HOLY SEE ADDRESSES HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION IN GENEVA

VATICAN CITY, MAR 27, 2002 (VIS) - Archbishop Diarmuid Martin, Holy See permament observer, yesterday addressed the 58th session of the United Nations Human Rights Commission, which is meeting in Geneva from March 18 to April 26. His talk focussed on the first principle of the 1992 Rio Declaration: "Human beings are the center of concerns for sustainable development."

He noted that "It is human persons who are the focal point of a knowledge-based economy. It is their initiative and creative ability that are the driving and innovative force of a modern economy." Yet, he said, quoting Pope John Paul, "the sad fact ... is that 'many people, perhaps the majority today, do not have the means which would enable them to take their place in an effective and humanly dignified way within a productive system in which work is truly essential'."

The archbishop recalled that "poverty today must be defined not simply in terms of a lack of economic income, but more in terms of an ability to fully realize that God-given human potential with which every man and women is endowed. Fighting poverty ... is about enhancing human potential."

Archbishop Martin further underscored "the right of people to be able to realize their capacity fully" by saying that "the attainment of this right is not just an understandable human aspiration. It is a prerequisite for the development of a strong modern economy."

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