Passing of UN Declaration of Human Rights
Did you know that Pakistan played an important role in the adoption of the Declaration of Human Rights by the UN (in the days of the first Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan)? The following is an except from On My Own, the autobiography of Eleanor Roosevelt who led the process from 1946 to 1948.
In the initial vote in Committee 3 on presenting the Declaration to the Assembly, delegates from four Muslim countries abstained, explaining that they believed the article on religious freedom was contrary to the Koran.
This setback came at a critical time near the end of the Paris sessions but, fortunately, we consulted Sir Zafrulla Khan, the foreign minister of Pakistan, whose delegate on the Commission had abstained, and he courageously rose in the General Assembly to defend the Declaration. Since Pakistan was the largest Moslem nation involved his position was important.
“It is my opinion,” he declared, “that our Pakistan delegate has misinterpreted the Koran. I understand the Koran to say, ‘He who can believe shall believe; he who cannot believe shall disbelieve; the only unforgivable sin is to be a hypocrite.’ I shall vote for acceptance of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.”
In the end there was no vote against the Declaration in the General Assembly, but there were some disappointing abstentions. The Soviet Union and its satellite countries abstained, since the Russian delegates contended that the Declaration put emphasis mainly on “eighteenth century rights” and not enough on economic, social and cultural rights. The delegate from Saudi Arabia, Jamil M. Baroody, abstained, saying that he was quite sure King Ibn Saud would not agree with Sir Zafrulla in interpreting the Koran. South Africa also abstained, I was sad to note; its delegate said that they hoped to give their people basic human rights, but that the Declaration went too far. Two small countries were absent. The Declaration was finally accepted by the General Assembly on December 10, 1948.
SOURCE: Aboutaafia.blogspot.com
