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« Engaging University Students in the Continuing Dialogue on Canada's Foreign Policy Development »

November 1st, 2004 to March 30th, 2005

A Rights & Democracy Network Initiative,
in conjuction with Foreign Affairs Canada's Online Discussion.

Member(s) of the Rights & Democracy Network who would like to submit an individual or a group contribution and be part of this Rights & Democracy Network initiative :
Please e-mail us at network@dd-rd.ca. Become a member

See Reference document.

« Whereas disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind, and the advent of a world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want has been proclaimed as the highest aspiration of the common people [...]  » (Preamble)

« Everyone, as a member of society, has the right to social security and is entitled to realization, through national effort and international co-operation and in accordance with the organization and resources of each State, of the economic, social and cultural rights indispensable for his dignity and the free development of his personality. » (Article 22)

We the Peoples of The United Nations determined

• to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, which twice in our lifetime has brought untold sorrow to mankind, and
• to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small, and
• to establish conditions under which justice and respect for the obligations arising from treaties and other sources of international law can be maintained, and
• to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom, and for these ends
• to practice tolerance and live together in peace with one another as good neighbours, and
• to unite our strength to maintain international peace and security, and
• to ensure, by the acceptance of principles and the institution of methods, that armed force shall not be used, save in the common interest, and
• to employ international machinery for the promotion of the economic and social advancement of all peoples,have resolved to combine our efforts to accomplish these aims.

Accordingly, our respective Governments, through representatives assembled in the city of San Francisco, who have exhibited their full powers found to be in good and due form, have agreed to the present Charter of the United Nations and do hereby establish an international organization to be known as the United Nations.

I. The Organization is based on the principle of the sovereign equality of all its Members

The Organization and its Members, in pursuit of the Purposes stated in Article 1, shall act in accordance with the following Principles.

1. The Organization is based on the principle of the sovereign equality of all its Members.
2. All Members, in order to ensure to all of them the rights and benefits resulting from membership, shall fulfill in good faith the obligations assumed by them in accordance with the present Charter.
3. All Members shall settle their international disputes by peaceful means in such a manner that international peace and security, and justice, are not endangered.
4. All Members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the Purposes of the United Nations.
5. All Members shall give the United Nations every assistance in any action it takes in accordance with the present Charter, and shall refrain from giving assistance to any state against which the United Nations is taking preventive or enforcement action.
6. The Organization shall ensure that states which are not Members of the United Nations act in accordance with these Principles so far as may be necessary for the maintenance of international peace and security.
7. Nothing contained in the present Charter shall authorize the United Nations to intervene in matters which are essentially within the domestic jurisdiction of any state or shall require the Members to submit such matters to settlement under the present Charter; but this principle shall not prejudice the application of enforcement measures under Chapter Vll.

« In order to ensure prompt and effective action by the United Nations, its Members confer on the Security Council primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security, and agree that in carrying out its duties under this responsibility the Security Council acts on their behalf »

With a view to the creation of conditions of stability and well-being which are necessary for peaceful and friendly relations among nations based on respect for the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples, the United Nations shall promote:

1. higher standards of living, full employment, and conditions of economic and social progress and development;
2. solutions of international economic, social, health, and related problems; and international cultural and educational cooperation; and
3. universal respect for, and observance of, human rights and fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion.

« 1. Each State Party to the present Covenant undertakes to take steps, individually and through international assistance and co-operation, especially economic and technical, to the maximum of its available resources, with a view to achieving progressively the full realization of the rights recognized in the present Covenant by all appropriate means, including particularly the adoption of legislative measures. »

« [.]The Committee wishes to emphasize that in accordance with Articles 55 and 56 of the Charter of the United Nations, with well-established principles of international law, and with the provisions of the Covenant itself, international cooperation for development and thus for the realization of economic, social and cultural rights is an obligation of all States.[.] »

« Engaging University Students in the Continuing Dialogue on Canada's Foreign Policy Development »

November 1st, 2004 to March 30th, 2005

A Rights & Democracy Network Initiative,
in conjuction with Foreign Affairs Canada's Online Discussion.

Member(s) of the Rights & Democracy Network who would like to submit an individual or a group contribution and be part of this Rights & Democracy Network initiative :
Please e-mail us at network@dd-rd.ca. Become a member

Reference Documents

Address by Prime Minister Paul Martin at the United Nations,
September 22, 2004, New York
http://pm.gc.ca/eng/news.asp?id=266

The Responsibility to Protect.
Report of the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty, IDRC, 2001, 110 pp.
(PDF) http://www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca/iciss-ciise/pdf/Commission-Report.pdf

Duties sans frontières : Human rights and global social justice -
Draft Report International Council on Human Rights Policy, May 2003
(PDF) http://www.ichrp.org/ac/excerpts/137.pdf

Millenium Declaration - United Nations General Assembly, September 2000
(PDF) http://www.un.org/millennium/declaration/ares552e.pdf
See excerpts Hide excerpts

See other resources on Afghanistan, Haiti and Sudan