United Nations 74th GENERAL PLENARY MEETING ASSEMBLY Friday, 10 December 1993 FORTY-EIGHTH SESSION at 10 a.m. Official Records NEW YORK President: Mr. INSANALLY legislation and to develop systems of government in which (Guyana) the human rights of individuals and groups are enshrined and __________ protected. The meeting was called to order at 10.45 a.m. While the Universal Declaration remains a historic landmark in international relations, however, the concern of AGENDA ITEM 20 (continued) the United Nations for human rights must go beyond this one document. I draw members’ attention to the Charter of FORTY-FIFTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE UNIVERSAL the United Nations, which proclaims in its Article 1 that the DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS protection and promotion of human rights for all is, along with the maintenance of international peace and security and (a) REPORT OF THE SECRETARY-GENERAL the promotion of economic and social development, one of (A/48/506) the principal purposes of this Organization. (b) DRAFT DECISION (A/48/L.49) Experience over the years has taught us all that these three goals are themselves interrelated and mutually The PRESIDENT: I declare open the commemorative reinforcing. Genuine economic and social development meeting devoted to the observance of the forty-fifth cannot be possible without respect for human rights, nor can anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. worldwide peace and security be achieved in a climate where human rights are not protected and respected. The I shall now make a statement in my capacity as right to development and the right to peace are two President of the General Assembly. particularly challenging but logical consequences of these interrelationships. A realization of the links between human Forty-five years ago today, this body took the historic rights, development and peace must inform all our decision of adopting the Universal Declaration of Human deliberations and guide our every action. Rights. This Declaration has proved over time to be far more than a mere resolution of the General Assembly. It This has proved to be a landmark year in human rights. has become in fact the foundation upon which the It has pointed to a new era of democracy in which international system for the protection and promotion of undemocratic structures will be dismantled and evils such as human rights has been built. It has inspired over 70 human apartheid and racial hatred will be eradicated. At the same rights instruments within the United Nations system and has time, it has revealed new threats to global peace and provided a frame of reference for the development of stability. These conflicting developments were recognized regional human rights systems in Africa, Asia, Europe and by the World Conference on Human Rights, which was the Americas. Equally important, the standards set out in the convened earlier this year to evaluate the progress of the Declaration have become part of the law of the land of many international community in the field of human rights. United Nations Member States which have chosen to incorporate its provisions into their constitutions and This record is subject to correction. Distr. GENERAL Corrections should be sent under the signature of a member of the delegation concerned within one week of the date of publication to the Chief of the Verbatim Reporting Section, A/48/PV.74 Room C-178, and incorporated in a copy of the record. 22 December 1993 Corrections will be issued after the end of the session in a consolidated corrigendum. ENGLISH 93-87351 (E) 2 General Assembly - Forty-eighth session The international community has, through the I am now pleased to invite the Secretary-General of the Declaration and Programme of Action adopted at the Vienna United Nations, Mr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali, to address the Conference, declared its commitment to ensuring that human General Assembly. rights remain a priority objective of the United Nations. In this regard, the World Conference called for a strengthening The SECRETARY-GENERAL: I welcome everyone of United Nations machinery, an increase in international on this important occasion. cooperation and improved coordination of United Nations activities and organs in the field of human rights. To be Today is International Human Rights Day, and today effective, however, such cooperation and coordination must we award the United Nations Human Rights Prizes. But extend beyond the United Nations to involve regional today also marks the forty-fifth anniversary of the Universal organizations, financial and developmental institutions, Declaration of Human Rights, a birthday that we have good individual States and non-governmental entities. cause to celebrate. Much of the groundwork for developing a world society The Declaration is based on the equal dignity and rights respectful of human rights is now being laid. Under the of every human being. It proclaims everyone’s entitlement auspices of the United Nations, a comprehensive law of to the enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms, human rights has developed, covering almost every sphere and that entitlement is of human activity. Many of the mechanisms necessary for implementing these provisions are now in place. The "without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, creation of regional human rights systems and national sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, infrastructures has served to reinforce this international national or social origin". (resolution 217 A (III), art. 2) system and to ensure its universal application. Simultaneously, fresh political thinking and advances in In the course of 45 years the Universal Declaration has technology have led to a physical and psychological opening proved its true, universal character. Today, in every part of of societies, leading to a greater transparency on the question the world, the Universal Declaration is held out as a of human rights. common standard for all peoples. It has provided a solid foundation for the development of a truly comprehensive However, it can hardly be said that these developments, system, within the United Nations, for both the protection while important and progressive, have significantly improved and the promotion of human rights. It has directly the world human rights situation. As we are all painfully influenced over 70 United Nations instruments in the field aware, human rights violations still occur with frightening of human rights. It has provided the basis of regional regularity in many places. As one problem area arises and human rights conventions in Europe, Latin America and is acted upon, another one soon reveals itself. For each Africa. It has given shape and substance to the human rights situation resolved by the international community, there is provisions of many national constitutions. another that demands our prompt attention. Much, therefore, remains to be done. The commitment of the United Nations to the protection and the promotion of human rights is, of course, older than On this occasion of the forty-fifth anniversary of the the Declaration. The Charter of the United Nations makes Universal Declaration, we must reflect not only on the it clear, in Article 1, that the protection and promotion of progress that has been made in the field of human rights but human rights for all is one of the principal purposes of the also on a strategy for achieving our ultimate goal. United Nations. Five years from now, on the fiftieth anniversary of the Today it is understood that unless human rights are Universal Declaration, the United Nations will conduct a respected the other two great goals of the United Nations - thorough appraisal of its own work and that of the entire the maintenance of international peace and security and the international system in the field of human rights. At that promotion of economic and social development - cannot be time we should not measure performance by the number of achieved. speeches delivered, by the number of reports written or by resolutions adopted. The only criterion of effectiveness must The link between human rights and international peace be a quantifiable improvement in the global human rights and security is fundamental. The drafters of the Charter situation. In this regard, I believe that the universalization understood that gross and systematic violations of human of human rights has to begin in the hearts of men. Its rights lead almost inevitably to strife, conflict and military starting point has to be the internalization of the virtues of confrontation. accommodation and tolerance and the acceptance of the rights of others. 74th meeting - Friday, 10 December l993 3 Today we know all too well how true that is. We know rights machinery; and increasing coordination on human that human rights must play a crucial role in our rights matters within the United Nations system. peace-keeping and peacemaking. The Declaration also recognizes the importance of We know, too, that sustainable development without encouraging widespread ratification of human rights human rights will never work. Human rights must be conventions. It goes even further; it reaffirms the crucial fundamental in sustainable development - in the planning, role of Governments in ensuring that these international execution and evaluation of projects for economic and social standards are incorporated into domestic law and are progress. We must not only recognize that democracy, effectively implemented at the national level. development and respect for human rights are interlocking and mutually reinforcing; we must also act on that belief. Yet the success of the Vienna Conference cannot be measured by the number of participants it attracted or by the The equality, interrelationship and interdependence of length or quality of the documents it produced. Its success all human rights is now beyond question. But that can be measured in only one way: by meaningful knowledge still has to inform all of the work of the United improvements in the lives of those whose rights are being Nations.