An International Bill of Rights to serve as a postwar guarantee of individual liberties for all persons throughout the world just as the American Bill of Rights is the guarantee of individual liberties for Americans was asked by 1,326 distinguished American of all faiths in a statement made public today for the American Jewish Committee by former Supreme Court Justice Joseph M. Proskauer, president.
Issued on the occasion of the 153rd anniversary of the ratification of the American Bill of Rights, which will be observed tomorrow, the Declaration calls for the recognition of the individual human being “as the cornerstone of our culture and civilization” and the establishment of the “new world” on the basis of the “dignity and inviolability of the person.”
The roster of endorsers includes persons prominent in government, religion, business, the professions, and arts and sciences. It includes 172 public officials, including governors, mayors and members of the United States Congress. Signed by Governor Thomas E. Dewey of New York and approved by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, the Declaration of Human Rights has won the approbation of leaders of all political faiths.
Paralleling recent statements on post-war political order and religious freedom issued by the Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America and the National Catholic Welfare Conference, the Declaration of Human Rights issued by the American Jewish Committee, indicates a unanimity of thinking on the part of religious thinkers of all faiths for “a world based on a recognition that the individual human being is the cornerstone of our culture and civilization.” The Declaration was signed by 81 Christian church leaders, including 36 bishops of various faiths, and 236 rabbis.
URGES POST-WAR EQUALITY, REPATRIATION AND REPARATIONS
The six points of the Declaration of Human Rights call for:
1. An International Bill of Rights “to guarantee for every man, woman and child, of every race and creed and in every country, the fundamental rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”
2. A world in which the rights of national sovereignty do not permit any nation to deprive those within its borders of fundamental human rights “on the claim that these are matters of internal concern.”
3. A recognition of the fact that bigotry and persecution by a barbarous nation “is a matter of international concern” because it eventually “throws upon the peace-loving nations the burden of relief and redress.”
4. A policy of “fair redress” for those “who have suffered under the Hitler regime because of race, creed or national origin.”
5. A plan for repatriation, with their rights unaffected, for “those who have been driven” from their homes.
6. An international machinery whereby new homes will be found “in other parts of the world” for “those who wander the earth unable or unwilling to return to the scenes of unforgettable horror” from which they fled.
In making public the Declaration of Human Rights, Judge Proskauer pointed out that “it is a statement of general principles; not the formulation of a plan for a machinery of relief, repatriation and rehabilitation. It was conceived,” he said, “as a statement of moral principles in relation to basic human needs. Our Committee on Peace Problems is now engaged in preparing a program of specifics in relation to special Jewish needs resulting from Nazi persecution which it will present on completion to appropriate governmental agencies.”
MANY NOTABLES AMONG SIGNERS OF DECLARATION
Among the signers of the Declaration are: Vice-President Henry A. Wallace; Supreme Court Justice Owen J. Roberts; Supreme Court Justice Frank Murphy; the late Alfred E. Smith; John W. Davis; former Postmaster General James A. Farley; Dr. Samuel McCrea Cavert, General Secretary of the Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America; Eric Johnston, President of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce; Robert Raylord, President of the National Association of Manufacturers; William Green, President of the American Federation of Labor; Philip Murray, President of the Congress of Industrial Organizations; Sidney Hillman, Chairman of the Political Action Committee of the C.I.O.; Matthew Woll, Vice-President of the A.F. of L.; United States Senator Mead; The Right Reverend William T. Manning. Episcopal Bishop of the Diccese of New York. The Right Reverend Francis McIntyre, Auxiliary Bishop of the Catholic Archdiocese of New York; Senator Sheridan Downey of California; and Malcolm Ross, Chairman of the Federal Fair Employment Practices Commission.
Among the Jewish organizational leaders who have signed the Declaration are: Rabbi Herbert S. Goldstein, President of the Synagogue Council of America; Sidney Hollander of Baltimore, President of the Council of Jewish Federations and Welfare Funds; Adolph Held. President of the Jewish Labor Committee; Dr. Julian Morgenstern of Cincinnati, President of the Hebrew Union College; Adolph Rosenberg of Cincinnati, President of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations; Dr. Solomon B. Freshof of Pittsburgh. President of the Central Conference of American Rabbis; Rabbi Eliezer Silver of Cincinnati, President of Agudas Israel of America; Jacob Blaustein of Baltimore, Chairman of the Executive Committee, American Jewish Committee; Frank L. Weil, President of the Jewish Welfare Board; George Z. Medalie, President of the New York Federation for the Support of Jewish Philanthropies; Archie H. Greenberg, National Commander, Jewish War Veterans; Mrs. Felix M. Warburg and Judge Proskauer.
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