HOLY SEE APPEAL TO RESPECT HUMAN RIGHTS IN MIDDLE EAST

VATICAN CITY, OCT 21, 2000 (VIS) - Archbishop Giuseppe Bertello, apostolic nuncio and Holy See permanent observer, spoke on October 18 in Geneva at the fifth extraordinary session of the Human Rights Commission, which was held October 17-19. His talk in French, published today, focussed on protecting human rights in the Middle East.

He said that recent events in the Middle East show us that violations of human rights, or failing to respect them, "can unleash a series of violent, often uncontrollable actions." He pointed out that the Holy See appreciates and encourages efforts to bring peace to the Middle East but notes that "peace will never be true and lasting unless it is founded on international law, justice and respect for the rights of everyone."

"Despite the many and encouraging efforts to effect peace," remarked Archbishop Bertello, "we must point out the absence of respect for certain basic rights, such as the rights to security and to the free expression of one's own culture and history. ... As long as a people cannot enjoy their inalienable rights, there will always be situations of tension which, sooner or later, could degenerate into violence and feed sentiments of hatred and rancor, which reason will be unable to control."

"The enmity" of the two peoples who have lived here side by side "has lasted too long," said the nuncio. "These two peoples need to see their rights recognized: one to enjoy secure and peaceful conditions of life; the other to have a land and the possibility of self-government and to live in harmony and tranquillity with their neighbors."
Archbishop Bertello underscored Pope John Paul's words to refugees during his March visit to the Holy Land and to the Dheisheh camp when he said that the "degrading conditions in which they lived and the lack of basic rights they were experiencing were no longer "tolerable."

He concluded by citing Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: "All men are born free and equal in dignity and in rights. They are gifted with reason and conscience and must act towards each other in a fraternal spirit."

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