DEVELOPMENT MUST BE CENTRED ON THE PERSON

VATICAN CITY, 25 SEP 2009 (VIS) - On 22 September Archbishop Silvano M. Tomasi C.S., Holy See permanent observer to the United Nations at Geneva, addressed the twelfth ordinary session of the Human Rights Council.

  Speaking English Archbishop Tomasi affirmed that "achieving development is not only a matter of eliminating material poverty, but also of principles and values guiding economies and societies in all countries irrespective of their per-capita income level".

  "My delegation", he went on, "notes with interest the work that is being accomplished by the Task Force aiming at creating a list of right-to-development criteria and operational sub-criteria around three main components: human-centred development, an enabling environment, and social justice and equity".

  The Holy See permanent observer also highlighted how, "in the context of the development process, the human person is not only a receiver of aid but also the real actor of his or her integral development and of the relations among peoples and persons. As restated in the recent Encyclical Caritas in Veritate: 'Man is the source, the focus and the aim of all economic and social life'".

  "The cultural component of the right to development ... cannot be complete without including the ethical and spiritual dimensions of the person", he said. "These qualitative dimensions should be reflected among the human-centred criteria of this right that are being elaborated by the Task Force".

  "States therefore are called to remove obstacles to development due to the violation of human rights, and the international community to support the development process, especially in the poorest countries. In this context the principle of subsidiarity is particularly relevant. Solidarity and subsidiarity can be viewed as complementary".

  Archbishop Tomasi concluded by assuring his delegation's support for "the adoption of criteria of social justice and equity that imply moral imperatives prompting action for the protection of human rights and for an equitable sharing of benefits from development, including, among others, access to food, housing education, health and employment".
DELSS/DEVELOPMENT/UN:TOMASI                    VIS 20090925 (340)