Inalienable human
rights must be defended
The Vatican Secretary for Relations with States sends a
video message to the United Nations, and highlights the inalienable nature of
human rights that must be respected, even amid measures implemented to curb the
ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
Archbishop Gallagher made this appeal
in a video message during the 46th session of the United Nations Human
Rights Council (UNHRC), which commenced on Monday in Geneva, Switzerland. The
four-week-long session, held virtually due to the ongoing health emergency,
kicks off with a 3-day high-level segment when heads of states and dignitaries
representing various countries and regions will address the council by video.
For over a year now, Archbishop
Gallagher noted, “the Covid-19 pandemic has been impacting every aspect of
life, causing the loss of many and casting doubt on our economic, social, and
health systems.” At the same time, “it has also challenged our commitment to
the protection and promotion of universal human rights, while at the same time
asserting their relevance.”
Recalling Pope Francis’s words in his
latest Encyclical Fratelli tutti, Archbishop Gallagher underscored its
relevance to our time, noting that “by acknowledging the dignity of each human
person, we can contribute to the rebirth of a universal aspiration to
fraternity.”
Human rights are unconditional
The Archbishop highlighted that the
Preamble of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights declares that “the
recognition of the inherent dignity of all members of the human family and of
the equal and inalienable rights constitutes the foundation of freedom, justice
and peace.” Likewise, the UN Charter asserts its "faith in fundamental of
human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights
of men and women, and of nations large and small.”
He pointed out that these two
documents recognize an objective truth – that every human person is innately
and universally endowed by human dignity. This truth, he further stressed, “is
not conditioned by time, place, culture or context.”
Acknowledging that this solemn
commitment “is easier to pronounce than to achieve and practice,” he lamented
that these objectives are “still far from being recognized, respected,
protected and promoted in every situation.”
Rights are not separated from
universal values
Archbishop Gallagher went on to
affirm that the true promotion of fundamental human rights depends on the
underlying foundation from which they derive.
He, therefore, warned that any
practice or system that would treat rights in an abstract fashion – separated
from pre-existing and universal values – risks undermining their raison
d’être, and in such a context, “human rights institutions become
susceptible to prevailing fashions, prevailing visions or ideologies”.
The Archbishop further cautioned that
"in such a context of rights devoid of values, systems may impose
obligations or penalties that were never envisioned by state parties, which may
contradict the values they were supposed to promote." He added that they
may even “presume to create so-called 'new' rights that lack an objective
foundation, thus drifting away from their purpose of serving human dignity.”
The right to life
Illustrating the inseparability of
rights from values with the example of the right to life, Archbishop Gallagher
applauded that its content has been “progressively extended by countering acts
of torture, enforced disappearances and the death penalty; and by protecting
the elderly, the migrant, children and motherhood.” He said these developments
are reasonable extensions to the right of life as they maintain their
fundamental basis in the inherent good of life, and also because “life, before
being a right, is first and foremost a good to be cherished and protected.”
Archbishop Gallagher stressed,
however, that there is a risk "of undermining the value a right is
intended to uphold when it is divorced from its fundamental basis." He
noted, for example, an unfortunate precedent in the Human Rights
Committee's general comments 36 on the right to life, which "far from
protecting human life and dignity, twists its meaning to imply the right to
assisted suicide and to end the lives of unborn children."
Covid-19 measures and human rights
In the face of the current
Covid-19 pandemic, the Archbishop highlighted that some measures
implemented by public authorities to ensure public health impinged on the free
exercise of human rights.
In this regard, he proposed
that “any limitations on the exercise of human rights for the protection
of public health must stem from a situation of strict necessity,”
because “a number of persons, finding themselves in situations of
vulnerability – such as the elderly, migrants, refugees, indigenous people,
internally displaced persons, and children – have been disproportionately
affected by the current crisis.”
Any limitations imposed in an
emergency situation, he insisted, “must be proportional to the situation,
applied in a non-discriminatory fashion, and used only when no other means are
available.”
Freedom of religion
Archbishop Gallagher also reiterated
the urgency of protecting the right to freedom of thought, conscience and
religion, noting in particular that “religious belief, and the expression
thereof, lies at the core of the dignity of the human person in his or her
conscience.”
Highlighting that the global response
to the Covid-19 pandemic reveals that “this robust understanding of religious
freedom is being eroded,” the Archbishop re-echoed the Holy See’s insistance
that, “freedom of religion also protects its public witness and expression,
both individually and collectively, publicly and privately, in forms of
worship, observance and teaching," as numerous human rights instruments
recognize.
To respect the inherent value of this
right, therefore, the Archbishop recommends that political authorities should
engage with religious leaders, as well as leaders of faith-based organizations
and civil society committed to promoting freedom of religion and conscience.
Human fraternity, multilateralism
Archbishop Gallagher noted that the
current crisis presents us with a unique opportunity to approach
multilateralism “as the expression of a renewed sense of global responsibility,
of solidarity grounded in justice and the attainment of peace and unity within
the human family, which is God’s plan for the world.”
Recalling Pope Francis’ invitation in
the Fratelli tutti encouraging everyone to acknowledge the
dignity of each human person in order to promote universal fraternity, he
encouraged all to be willing to move beyond that which divides us in order to
effectively combat the consequences of the various crises.
Concluding his message, the
Archbishop reaffirmed the Holy See’s commitment to engage collaboratively to
this end.
Gallagher
a la ONU: Derechos humanos inalienables deben ser defendidos
Mgr
Gallagher: en temps de pandémie, attention à la protection des droits de
l'homme
Vatikan
an UN: Menschenrechte authentisch umsetzen
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