Presidential Documents

65309

Federal Register

Vol. 62, No. 239

Friday, December 12, 1997

Title 3—

The President

Proclamation 7059 of December 9, 1997

Human Rights Day, Bill of Rights Day, and Human Rights

Week, 1997

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

Human rights are the cornerstone of American democracy. The founders

of our democracy, in their wisdom, recognized the inherent dignity of every

human being and enshrined in the Bill of Rights our profound commitment

to freedom of speech, religion, and assembly and the right to due process

and a fair trial. Through more than two centuries of challenge and change,

these guiding principles have sustained us. They form the common ground

on which our racial, religious, and ethnic diversity can flourish.

It is a measure of our greatness as a Nation that each new generation

of Americans has sought to advance and extend the rights set forth by

Thomas Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence and by the framers

of our Constitution. Promoting human rights and democracy around the

world is a central pillar of our foreign policy. We seek to protect and

advance human rights for all, not only because a world that respects such

rights will be freer, safer, and more prosperous, but also so that we may

keep faith with the vision of our founders, who knew that these rights

are the deepest reflection of America’s fundamental values.

This week marks the beginning of the world’s celebration of the 50th anniversary year of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The adoption of

this set of principles by the United Nations on December 10, 1948, was

a landmark event in the course of modern human history. The Declaration

represented a collective condemnation by nearly 50 U.N. member states

of the widespread and devastating human rights abuses committed prior

to and during World War II, and it reflected a consensus on what the

postwar world should seek to become. Among the Declaration’s 30 articles

are affirmations of the right to life, liberty, and personal security; the right

to freedom of thought, religion, and expression; and the right to freedom

from slavery, torture, and arbitrary arrest and detention.

It was fitting that a great American, Eleanor Roosevelt, played a pivotal

role in the development of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,

which so closely reflected the tenets of our own Bill of Rights. As Chair

of the U.N. Commission on Human Rights, she led the efforts of its 18

members to define basic rights and freedoms and to draft the international

affirmation of rights that was ultimately adopted by the General Assembly.

Today, thanks to those efforts, scores of countries across the globe have

incorporated these fundamental principles into their laws and practices,

and millions of people are leading freer, happier, and more fulfilling lives.

Now our challenge is to reaffirm the universality of these precepts and

to ensure that all the world’s peoples share in their protections. While

we have made great progress in this endeavor, we must recognize that

intolerance, discrimination, and persecution continue to darken our vision

of a better future. Each of us has a part to play in upholding human

rights for men and women of all political, ethnic, religious, and racial

backgrounds. The words of Eleanor Roosevelt are both an inspiration and

a challenge, not only to Americans, but also to citizens throughout the
65310 Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 239 / Friday, December 12, 1997 / Presidential Documents

international community: ‘‘The destiny of human rights is in the hands

of all of our citizens and all of our communities.’’

NOW, THEREFORE, I, WILLIAM J. CLINTON, President of the United States

of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution

and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim December 10, 1997,

as Human Rights Day; December 15, 1997, as Bill of Rights Day; and the

week beginning December 10, 1997, as Human Rights Week. I call upon

the people of the United States to celebrate these observances with appropriate programs, ceremonies, and activities that demonstrate our national

commitment to the Bill of Rights, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,

and the promotion of human rights for all people.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this ninth day of

December, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety-seven,

and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred

[FR Doc. 97–32685

Filed 12–11–97; 8:45 am]

Billing code 3195–01–P

and twenty-second.

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