to reinterpret
the foundations of the Declaration and to compromise its inner unity so as to
facilitate a move away from the protection of human dignity towards the
satisfaction of simple interests, often particular interests. The Declaration
was adopted as a "common standard of achievement" (Preamble) and cannot be
applied piecemeal, according to trends or selective choices that merely run
the risk of contradicting the unity of the human person and thus the
indivisibility of human rights.
Experience shows that legality often prevails over justice when the
insistence upon rights makes them appear as the exclusive result of
legislative enactments or normative decisions taken by the various agencies
of those in power. When presented purely in terms of legality, rights risk
becoming weak propositions divorced from the ethical and rational dimension
which is their foundation and their goal. The Universal Declaration, rather,
has reinforced the conviction that respect for human rights is principally
rooted in unchanging justice, on which the binding force of international
proclamations is also based. This aspect is often overlooked when the attempt
is made to deprive rights of their true function in the name of a narrowly
utilitarian perspective. Since rights and the resulting duties follow
naturally from human interaction, it is easy to forget that they are the
fruit of a commonly held sense of justice built primarily upon solidarity
among the members of society, and hence valid at all times and for all
peoples. This intuition was expressed as early as the fifth century by
Augustine of Hippo, one of the masters of our intellectual heritage. He
taught that the saying: Do not do to others what you would not want done to
you "cannot in any way vary according to the different understandings that
have arisen in the world" (De Doctrina Christiana, III, 14). Human rights,
then, must be respected as an expression of justice, and not merely because
they are enforceable through the will of the legislators.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
As history proceeds, new situations arise, and the attempt is made to link
them to new rights. Discernment, that is, the capacity to distinguish good
from evil, becomes even more essential in the context of demands that concern
the very lives and conduct of persons, communities and peoples. In tackling
the theme of rights, since important situations and profound realities are
involved, discernment is both an indispensable and a fruitful virtue.
Discernment, then, shows that entrusting exclusively to individual States,
with their laws and institutions, the final responsibility to meet the
aspirations of persons, communities and entire peoples, can sometimes have
consequences that exclude the possibility of a social order respectful of the
dignity and rights of the person. On the other hand, a vision of life firmly
anchored in the religious dimension can help to achieve this, since
recognition of the transcendent value of every man and woman favours
conversion of heart, which then leads to a commitment to resist violence,
terrorism and war, and to promote justice and peace. This also provides the
proper context for the inter-religious dialogue that the United Nations is
called to support, just as it supports dialogue in other areas of human
activity. Dialogue should be recognized as the means by which the various
components of society can articulate their point of view and build consensus
around the truth concerning particular values or goals. It pertains to the
nature of religions, freely practised, that they can autonomously conduct a
dialogue of thought and life. If at this level, too, the religious sphere is
kept separate from political action, then great benefits ensue for
individuals and communities. On the other hand, the United Nations can count
on the results of dialogue between religions, and can draw fruit from the
willingness of believers to place their experiences at the service of the
common good. Their task is to propose a vision of faith not in terms of
intolerance, discrimination and conflict, but in terms of complete respect
for truth, coexistence, rights, and reconciliation.
Human rights, of course, must include the right to religious freedom,
understood as the expression of a dimension that is at once individual and
communitarian - a vision that brings out the unity of the person while
clearly distinguishing between the dimension of the citizen and that of the
believer. The activity of the United Nations in recent years has ensured that
public debate gives space to viewpoints inspired by a religious vision in all
its dimensions, including ritual, worship, education, dissemination of
information and the freedom to profess and choose religion. It is
inconceivable, then, that believers should have to suppress a part of
themselves - their faith - in order to be active citizens. It should never be
necessary to deny God in order to enjoy one's rights. The rights associated
with religion are all the more in need of protection if they are considered
to clash with a prevailing secular ideology or with majority religious
positions of an exclusive nature. The full guarantee of religious liberty
cannot be limited to the free exercise of worship, but has to give due
consideration to the public dimension of religion, and hence to the
possibility of believers playing their part in building the social order.
Indeed, they actually do so, for example through their influential and
generous involvement in a vast network of initiatives which extend from
Universities, scientific institutions and schools to health care agencies and
charitable organizations in the service of the poorest and most marginalized.
Refusal to recognize the contribution to society that is rooted in the
religious dimension and in the quest for the Absolute - by its nature,
expressing communion between persons - would effectively privilege an
individualistic approach, and would fragment the unity of the person.
My presence at this Assembly is a sign of esteem for the United Nations, and
it is intended to express the hope that the Organization will increasingly
serve as a sign of unity between States and an instrument of service to the
entire human family. It also demonstrates the willingness of the Catholic
Church to offer her proper contribution to building international relations
in a way that allows every person and every people to feel they can make a
difference. In a manner that is consistent with her contribution in the
ethical and moral sphere and the free activity of her faithful, the Church
also works for the realization of these goals through the international
activity of the Holy See. Indeed, the Holy See has always had a place at the
assemblies of the Nations, thereby manifesting its specific character as a
subject in the international domain. As the United Nations recently
confirmed, the Holy See thereby makes its contribution according to the
dispositions of international law, helps to define that law, and makes appeal
to it.
The United Nations remains a privileged setting in which the Church is
committed to contributing her experience "of humanity", developed over the
centuries among peoples of every race and culture, and placing it at the
disposal of all members of the international community. This experience and
activity, directed towards attaining freedom for every believer, seeks also
to increase the protection given to the rights of the person. Those rights
are grounded and shaped by the transcendent nature of the person, which
permits men and women to pursue their journey of faith and their search for
God in this world. Recognition of this dimension must be strengthened if we
are to sustain humanity's hope for a better world and if we are to create the
conditions for peace, development, cooperation, and guarantee of rights for
future generations.
In my recent Encyclical, Spe Salvi, I indicated that "every generation has
the task of engaging anew in the arduous search for the right way to order
human affairs" (no. 25). For Christians, this task is motivated by the hope
drawn from the saving work of Jesus Christ. That is why the Church is happy
to be associated with the activity of this distinguished Organization,
charged with the responsibility of promoting peace and good will throughout
the earth. Dear Friends, I thank you for this opportunity to address you
today, and I promise you of the support of my prayers as you pursue your
noble task.
Before I take my leave from this distinguished Assembly, I should like to
offer my greetings, in the official languages, to all the Nations here
represented.
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