PROPOSAL BEFORE EUROPEAN COUNCIL— Court Of Human Rights To Guard Liberty

Greymouth Evening Star, 20 August 1949, Page 5

PROPOSAL BEFORE EUROPEAN COUNCIL— Court Of Human Rights To Guard Liberty

PARIS, August 19 (Rec. 11 a.m.).—Britain’s Nuremberg prosecutor, Sir David. Maxwell-Fyfe, today asked the 12 nations of the Council of Europe to surrender 4 ‘the sovereign right to suppress liberty and democratic institutions.” He was backing the resolution on human rights put before the Council’s Consultative Assembly by Mr Winston Churchill. Sir David said there must-be a binding convention on human rights. “From the world point of view, we cannot let the matter of human rights rest at a declaration of moral principles and pious aspirations,” he declared.

The European Movement resolution had called upon the European Assembly to get a preliminary convention from the member nations that they would enforce the fundamental freedoms and rights now protected by their own laws. This would be followed by an international convention in which member nations would agree to a European Bill of Rights and would set up a Human Rights Commission and Human Rights Court to enforce them. Sir David said the proposed court would function under a statute modelled on the Charter of the International Court of Justice at The Hague. The function of the commission would be to act as a filter to stop the court from being flooded by unsuitable petitions. Sir David told the Council:—“Our plan provides a system of collective security against tyranny and oppression. We have seen to our sorrow in Czechoslovakia the retrogressive steps by which a democratic Constitution may be overthrown.” He emphasised that the plan involved some voluntary surrender of sovereignty, but said he did not think any member State would wish to insist on its sovereign right to suppress liberty and democratic institutions. Another British delegate, Mr J. G. Foster, said: “We have had totalitarian dictatorships only too recently in Europe, which have disregarded the right of the ordinary man to look forward to free speech, free religion and freedom from arrest. The concentration camps in the East of Europe are not far away from us to say that this is simply an academic exercise.” Senator G. Persico (Italy, Socialist Unity Party) urged the need to set up an international court for the punishment of war crimes and crimes against humanity. He said that for over 3000 years there had scarcely

been 265 years of universal peace.” In the last war 32,000,000 young men lost their lives in battle, 6,000,000 people were put to death in concentration camps and 35,000,000 old people, women and children perished as a result of air raids. We must do our all to bring this to an end. That is our. task.” Mr Hermod Lannung (Denmark) said he hoped the European Parliaments would soon adopt the practice of Passing European Legislation along with national legislation. It would be the job of. the European Court to enforce European legislation. Mr Arwyn Ungoed-Thomas (Britain) urged that there should be contact between the Assembly and those in the United Nations who had given much thought to the problem . of human rights. Enforcable provisions should be adopted to expell any members of the Council of Europe who violated human rights.