Evening star., 1948-12-13
A Common Standard for All

AS adopted by the General Assembly of
the United Nations during the closing
hours of the Paris session, the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights" does not
pretend to be anything more than an
idealistic expression. It lacks legal force,
and the philosophy 1t espouses Is so funda-
mentally at variance with what is prac-
ticed in such large part of the world
that its translation into global reality, If
attainable at ALL will certainly involve a
slow, step-by-step process over period
of many decades.
To begin with, the declaration-which
is to be implemented eventually with an
international treaty and the establishment
of a special world tribunal to help enforce
it-does not have the backing of all the
members of the U. N. At the time of its
adoption, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and
the bitterly dissenting six-nation Soviet
bloc abstained from voting for it, and two
other countries Honduras and Yemen
were recorded as absent. Moreover, during
the two and a half years spent in drafting
it, and during the final debate on it, even
some of it's supporters indicated reluc-
tance to accept certain provisions in it.
Particularly in the case of Russia and its
satellites, all this Is quite understandable.
For virtually every one of the declarations
twenty-nine articles aftirms the very
rights that the peoples behind the Iron
Curtain are denied-the right to individual
liberty, the right to freedom of opinion
and expression, the right to genuinely
democratic elections, the right to protec-
ton against arbitrary arrest or imprison-
ment, the right of the accused to be pre-
sumed innocent until proved guilty in a
fair and honest public trial, the right to
own property, and the right to travel
freely within and beyond the borders of
ones own country. These examples are
enough to explain the Soviet Unions op-
position; they are enough, too. to make
clear why the hundreds of millions living
in the lands dominated by Moscow will not
enjoy such liberty unless and until the
Kremlin ceases to be ruthless totalitarian
relationships prospect that seems re-
mote In the extreme at the moment.
Yet, Notwithstanding the diScouraging
outlook in the Soviet empire and elsewhere
as well, the General Assembly's affirmation
Va AA6lIS dIlO 4ullOdluCllLdl 4Iccs
domS-the first such international declara-
ton in history-represents much more
than mere collection of noble but useless
sentiments. In its own words, it raises "a
common standard of achievement for all
peoples and all nations to strive after
from generation to generation. More than
that, 1t is animated by the great and
splendid principles that animate Christi
anity itself, and men cannot say that the
one is futile or incapable of doing good
without saying the same thing about the
other.
In sum, the Assembly's declaration Is
made up Of that kind of idealism without
which the life of man would be spiritually
bleak and poverty stricken. Certainly,
Christianity, in spite of being violated
everywhere and often, has enriched and
ennobled our society. BY the same token,
no matter how long 1t may take, this in
ternational extension of 1t in the sphere of
human rights is likely to act as a benefi-
cent influence in our evil-ridden but still
perfectible world. Only far-gone cynics, or
men without faith in anything but despair,
will argue otherwise.