John P. Humphrey

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights

problem of human rights and fundamental freedoms has exercised philosophers, politicians, jurists, and common ordinary men since the very dawn of history. The proper delimitation of the sphere of activities of the individual and of the collectivity, the relationship of the citizen to the State, the protection of the human being, the definition and establishment of essential human dignity are questions that have been discussed since man first began to enquire into his relationship to his environment. Civilization may be defined as a steady progress towards the achievement of greater and greater liberty. The great French philosopher, the late Professor Henri Bergson, has said that creative evolution consists in all its manifestations, of a movement towards greater and greater freedom and the emancipation of the human mind and will. But while history shows that there has been a constant evolution in the direction

The World of Science and the Rule of Law

On August 1, 1975, thirty-five nations solemnly signed a pledge--the Helsinki Accords--to maintain one code of human rights law. This book surveys the performance of these countries in upholding the rights important to scientists--the rights to education, work, communication, expression, travel, assembly, association, reputation and intellectual achievement. It describes where and when the rights were observed or violated and what scientists could do to promote a fuller observance in the future.

International Protection of Human Rights

IT WOULD be possible for me to make a dissertation on the attempts that have been made throughout history to provide international protection for human rights and to show how these attempts have culminated in the machinery now provided by the United Nations Charter. Such a dissertation would outline mankinds quest for a higher law, for some criteria higher than the law of the state. Philosophers and jurists throughout the ages have attempted to define a law of nature which, it is said, is both anterior and superior to the positive law of the state. Churchmen have defined the laws of God, and others have traced precepts of moral law. Finally, jurists and statesmen have developed a jus gentium, or international law. All of these, by whatever name they be called, have this one thing in common: they posit the existence and development of a law higher than the law of particular states. It is by some such higher law that the nations will eventually set up international protection of human rights. But such a dissertation, however interesting and however tempting, would be impersonal. It is something that could be done by scores of jurists more competent than I am. I will therefore choose to give you a more or less factual account of the measures that are being taken by the United Nations toward the international protection of human rights. I must remind you, however, that I am speaking as an international official and that I am not, therefore, a completely free agent. Indeed, I think it is true that international servants are in a more delicate position than are national civil servants. I am a servant not of one but of fifty-five governments, and it happens that my particular responsibilities are in a field which is full of potential political controversies. Therefore, whatever my personal views may be, as the Director of the Division of Human Rights, I must maintain a position of strict objectivity. It will be admitted, I think, that the success of the United Nations depends partly on the role of its Secretariat; and the effectiven ss of the Secretariat depends not only on its efficiency and competence but even more on its discretion and ability to retain the confidence of all Member Governments by a policy and practice of strict objectivity.

Book Review: World FederationWORLD FEDERATION. By NewfangOscar. With French translation by GaultPierre1939. (New York: Barnes and Noble. Toronto: Associated Publishers. 117 pp)

received about twenty-five acres. Too much money was spent on elaborate houses and on expensive machinery, but the settlement had become fairly successful before the outbreak of war. In the last 150 years the population of Java has grown from 3Y to 50 millions. But in a recent decade the crop area has only increased by 4 per cent., while the population has increased, by 20 per cent. Today the average farm holding is only two acres, and some 30 per cent. of the peasants are landless. Hence there is every inducement to emigrate, but unfortunately emigration is thought to be evidence of incompetence rather than of initiative! The dense population in the various islands can readily be correlated with the better soils derived from the young Volcanoes; and this in part explains the small population of Borneo, which has no such soils. The history of the attempts at colonization in the extreme south of Sumatra is very illuminating. The colony at Soekadana consists of a carefully chosen group of emigrants. They were given little or no credit, but they occupied farms where the soil and irrigation facilities had been surveyed. Within seven years this plan produced a successful colony much larger than that which had been established for thirty-five years at Gedongtataan. Pelzers book closes with a chapter on future plans. He has not much belief in relief through industrialization, especially as the home market for such goods would soon be saturated. The current plans for closer settlement seem to be taking care of far fewer folk than the estimated increase each year. The emigration of some 120,000 childless young couples (i.e. folk who will be vigorous, but not at first handicapped by young children) should be the aim of the Javanese authorities. Probably a shift to a third type of mixed agriculture-embodying rotation of crops and use of animal manures, etc.-is likely to be the best solution for overpopulation in these tropical islands of Southeast Asia. University of Toronto, February 1946. Griffith Taylor