The linth session of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights opened here yesterday in an atmosphere of pessimism as a result of a new United States approach to the human rights problem. This new approach was outlined in Washington earlier this week by Secretary of State John Foster Dallas and President Eisenhower.
It was learned that Mrs. Oswald B. Lord, new U.S. representative to the commission, will tell the international body that the U. S. will not ratify any document that may be produced as a result of the commission’s deliberations on human rights. She is expected to state that the U.S. Government feels that no good can be accomplished by a legal instrument capable of wide ratification. Mrs. Lord will also outline a program aimed at promoting the spread of effective human rights, without any international pact.
Instructions received by Mrs. Lord from Secretary Dallas, made public here last night, reveal that she is to explain to the commission that it would be better if the commission abandons the drafting of an international covenant for the protection of human rights through international legal means. “Experience to date strongly suggests that wider general acceptance of human rights goals must be attained before it seems useful to codify standards of human rights as binding international legal obligations,” the instructions from Mr. Dallas to Mrs. Lord stated.
At the commission’s first meeting yesterday, Egyptian delegate Mahmoud Azmi was unanimously elected chairman. The session is scheduled to last through May 30.
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