The United Nations was pressed today to speed up its work on the draft covenants on Human Rights as a spur to worldwide progress in the field. The plea was made by the World Jewish Congress here.
In a statement issued on the eve of the 13th General Assembly, Dr. Israel Goldsein, chairman of the WJC western hemisphere executive, pointed out that completion of work on the draft documents would be an “encouraging sign” of positive action in behalf of human liberties. Encouragement was needed, he indicated, because “no progress had been made in the field of the observance of human rights” recently and there had been, “if anything, ” a retreat in this area.
In 1954 the Human Rights Commission of the UN prepared two separate covenants, one on political and civil rights, the other on economic, social and cultural rights. A point-by-point review in the past three years has made little progress and there is little likelihood that at the present pace the covenants will be completed at this Assembly session.
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