Diario las Américas., 1958-02-19
Defense Of Human Riqhts
a World Responsibility
Pres. Figures Declares
GAS, UN DECLARATIONS ON RIGHTS
OF MAN RECOGNIZE THAT, HE SAYS
Praises THE AMERICAS DAILY for Work 10
Achieve Greater Inter American Unity


which, no doubt, will be of great
interest to our readers THE
AMERICAS DAILY wishes to
than, President Figures for
his kind words regarding our
work to promote better Inter
American relations, as well as his
words Of encouragement for our
democratic endeavOrS, comment
ed In a manner which hOnOrS us
by the illustriOuS Latin Amer
lean statesman.
To questions submitted by our
editors, President FiguereS said:
81 am very pleased to give you,
for THE AMERICAS DAILY, this
exclusive interview. Your news
paper has my good will because,
in addition to fulfilling the obiec-
tive necessity of informing about
what goes on in Latin America, its
editorial policy is within the bounds
of increasingly powerful democra-
tic currents which will eventually
sweep out the few relationships
still infeSting Latin America"
Question: What was the de-
termining factor in your Govern
ment's decision to request the
United Nations to send observers
to the elections held in your coun-
try on February End?
Answer: The movement which
brought me to power has always
maintained that human rights have
ceased to be a matter under the
exclusive jurisdiction of each ma
ton, to become an international
responsibility. The American De-
c~laration of the Rights and Duties
of Man, adopted in April 1913 by
the Ninth Inter-American COME
renee held in Bogota, and the
Universal Declaration of Human
Rights adopted by the United
Nations General Assembly in Dec.
of that same year, 1948, recognizes
this fact. Among these basic rights
of men, internationally recognized,
is that of participating in popular
elections. where balloting will be
clean, secret, periodical and free.
Therefore, we deemed it convenient
that foreign observers, selected
from a list submitted by the United
Nations Secretary General, come
to our country to observe the
electoral process and inform that
world organization of the manner
in which Costa Rica fulfilled its
International obligation of respect
ing the rights of her citizens to
freely exercise the privilege of
voting.
We believe it would be advisable
for other democratic nations to
benefit from our experience as
concerns requesting impartial
observers for the electoral process
from the United Nations, or the
Organization of American States.
Thus, a reality would become of
what the aforesaid Declarations of
Human Rights have proclaimed in
theory: That the observance of
the basic rights of humans is a
matter that concerns the interna.
tional community, and not just a
particular state, inasmuch as the
rights of man do not have their
origin in the fact that he is a
national of any n country but in
the fact that he is a member of
the human race.
Q.-Some persons have criticized
the step taken by your Government
of requesting UN observers, alleg-
ing that this was a slight to Costa
Rican sovereignty.
Al believe there is no founda-
ton for such criticism. 1t is based
in an absolute concept of national
sovereignty which, in reality, it has
never been possible to apply. Least
of all now, that international law
has progressed so much as to
produce regional organizations like
the GAS or void organizations like
the UN. Just as individual liberty,
ample as it may be, is restricted
by the obligations imposed by com
munity life, sovereignty, conceived
as the right which nations have
to guide their own destinies, has
always been subjected to the limi.
tations imposed by the intcrna'
tional community, especially i'll the
case when these international
obligations have been freely
acquired by the government of the
particular countries.
If Costa Rica consciously and
sincerely accepted to become 8
part of the UN and the OAS, by
that same acceptance she agreed
to limit her sovereignty, renounc
ing to the unilateral decision Of
international matters which may
fall within the scope of action Of
either organization.
Human rights, as I stated II
answer to your first question, arr
not an exclusively domestic matter
of each state. They are the respon
sibility of the Inter-American com
munity or of the international
community, in spite of the fact tina
there are still insufficient instru