A memorandum suggesting provisions on human rights which should be included in peace treaties with enemy countries was circulated during the week-end among the delegations of the 21 nations attending the Peace Conference by the American Jewish Committee.
The memorandum calls for the inclusion in the fundamental laws of Bulgaria, Hungary, Italy and Rumania of basic civil liberties guarantees. One of them specifies that the former enemy states “shall protect all citizens in their right to full equality before the law and equal treatment in all respects, including educational and economic opportunity, and shall guarantee them against discrimination in either public or private employment. In particular there shall be no discrimination in any respect on the ground of race, sex, language, or religion.”
Restitution of property to those deprived by persecution, their indemnification for losses and reinstatement in previous positions is called for in six specific proposals, which provide that unclaimed property taken from Jews be applied to the relief, rehabilitation and resettlement of Jewish victims of crimes against humanity.
The proposals specifically call for the inclusion of these provisions in the constitution and fundamental law of the former enemy states, and provide for their joint guarantee by all contracting parties, and for the granting to the United Nations of power to supervise their execution.
The World Jewish Congress, the Board of Deputies of British Jews and the American Jewish Conference yesterday distributed to all delegations a supplement to the lengthy memorandum it issued last week.
The current note, which was prepared after study of the equal rights clauses contained in the drafts of the peace treaties, lays special emphasis on Hungary and Rumania and asks inclusion in the treaties with those nations of detailed guarantees of rights for Jews, which would become part of the constitutional law of the two countries, and whose enforcement would be supervised by an international body.
The Budapest radio today broadcast a statement by Foreign Minister Janos Gyoengyoesy, in which he said that Hungary would shortly send to the great powers a memorandum outlining its attitude towards protection of national minorities and pledging legal guarantees of freedom of worship, education, press and assembly.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
