In submitting three conventions on human rights to the Senate in 1963, President Kennedy pointed out that "the fact that our Constitution already assures us of these rights does not entitle us to stand aloof from documents which project our own heritage on an international scale." He added that the "United States cannot afford to renounce responsibility for support of the very fundamentals which distinguish our concept of government from all forms of tyranny."

It is in the interest of the United States to have the standards embodied in the United Nations conventions on human rights adopted by as many countries around the world as possible. But it cannot exhort others to ratify these conventions, if it is not itself a party to them. A shift in United States attitude toward these conventions is likely to influence other nations to do the same. United States adherence to them would enable our Government to participate in international measures for their implementation. Should some other country violate the agreed standards, the United States would be entitled to complain in good faith about it to the competent international body only if the United States has itself accepted the obligations. United States ratificaion of the principal international conventions on human rights would allow the United States to play a more active part in the preparation of future instruments. In the period 19531960 the United States has lost much of its influence by announcing in advance that it is not going to ratify any conventions or covenants on human rights. This position was changed, however, in 1961, when the United States declared its support for the Convention on Consent to Marriage, Minimum Age of Marriage and Registration of Marriages. Since that time, the United States has taken an active part in the preparation of several declarations and conventions.

8. Additional Instruments in Preparation.-The Economic and Social Council has also recommended that several other important instruments on human rights be completed or prepared by 1968. Among them the most comprehensive are the two covenants on human rights, one dealing with more than twenty civil and political rights (similar to those guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States), and the other dealing with some ten basic economic, social and cultural rights (such as the right to work and the right to education). The other proposed conventions and declarations relate to specific problems, such as racial discrimination, religious intolerance, freedom of information, discrimination in the matter of political rights, discrimination in relation to women, and the right of asylum.

The Economic and Social Council has recommended that, upon approval of these instruments by the General Assembly, all the Members of the United Nations, including the United States, should implement or, where appropriate, ratify them by 1968. Without adequate advance preparation, the United States may find it difficult to comply with this recommendation of the Economic and Social Council, especially with respect to such an intricate instrument as the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

9. Refugees. Since the Evian Conference in 1938 the United States has played an active role in the various international organizations established to assist refugees the Intergovernmental Committee on Refugees, the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA), the International Refugee Organization, and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees. It has supported also the useful work of the High Commissioner for Refugees functioning under the auspices of the United Nations. But the United States has not ratified the two principal international conventions in this area, the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons, the first of which has been ratified by more than forty States and the second of which has been ratified by almost twenty States. A declaration on the right of asylum is now being prepared by the United Nations, in order to provide additional protection to refugees.

Though the problem of European refugees is largely resolved, the refugee situation in Africa, Asia and the Middle East is constantly deteriorating. New efforts are needed to take care of the increasing numbers of refugees in those

areas.

10. European Institutions for the Protection of Human Rights.-Two regional arrangements for the protection of human rights are of special interest to the United States, the more sophisticated European one and the more informal interAmerican one. In Europe, fifteen countries have ratified the European Convention on Human Rights prepared by the Council of Europe. In addition, ten European States have accepted the jurisdiction of the European Commission of Human Rights to receive petitions by individuals, and nine have recognized the compulsory jurisdiction of the European Court of Human Rights to render bind

ing judgments in cases brought against a State by another State or by the Commission.

Despite close political, military and economic links to Europe, and a common tradition in the field of human rights, the United States has made no attempt to participate in this highly advanced system of protection of fundamental free. doms or to extend it to the whole Atlantic Community. In particular, no action has been taken by the parties to the North Atlantic Treaty to comply with Article 2 of that Treaty obliging them to strengthen "their free institutions by bringing about a better understanding of the principles upon which these institutions are founded." The best way to reach that understanding would have been to establish common institutions and procedures to safeguard the rights of their citizens.

11. Inter-American Protection of Human Rights.-In the Organization of American States, the United States has accepted not only some basic principles for the protection of human rights but also some procedures for their implementation.

The Charter of the Organization of American States, adopted at Bogota in 1948, lists among its fundamental principles the political organization of the American States "on the basis of the effective exercise of representative democracy," proclaims the "fundamental rights of the individual without distinction as to race, nationality, creed or sex," and provides that each American State "shall respect the rights of the individual." The Bogota Conference adopted also a comprehensive "American Declaration of Rights and Duties of Man," defining in a general fashion twenty-seven rights and ten duties. To implement this Declaration, the Santiago Meeting of Consultation of Ministers of Foreign Affairs established in 1959 an Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, "charged with furthering respect for such rights." As requested by that Meeting of Consultation, the Inter-American Council of Jurists prepared a more detailed Draft Convention on Human Rights, which contains also provisions for an Inter-American Court of Human Rights.

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights has not only made general studies but has also examined cases of violations of human rights in several American States. Despite its limited terms of reference, the Commission was able to devise procedures for studying petitions, conducting hearings and even investigating on the spot (for instance, in the Dominican Republic in 1965). It adopted several highly critical reports, including those on Cuba (in 1962 and 1963), the Dominican Republican (1962), and Haiti (1963). The Commission also prepared a draft of an Inter-American Convention on Freedom of Expression, Information and Investigation. A Special Committee of the Council of the Organization of American States prepared in 1959 a Draft Convention on the Effective Exercise of Representative Democracy, and this subject is now being studied also by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. On request of the governments concerned, the Organization of American States also sent technical missions to observe elections in Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic in 1962, and in Nicaragua and Honduras in 1963.

The next Inter-American Conference has on its agenda the broadening of the inter-American protection of human rights, and it is necessary to clarify the United States position with respect to the various proposals to be discused by that Conference, especially those relating to the Draft Convention on Human Rights and the future powers of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.

12. Implementation of the Right of Self-Determination.-A basic human right, expressly mentioned in the Charter of the United Nations, is the right of peoples to self-determination. In 1960 the General Assembly adopted unanimously the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples, which not only provides for the exercise of the right of self-determination but also stipulates specifically that all States shall observe faithfully and strictly not only the Declaration on Colonialism but also the Universal Declaration on Human Rights. A year later the General Assembly established a Special Committee to watch over the implementation of the Declaration on Colonialism, and that Committee has been receiving petitions, holding hearings and, wherever possible, investigating the situation on the spot. The Fourth Committee of the General Assembly has also developed in recent years the practice of receiving petitions from non-self-governing territories and granting hearings to petitioners. This new practice constitutes an important departure from the prior policy of the United Nations that no organ of the United Nations should consider human rights petitions.

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13. Racial Discrimination.-In the field of racial discrimination the General Assembly has discussed, several specific cases since its very beginning. It has considered the treatment of Indians in South Africa annually since its first session. In 1946 the General Assembly called on all the governments and responsible authorities "to put an immediate end to religious and so-called racial persecution and discrimination," and after condemning racial segregation (apartheid) in 1950, it started dealing with increasing vigor with the apartheid policy of South Africa. In 1962 the General Assembly called for economic sanctions against South Africa, and the Security Council actually imposed an arms embargo in 1963. After the unanimous adoption in 1963 of the Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, the General Assembly asked for reports on compliance not only from governments but also from specialized agencies and non-governmental organizations. Such reports were actually received in 1964 from thirty-four non-governmental organizations in consultative relation with the Economic and Social Council and from twelve national non-governmental organizations.

14. Human Rights Petitions.-Since its establishment the United Nations has had to develop procedures for dealing with large numbers of communications concerning human rights which it was receiving from individuals and organizations in all parts of the world. The Commission on Human Rights was denied in 1947 the power to take any action with respect to such communications. A confidential list of communications alleging violations of human rights is presented annually to the Commission and is discussed at a private meeting. The United Nations Secretariat also sends copies of communications relating to a particular State to that State. The identity of the authors is not divulged to the Commission or the State concerned except where the petitioners authorize such disclosure. Some States, though not bound to do so, nevertheless reply to the communications sent to them, and even notify the United Nations of the action taken to remedy the situation.

The United States should, in accordance with its own traditions, adopt a friendly attitude toward the right of petition. The right to complain to an appropriate international organization should not be limited to States, but should be granted also to international non-governmental organizations in a consultative status, to national organizations approved for that purpose by the Economic and Social Council, and to individual's. As it was done in the European Convention on Human Rights, and as it was proposed by the United States in 1951, each State Party to a human rights convention or covenant should be given a choice among several implementation clauses granting the right to bring a complaint to one or more of the groups listed above.

15. Implementation of Human Rights Covenants.-The Third Committee of the General Assembly, after ten years of discussion, has agreed on the substantive provisions of the Covenants on Human Rights, and is embarking now on the study of the measures needed for implementing these Covenants. In its original drafts of the Covenants, the Commission on Human Rights provided only for a system of periodic reports with respect to the Covenant on Economic and Social and Cultural Rights, but made elaborate proposals for inclusion in the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. It envisaged for that Covenant of Human Rights Committee of nine persons serving not as government representatives but in their personal capacity, and a reference to the International Court of Justice, should the Committee reach no solution. It was suggested that the Committee should have jurisdiction over complaints by one State Party to the Covenant against another State Party, but should not deal with petitions by individuals or organizations. At one time, the United States proposed a separate protocol extending the right to initiate proceedings to individuals, groups and organizations; that proposal was later withdrawn, however.

Various other suggestions have been presented for the enforcement of the Covenant. In particular, Uruguay has made several proposals for the estab lishment of an "Office of the United Nations High Commissioner (AttorneyGeneral) for Human Rights." Under these proposals, the Attorney-General would have had the following powers: (a) to collect and examine information with regard to all matters relevant to the observance and enforcement of the Covenant; (b) to require States Parties to submit periodic reports on the implementation of the provisions of the Covenant in the territories under their jurisdiction; (c) to conduct on-the-spot studies and inquiries on matters relating to the implementation of the Covenant; (d) to initiate consultations with a State Party on any case or situation which, in his opinion, may be inconsistent

with that State's obligations under the Covenant, and to make to that State such suggestions and recommendations as he may deem appropriate for the effective implementation of the Covenant; (e) to receive and examine complaints of alleged violations of the Covenant, submitted to him by individuals, groups of individuals, national and international non-governmental organizations and intergovernmental organizations; (f) if the complaints fulfill various requirements specified in the proposals, to conduct such preliminary investigation as he may consider appropriate, and to undertake negotiations with the State concerned; and (g) to refer the complaint to the Human Rights Committee, if negotiations fail, and to make submissions concerning it to the Committee, orally or in writing, as he may deem necessary. This proposal was designed to provide, as an alternative to direct petitions by individuals and organizations, a procedure channelling such petitions through an eminent public official representing the interests of the world community.

16. Periodic Reports.-Without waiting for the adoption of the Covenants and of measures for their enforcement, the United Nations has developed a variety of procedures for promoting human rights. Since the very beginning of the United Nations, most members of the United Nations have been furnishing the Secretariat of the United Nations with information for the United Nations Yearbook of Human Rights. This information related to constitutional provisions, legislative and executive acts, and judicial decisions having a bearing on human rights. Additional information gathered directly by the Secretariat of the United Nations is also published in the Yearbook. In 1956 the Economic and Social Council, on the basis of a United States proposal, invited all Members of the United Nations and the specialized agencies to report every three years on the developments and on progress achieved in the field of human rights, and on the measures taken to safeguard human liberty in their metropolitan and non-self-governing territories. The summaries of these reports, prepared by the Secretariat are at present studied by a Committee on Periodic Reports on Human Rights appointed from among its membership by the Commission on Human Rights.

In 1965 the Economic and Social Council revised completely the procedure relating to periodic reports. Among other changes, it requested the Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities, which unlike the Commission on Human Rights is composed not of government representatives but of experts, to make an initial study of all the periodic reports, together with the comments on those reports received from non-governmental organizations in consultative status, and to submit comments and recommendations for the consideration of the Commission. The Commission of Human Rights was requested to appoint an ad hoc committee, composed of persons chosen from among its members (i.e., a committee of government representatives), for the study of the reports in the light of comments of the Sub-Commission (and of the Commission on Status of Women) and to submit to the Commission "comments, conclusions and recommendations of an objective character." In order to enable the Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities to discharge the new functions and "to assure adequate representation to different regions, legal systems and cultures," the Council increased its membership from fourteen to eighteen. Further changes are contemplated by the Commission on Human Rights, which will consider at its next session a joint proposal by Costa Rica, India, Liberia, the Netherlands and the Philippines to change the name of the Sub-Commission to "Permanent Committee of Experts of the Commission on Human Rights," and to enlarge the powers of the new Committee by authorizing it "to undertake studies and submit reports and recommendations concerning any matter in the field of human rights and fundamental freedoms, as may be requested by the Commission on Human Rights and the Economic and Social Council." Should these proposals be accepted, the United Nations would have at its disposal a committee of experts empowered to deal not only with prevention of discrimination and protection of minorities but also with all other problems relating to human rights. In its comments on the reports, this committee would be able to raise a number of important issues and to exert strong influence on the protection of human rights by the reporting nations. A committee of a similar kind exists in the International Labor Organization and its performance has met with considerable

success.

17. United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. A suggestion was made by Mr. Jacob Blaustein in his Dag Hammerskjöld Memorial Lecture in

1963 that the General Assembly of the United Nations might appoint an independent personality as a United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights who could assist the Commission on Human Rights in its review of periodic reports and perform other functions. At the twentieth session of the General Assembly in 1965, Costa Rica presented an elaboration of this proposal, which provides that a High Commissioner be appointed by the General Assembly who "shall assist in furthering the realization of human rights and shall seek to secure the observance of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights." He would “advise and assist the Commission on Human Rights and other organs of the United Nations on the periodic and other reports, or submissions made by Governments, relating to human rights and such other matters as these bodies may request." At the request of any Government, he would "render assistance and services, and shall report on such assistance and services, if it is so agreed with the Government or Governments concerned." Finally, he would make annual reports to the General Assembly, and special reports in cases of urgency.

18. Human Rights Studies.-Another proposal made by the United States in 1956 led the Economic and Social Council to authorize the Commission on Human Rights to prepare studies of specific rights and groups of rights with a view to making objective and general recommendations. The studies were to stress general developments, progress achieved and measures taken to safeguard human liberty. The first such study considered "the right of everyone to be free from arbitrary arrest, detention and exile," and an elaborate report was submitted to the Commisison by a special committee of four in 1962. A second study is now under way relating to "the right of arrested persons to communicate with those whom it is necessary to consult in order to ensure their defense." A series of studies on discrimination has been authorized also by a separate resolution of the Economic and Social Council; studies have been completed with respect to discrimination in education, discrimination in the matter of religious rights and practices, discrimination in the matter of political rights, and "discrimination in respect of the right of everyone to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country"; studies in preparation deal with "discrimination against persons born out of wedlock," and with "equality in the administration of justice."

19. Human Rights Seminars.-Finally, in order to enable governments to exchange their experience in solving or attempting to solve certain problems concerning human rights, the United Nations has been conducting regional seminars on various subjects, such as: the protection of human rights in criminal law and procedure; judicial and other remedies against illegal exercise or abuse of administrative authority; the participation of women in public life; the status of women in family law; the purposes and legitimate limits of penal sanctions; amparo, habeas corpus and other similar remedies; human rights in the develop ing countries; and freedom of information. None of these seminars has been held yet in the United States.

20. Other Methods of Implementation.—Additional methods for ensuring observance of human rights have been developed by specialized agencies of the United Nations, especially the International Labor Organization, and the regional organizations in Europe and the Americas. The United States must consider in the near future which of these procedures it should support and which of them it would accept not only for other countries but also for itself. In some cases it might be enough to allow evolution through resolutions of international organizations, but in other cases, especially with respect to the two Covenants, acceptance of treaty obligations might be involved.

FUTURE GOALS

The Committee on Human Rights believes that the United States, in order to contribute to a greater society of mankind, based on the rule of law, justice and equity, should take such action as may be needed to achieve the eight goals listed below:

1. Ratification of the Four Human Rights Conventions Which Are now Pending before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.-Three conventions were transmitted to the Senate by President Kennedy on July 22, 1963: the United Nations Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery, the United Nations Convention on the Political Rights of Women, and the ILO Convention on the Abolition of Forced Labor. In his letter to the Senate, President Kennedy set forth the considerations which call for their ratification by the United States. We believe that it is now more important than ever for