Joint Statement to the UN Commission on Human Rights
60th Session, 13th March to 22nd April 2004

by the Association for World Education (AWE), the International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU) and the World Union for Progressive Judaism (WUPJ)

Statement by David G Littman, Monday, 21 April 2004.
Item 17: Promotion and Protection of human rights (a) Status of the International Covenants on Human Rights; (b) Human Rights defenders; (c) Information and education.

[The words in square brackets [] were not spoken]

Sir,
[Last year on 21 March 2003, we concluded a joint statement under item 4 by warmly welcoming the new High Commissioner, Sergio Vieira de Mello: “Sir, you have a long task before you, not an easy one, but we are confident that with sustained collective efforts you will overcome, always bearing in mind Shakespeare’s advice, by John of Gaunt: “Small showers last long, but sudden storms are short; He tires betimes that spurs too fast betimes.” (Richard II, II, i 35-36)]

Today we wish to pay a worthy homage, under this item, by quoting from the late High Commissioner Sergio Vieira de Mello’s ground-breaking Report last year: E/CN.4/2003/14.
However utopian they may sound, the words in [intro.] point 5, have a very clear message:
“Membership of the Commission on Human Rights must carry responsibilities. I therefore wonder whether the time has not come for the Commission itself to develop a code of guidelines for access to membership of the Commission and a code of conduct for members while they serve on the Commission. After all, the Commission on Human Rights has a duty to humanity and the members of the Commission must themselves set the example of adherence to the international human rights norms – in practice as well as in law.”
A courageous suggestion from a courageous man, appreciated by many NGOs, but not, apparently, by all Members! [Clearly, the common goal of universality, so firmly enshrined in the International Bill of Human Rights and other international instruments, is essential.]

In that report [2003/14] we find another appeal:
I. THE NEED FOR STRONGER PROTECTION OF HUMAN RIGHTS, where § 7 states:
“In the 55 years since the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted, the international community has developed a solid body of international norms of human rights and humanitarian law aimed at the tangible protection of human rights. A global consensus has been strengthened around the universality and the irreducibility of human rights.”
“A crucial aspect in the establishment of universality has been to bring national legislation and judicial practice into conformity with universal human rights standards, as expressed in the International Bill of Human Rights.”
This stimulating testimony puts emphasis on strengthening national bodies in §11:
[“An adequate national protection system is one in which international human rights norms are reflected in the national constitution and in national legislation; in which the courts can apply international human rights norms and jurisprudence; in which there is human rights education in the schools; in which there are specialized institutions such as human rights commissions or ombudspersons; and in which vulnerable parts of the population are watched over in order to detect and head off problems.].”
We endorse the conclusion in §55:
“Without universal respect for human rights, the vision of the Charter of a world of peace grounded in respect for human rights and economic and social justice will remain an illusion. Let us vindicate the Charter's vision by being faithful to the universal implementation of human rights. [In doing so we shall continue in the direction of history, rather than allowing ourselves to be diverted from the course we know to be just.]”
[AWE’s written statement, E/CN.4/Sub.2/2003/NGO/15, titled: International Bill of Human Rights: Universality/International Standards/National Practices provides much useful data.]

Mr Chairman, Acting High Commissioner, you will remember in his inaugural statement on 17 March 2003, Sergio de Mello referred with dismay to terrorists who would kill anyone at any time in any place – and, yes, they [] killed him five months later!
To Osama Bin Laden, who in his message just last week once again threatened the UN – the U.S. and many others (*) – and to all the bloodthirsty Jihadists, who dare to champion & defame Islam by killing and mutilating in Allah’s name, [while threatening the entire world by their crimes against humanity,] we answer by quoting Winston Churchill who said in London on 28 June 1939 [City Carlton Club], when referring to Hitler’s March of Folly two months before the Second World War and 50 million deaths:
“Is he going to blow up the world or not? The world is a very heavy thing to blow up! An extraordinary man at a pinnacle of power may create a great explosion, and yet the civilised world may remain unshaken. The enormous fragments and splinters of the explosion may clatter down upon his head and destroy him…but the world will go on.”
Everyone here should make it clear to the mindless thugs of “Jihadi terror” (Sir, it is not ‘suicide’) that the civilised world will never surrender to their vile threats. Only total victory over their ignominious tyranny and religious depravity will bring salvation for the world: for free people, and for those still to be freed. We ask the Commission, in true homage to Sergio Vieira de Mello, to make that point crystal clear. Sergio would surely would have appreciated this appeal, and Churchill’s words too.
Thank you, Mr Chairman.
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[* Al-Jazeera TV (Qatar) and Al-Arabiya TV (UAE), 15/04/04; English trans. from Arabic in MEMRI, Special Dispatch – Jihad & Terrorism Studies Project, 15/04/ 2004, N° 695;htp:// www. memri. org/bin/opener_latest. cgi?ID= SD69504]