The Strong and Deep Nexus Between Human Dignity and Religious Freedom

Ján Figeľ is the former European Union commissioner and  special envoy for the promotion of freedom of religion or belief outside the European Union.

Peace is a fruit of justice. The core of justice is based on respect of fundamental human rights. And the foundational principle of human rights is dignity.

Today, the agenda of human rights is hijacked by various groups representing ideologies, violent extremism, or ethical relativism. We also tend to forget or neglect our human duties towards the other and towards society. These actions and inactions inevitably lead to contention and conflict. In order to make our era more peaceful and humane, we must return to the original meaning of key documents and definitions on the subject of human dignity. 

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Lives on Hyphens: The Transformative Influence of Chilean and Cuban Delegates on Economic and Social Rights Within the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Kristina Arriaga is president of the advisory firm Intrinsic and a former vice chair of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. This post is excerpted from an article in the December 2023 special issue of The Review of Faith & International Affairs commemorating the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The two special interests that have tried hardest to influence the Declaration are the Catholic Church and the Communist Party—the former with considerably more success than the latter!

—John P. Humphrey’s diary, 22 November 1948, Paris

The reality of the world situation is that there exist certain concentrations of power, U.S.A., U.S.S.R. . . . But in the United Nations, the representatives of Cuba and Chile . . . play a role that sometimes equals that of the great powers.

—John P. Humphrey’s diary, 24 November 1948, Paris

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Charles Dukes: A Prisoner of Conscience Who Helped Draft the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Fearghas O’Beara is head of unit at the European Parliamentary Research Service and a doctoral student at the Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome, Italy. This post is excerpted from an article in the December 2023 special issue of The Review of Faith & International Affairs commemorating the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The Former-Felons’ Feast

On the evening of 9 January 1924, a group of 19 ex-convicts—both men and women—gathered within the confines of the British Houses of Parliament in London. This motley crew were not plotting a re-enactment of Guy Fawkes’s attempt to blow up Parliament three centuries earlier, but they were all purveyors of highly explosive ideas—ideas that the British Establishment of the early twentieth century decided merited being put behind bars.

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