Fundamental rights


W , 8 1946
THE CATHOLIC HOUR

FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS
BY

THOMAS H. MAHONY

The sixteenth in a series of addresses by prominent Catholic laymen
entitled ‘‘THE ROAD AHEAD/^ delivered in the Catholic Hour, broad-
cast by the National Broadcasting Company in cooperation with the
National Council of Catholic Men, on September 22, 1946, by Thomas
H. Mahony, of Boston, Massachusetts, outstanding authority on inter-
national affairs. After the series has been concluded on the radio, it
will be made available in one pamphlet.

National Council of Catholic Men
Washington, D. C.



FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS
The Declaration of Indepen-

dence of 17.76 asserts /That all

men are created equal, that they

are endowed by their Creator

with certain unalienable Rights,

that among these are Life, Lib-

erty, and the pursuit of Happi-

ness. . .

In the preamble to a ''State-

ment of Essential Human
Rights,’' prepared by an inter-

national group of jurists select-

ed in 1943 by the American Law
Institute, it was stated that,

"Upon the freedom of the in-

dividual depends the welfare of

the people, the safety of the

state and the peace of the

world.”

It is more and more apparent

every day that human rights and
their protection are of para-

mount importance in a peaceful

post-war world.

The phrase "human rights” as
thus used may be described as
those fundamental rights of the

individual which, by reason of

their origin and the purpose of

their exercise, antedate in point

of time and validity, and trans-

cend any governmental author-

ity. They are not given by any
political society—they are God
given. They cannot be surrend-
ered to or destroyed or trans-

Preamble of Statement—infra.

grossed by any nation—they are
unalienable.

.
These unalienable and funda-

mental rights to life, liberty and

the pursuit of happiness and

those rights which are incidental

thereto are sometimes classified

as basic (the right to life), civil

(the right to due process of law,

etc.), political (the right to the

ballot, etc.) economic and social

(the right to social security, etc.)

and scientific (the right to free-

dom of scientific inquiry and in-
formation).

The committee of jurists, re-

ferred to earlier, composed of

members from many nations list-

ed in their "Statement of Essen-

tial Human Rights,’”^ the follow-
ing rights and freedoms:

1. "Freedom of belief and of

worship. . .”

2. "Freedom to form and

hold opinions. . .”

3. "Freedom of expres-
sion. . .”

4. "Freedom of assembly. . .”

5. "Freedom to form . . , as-

sociations of a political, eco-

nomic, religious, social, cultural,

or any other character for pur-

poses not inconsistent with these

articles. . .”

Am. Law Inst. Com.—Annals
of Am. Acadm. Pol. and Social Sc.,
Jan., ’46, pp. 18-26.



6. ''Freedom from unreason-

able interference with his per-

son, home, reputation, privacy,

activities and property. .

7. . , the right to have his

criminal and civil liabilities de-

termined without undue delay by

fair public trial by a competent

tribunal before which he has had

opportunity for a full hear-

ing. .

8. ". . . the right to immedi-

ate judicial determination of the

legality of his detention. .

9. The right not to be "con-

victed of crime except for vio-

lation of a law in effect at the

time of the commission of the

act charged. .

10. ". . . the right to own
property. .

11. . . the right to edu-

cation. .

12. "...the r i g h t t o
work. . r

13. ". . . the right to reason-

able conditions of work. .

14. ". . . the right to ade-

quate food and housing. .

15. ". . . the right to social

security. '.

16. ". . . the right to take

part in the government. .

17. ". . . the right to protec-

tion against arbitrary discrimi-

nation in the provisions and ap-

plication of the law because of

race, religion, sex or any other

reason/'

18.
"In the exercise of his

rights every one is limited by the

rights of others and by the just

requirements of the democratic

state."

The Inter-American Judicial

Committee late in 1945 published

a "Draft Declaration of the In-

ternational Rights and Duties of

Man""^ in which substantially

those same rights were included.

Certain additional or rather

more specific rights were includ-

ed. Among these were the fol-
lowing :

. . . the right ... to petition

the government for redress of

grievances or . . . in respect to

any other matter of public or

private interest. .

".
. . the right to a nation-

ality. . .
"

. . the right to be free from

interference in his family re-

lations."

".
. , the right to share in the

^benefits accruing from the dis-

coveries and inventions of
science. . ."

More recently the Committee

on Human Rights of the Com-
mittee to Study the Organization

of Peace issued a proposed Inter-

national Bill of Rights contain-

ing substantially the same sug-

gested rights.

The United Nations Charter

* Ibid.—Pan. Am. Union, March,
1946—pp, 5> 7> 9.



pledges the member nations to
promote ^'universal respect for,

and observance of, human rights
and fundamental freedoms.” It

does not, however, confer any

power upon the United Nations,

as an organization, to enforce

observance of these rights or

freedoms.

The Charter further provides

for the establishment of a Com-

mission on Human Rights with
power to recommend to the Eco-

nomic and Social Council or the

General Assembly the formula-

tion of an international bill of

rights. The question of whether

these rights will be observed and,

if so, how and to what extent

observance will be enforced, is

still to be determined by the indi-

vidual nations. The failure or

refusal of any nation to recog-

nize or to enforce such rights

does not lay it open to any

penalty or punishment.

The Inter-American Juridical*

Committee suggested the adop-

tion of its Declaration by every

nation as part of its domestic

law. It also suggested that in the

case of decisions against aliens

resident in a country other than

their own the national state of

the alien should have the right

to appeal to an international

court for a review of the adverse

decision.

One of the delegates to the

present peace conference at

Paris recently suggested that

there be written into the peace

treaties, in addition to a coven-

ant to recognize and to protect'

fundamental personal rights, a

provision for the establishment

of a European Court of Human
Rights with original jurisdiction,

and appellate jurisdiction over

national courts, in all matters

involving such personal rights.

This suggestion has not yet been

adopted.

There is, therefore, at the

present time, no means whereby

any nation can be compelled to

recognize these funda:mental
human rights, or to adopt them
as a bill of rights or to enforce

them, if that nation refuses to do

so. There is no international or

world authority with any such

power of enforcement, The

United Nations has no present

authority to enact or to adopt

and enforce an international bill

of human rights.
So, too, there is no inter-

national or world authority, with

power to enforce the fundamen-

tal rights of States. The United
Nations has no such present au-

thority. The exercise of a veto
in the Security Council by any

of the Great Powers prevents

any imposition of any sanctions

against any violating State.

The recognition of these



fundamental human rights and
the protection of t-hem is the

mark of a political democracy.

Lincoln defined political demo-

cracy as ‘‘government of the

people, by the people, for the

people,” and no better definition

has since been found.

Of recent years the particular

form of government has meant

little with reference to political

democracy. Of two monarchies,

one may be a political democracy
and the other a totalitarian dic-

tatorship. Of two republics one

may be politically democratic
and the other authoritarian,

maintained by a secret police.

There are certain minimum re-
quirements for political demo-

cracy. If a national government

possesses them it is politically

democratic and if not, it is not,

whatever its form may be. There
should be a representative legis-

lative body, elected periodically,

reflecting current popular will.

The elections should be by secret

ballot, fairly conducted and upon

a franchise broad enough to ex-

press majority popular will. Po-

litical parties should be free to

participate in such elections; to

offer candidates and platforms

and to campaign for them. There

should be a judiciary which

functions to administer justice

independently of any interfer-

ence by legislative or executive

agencies. No government which
seeks to perpetuate itself or its

leaders in power by refusing to

recognize these fundamental re-

quirements or to apply these

principles can properly be called

a political democracy.

Unless these rights are recog-

nized and protected throughout

the world it is certain that there

will be countries where political

freedom and economic freedom

do not exist. Such areas are the

breeding places of discontent,

friction and war.

In addition to these funda-

mental human rights, however,
there are also certain fundamtal

rights possessed by nation states.

The Inter-American Juridical

Committee some time ago issued

a proposed declaration of such

rights based upon principles

adopted at various Pan-Amer-

ican Conferences. Among those
rights they included the follow-

ing:

“The right to respect for its

personality, sovereignty and in-

dependenoe.”

“The right to judical equality

with all other states.”

It has also been asserted that

states have or should have the

right to equitable revision of

burdensome treaties, to free ac-

cess to necessary raw materials
and to free economic intercourse



with the people of all other

nations.

The failure to recognize and

to respect such fundamental

rights of States has frequently

led to war and may do so again
in the future.

Pope Pius XII has made it

clear . in his recent encyclicals

and messages that these human
rights and state rights must

be recognized and sustained if

world peace and world order are

to be maintained. He points the
way in challenging words.

In his Christmas message of

1943 dealing with the State as a

unit of human society, Pius XII
pointed out man’s fundamental

rights saying

:

‘‘He who would have the star
of peace shine out and stand over

society should cooperate for his

part in giving back to the human
person the dignity given to it

by God from the very begin-

nings. . .

“He should uphold respect for
the practical realization of the

following fundamental personal

rights

:

“the right to maintain and de-

velop one’s corporal, intellectual

and moral life and especially the

right to religious formation and

education

;

“the right to worship God in
private and public and to carry

on religious works of charity;

“the right to marry and

achieve the aim of married life;

“the right to conjugal and do-

mestic society

;

“the right to work as the in-

dispensable means toward the

maintenance of family life;

“the right to free choice of a

state in life, and hence, too, of

the priesthood or religious life;

“the right to the use of ma-

terial goods, in keeping with

one’s duties and social limi-

tations.”

In his Christmas message of

1939, Pius XII, in discussing the

rights of States, said

:

“A fundamental condition for
a just and hondrable peace is to

assure to every nation, large or

small, powerful or weak, its right

to life and independence. One

nation’s will to live must nevei

be tantamount to a death sen-

tence for another. . .”

In his Christmas message of

1940 he again referred to this

matter, and asserted as one of

the indispensable prerequisites

for a peaceful world:

“Triumph over those germs of

conflict which consist in exces-

sive disparities between nations

in the field of world economy;

hence progressive action, secured

by appropriate guarantees, to

arrive at some orderly arrange-

ment which would give to every



state the means of securing for

its citizens of all classes a proper

standard of living/'

In his Christmas message .of

1941 the Pope again emphasizes

this point saying:

'‘Within the limits of a new

order founded on moral princi-

ples there is no room for the

violation of the freedom, integ-

rity and security of other States,

no matter what may be their
territorial expansion, or their

capacity for defense. If it is in-

evitable that the powerful states

should, by reason of their great-

er potentialities and their power

play leading roles in the for-

mation of economic groups com-

prising not only themselves but

also smaller and weaker states,

it is nevertheless indispensable

that in the interest of the com-

mon good they, like all others,
respect the rights of those

smaller states to political free-

dom, to economic development,

and to adequate protection in

case of conflicts between nations,

of that neutrality which is theirs

according to the natural as well

as international law. .



THE CATHOLIC HOUR
1930—Seventeenth Year—-1946

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