Embassy Vatican Conference Highlights Human Rights

16 October 2008

For Everyone, Everywhere: Universal Human Rights and the Challenge of Diversity was the theme of a conference hosted by the U.S. Embassy to the Holy See on October 16, 2008. This conference was the second in a series commemorating the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and its enduring legacy.

Speaking to a diverse crowd of diplomats, journalists, and Holy See officials, Ambassador Glendon emphasized the multi-cultural origins of the UDHR and explained how delegates from all of the world’s great cultural and religious traditions worked together to reach common agreement on a set of universal rights.

Keynote speaker Professor Jean Bethke Elshtain examined the source and nature of these rights, while Cardinal Renato Martino, President of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, said “no effort should be spared to safeguard basic human rights under every political system.” Other speakers included Professor Janne Matlary of Norway, Father Thomas Williams, Professor Habib Malik of Lebanon, and Professor Hsin-chi Kuan of Hong Kong.

Vatican Radio and the Catholic News Service both covered the conference, and L’Osservatore Romano, the Vatican’s official newspaper, will print excerpts of the Ambassador’s speech in its weekly English edition.