The Vatican, May 2, 2008

REGINA APOSTOLORUM UNIVERSITY

LATIN AMERICA AND
THE INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS PROJECT

YESTERDAY, TODAY AND TOMORROW

Sponsored by the Embassies to the Holy See: United States,
Chile, Costa Rica and the Knights of Columbus

“Recalling a great Generation of Diplomacy”

Pablo Pérez-Cisneros speech….

My fellow speakers, representatives of the Church hierarchy, countries’ representatives, dignitaries, ladies and gentlemen….

First of all, I want to thank her Excellence, United States Ambassador to the Holy See, Mary Ann Glendon, for inviting me to take part in this important forum, where the participation of the Latin American Countries at the United Nations in the early years of its formation, influenced the development and final approval of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

As history recalls, the founding conference of the United Nations took place sometime in April of 1945, attended by the representatives of fifty nations in San Francisco, California.  At the time, the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations was formed; one of the most important documents to affect mankind’s relationship – The Universal Declaration of Human Rights – was yet to be developed.  The greatest source of pride for me is the role that my homeland of Cuba played in general, and the leadership role played by its delegate, Guy Pérez-Cisneros, my late father.

 Late in December, 1945, while the Cuban Delegation was in Great Britain for the United Nations Preparatory Commission taking place at Westminster University in London, one of the Cuban Delegates to that conference was, thirty-year old Guy Perez-Cisneros.  He suggested to his fellow Delegates to request that Cuba’s Ambassador to England, Willy de Blanc, attempt to schedule a meeting with the former Prime Minister of Great Britain, Winston S. Churchill.  The requested meeting took place a few days later and was attended by the Cuban Delegates to the Preparatory Commission. They were: Cuba’s Ambassador to Washington, Guillermo Belt, Permanent Delegate Guy Pérez-Cisneros, Economic Advisor, Felipe Pazos, and Law Professor and Jurist, Ernesto Díhigo.

After the usual formalities in which Mr. Churchill reminded the Cuban Representatives that he knew their country well, went on to explain that he had been a newspaper correspondent for the “Saturday Review”, a British newspaper, and had visited Cuba as such during the fall of 1895 to the spring of 1896. His assignment was to travel with the Spanish Troops during the Cuban War of Independence and, for that purpose, he had been provided a Red Cross bracelet as a means of identification and self-protection, which, as he recalled, served him well during several military encounters.  The first of the encounters that he covered, took place in Sancti Spiritus, in Las Villas province. Churchill also mentioned that his articles at that time were somewhat written in favor of the Spanish crown, due to the unorthodox manner in which the Cuban insurgents were fighting.  He also indicated that a few years later, when Cuba finally obtained her independence, he had changed his position, this time in favor of Cuba.

During their conversation, young Pérez-Cisneros produced a copy of a speech that former President of the United States, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, had given during his State of the Union address on January 6, 1941 to the 77^th Congress, and emphasized the following section to the former Prime Minister: “In future days, which we seek to make secure, we look forward to a world founded upon four essential human freedoms.”

“The first is freedom of speech and expression -- everywhere in the world.”

“The second is freedom of every person to worship God in his own way-- everywhere in the world.”

“The third is freedom from want, which, translated into world terms, means economic understandings which will secure to every nation a healthy peacetime life for its inhabitants -- everywhere in the world.”

“The fourth is freedom from fear, which, translated into world terms, means a world-wide reduction of armaments to such a point and in such a thorough fashion that no nation will be in a position to commit an act of physical aggression against any neighbor – anywhere in the world.”

Upon reviewing it and reading it, Mr. Churchill indicated to my father and the other delegates, that he had talked to the former American President on that same issue on several occasions during the war and that he agreed wholeheartedly with him.  Pérez-Cisneros and Díhigo further mentioned that while in San Francisco, the Cuban Delegation had lobbied the Economic and Social Council of that U.N. body requesting the formation of a Human Rights Commission.  They further indicated that the efforts had not been very successful and that they had expressed their needs for guidance from Mr. Churchill.

            I do not remember the details as related by my father to me that well.  Many years have gone by during which I have lived in exile from my native country, but from conversations that my uncle Enrique Pérez-Cisneros (Guy’s brother) and I have had with former Cuban Ambassador Guillermo Belt, the former Ambassador mentioned that Churchill indicated to the Cuban delegates that Cuba by itself, being a small island in the Caribbean, did not have enough influence to obtain consensus.  He further stated that if they were willing to lobby their fellow Latin American delegates, as well as some others Delegates at Westminster, perhaps this would awaken the interest of the larger nations.  He also mentioned that in a few days Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt, the widow of his former friend and colleague, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, would be appointed by President Truman to be part of the American Delegation to Westminster and that perhaps, that would be a good opportunity to lobby her in order to have her consider Co-Chairing the Humans Right Commission as part of the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations. Churchill further indicated that he would find an opportunity to talk to Mrs. Roosevelt on the matter.  She was eventually appointed to Chair the Human Rights Commission on April 28, 1946 by the Social and Economic Council of the United Nations.

That first meeting took place in Geneva, in December of 1947 and subsequently, approximately more than eighty meetings were held in various locations without much consensus on the substance of what the Declaration should contain.

At a meeting of the IX Conference of the Pan American Union, which later became the Organization of American States (O.A.S.) and that took place in Bogotá, Colombia on March 30,1948, Guy Pérez-Cisneros was selected by his peers as the Rapporteur in the first American Declaration of Rights and Duties of Men.  That Declaration was finally approved on April 30^th, of that year.

 In that effort, Guy had the assistance and the lobbying power of many of the Delegates of the Latin American countries, including Chilean diplomat Hernán Santa Cruz, Mr. Alberto Cañas from Costa Rica, Emile Saint–Lot, from Haiti, Mr. Pedro de Alba from México, Ricardo J. Alfaro, from Panamá, among many others…..

At the Third Assembly of the United Nations on September 28, 1948 at the Chaillot Palace in Paris, Argentina and Cuba proposed and obtained approval for naming Haiti’s representative, Emile Saint-Lot, as the first Rapporteur to the Commission of Human Rights.  Saint-Lot was a distinguished gentleman and diplomat who won approval with 24 votes in favor; of the 44 votes cast (simple majority of 23 votes). Honduras and Yemen were absent at the meeting.

In their multiple meetings at Chaillot Palace, the Latin American diplomats argued that the already approved O.A.S. Declaration of Rights and Duties of Men be considered to be the basis for the Universal Declaration.  It was Guy Pérez-Cisneros, from the Cuban delegation, which presented and defended that document.

He reasoned that once he had obtained the approval of the Organization of the American States member countries, securing the assistance of the above mentioned colleagues, and including the additional influence of Carlos P. Romulo from the Philippines, Charles Malik from Lebanon, Pen Chung Chang from China and his good friend, Professor and Jurist, René Cassin from France, he had the critical support he needed, since his fellow delegates had the advantage that already twenty Latin American nations had previously approved a similar declaration in Bogotá, and just a few more amendments and votes were needed to reach a super majority.

During the following two and a half months many more meetings, amendments, reunions, luncheons, dinners and much lobbying occurred, with the objective of finding consensus for the creation of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Among the notable amendments presented by Cuba (and ultimately approved) were: the right of the individual to observe his/her vocation, or that each person has the liberty to choose whatever type of work he or she wants to perform (Art. 23.1); the right of each worker to receive a satisfactory and equitable remuneration, together with other means of social protection (Art. 23.3).  A third Cuban initiative was to include in the Universal Declaration, the right to honor and to be protected against arbitrary interference in the individual’s private life (Art. 12).

Finally, together with México and France, Cuba presented and obtained approval for the right to the protection of the moral and material interests of the author in his/her scientific, literary or artistic productions (Art. 27.2).

On December 10, 1948, at the III Assembly of the United Nations in the Chaillot Palace, in Paris, the Delegate of the Republic of Cuba, Dr. Guy Pérez-Cisneros, took the floor and spoke eloquently, explaining to his fellow delegates the role that the Cuban delegation had played in the preparation of said document and why they should vote in favor of adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Various circumstances contributed to the role that Cuba and Perez-Cisneros had in the formulation of that exemplary document, whose importance was the wholesale re-vindication of the absolute dignity and freedom of all human beings.  In all, there were nine initiatives that Pérez-Cisneros was able to convince the various delegates into incorporating in the Declaration. This happened during no less than 181 meetings which took place in different locations, beginning in April 1945 in San Francisco, and continuing in Westminster, Lake Success, Dumbarton Oaks, Hunter College, Geneva and finally culminating in Paris on December 10, 1948.

It was the Cuban Delegation that insisted with many of her Latin American colleagues and with the representatives of other countries such as Lebanon, France, China and the Philippines, that multiple hearings were necessary, and as a result, the Social and Economic Council of the United Nations, had their recommendations incorporated into the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It was the Cuban Delegation that presented the first draft and how that declaration should read.  The author of that document was Cuba’s famed jurist, Ernesto Díhigo.

The Cuban Delegation, in particular Guy Pérez-Cisneros who was very well versed in the matter, relied heavily on the church’s social and political doctrine. One example is in the area of education, where the Church has always emphasized the “prior” (or primary) right of the parents to the education of their children. (Most recently restated in 1962’s (Angelo Roncalli) Pope John XXIII’s encyclical, Pacem in Terris (Peace on Earth).  In practical terms, this means that the state has a derivative or secondary right in the area of public education, not a primary right. It must provide education in a form and context that most aligns with the wishes of the parents.

The U.N. Declaration incorporates that exact wording, when it states in Article (26.3), that the parents have a “prior right” to the education of their children. As we shall see, the participation of countries from all parts of Latin America, steeped as they were in the Church’s doctrinal tradition, was what many considered, a major factor in the formulation of the Universal Declaration, as finally approved.

Very, very late on the night of December 10, 1948, the representatives of 56 Governments at the U.N. cast their ballots.  Forty eight votes were cast in favor, with eight abstentions.  The Universal Declaration had been approved after more than two years of laborious study, countless meetings of drafting groups, committees and commissions, endless debates and hearings, hundreds of statements and many amendments.  Finally, a single document emerged; it was the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

All this, brings us back to the noble ideas and contributions made by Cuba and the other member countries of the Organization of American States which made this Declaration a reality.  It also reminds those, who choose to listen, of the incredible irony that Cuba, the nation whose initiatives nourished a good portion of the Universal Declaration, remains today a venue for the repressions of those very rights.

Thank you
Pablo Pérez-Cisneros

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