[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 239 (Friday, December 12, 1997)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 65309-65310]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-32685]
Presidential Documents
Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 239 / Friday, December 12, 1997 /
Presidential Documents
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Title 3--
The President
[[Page 65309]]
Proclamation 7059 of December 9, 1997
Human Rights Day, Bill of Rights Day, and Human
Rights Week, 1997
By the President of the United States of America
A Proclamation
Human rights are the cornerstone of American democracy.
The founders of our democracy, in their wisdom,
recognized the inherent dignity of every human being
and enshrined in the Bill of Rights our profound
commitment to freedom of speech, religion, and assembly
and the right to due process and a fair trial. Through
more than two centuries of challenge and change, these
guiding principles have sustained us. They form the
common ground on which our racial, religious, and
ethnic diversity can flourish.
It is a measure of our greatness as a Nation that each
new generation of Americans has sought to advance and
extend the rights set forth by Thomas Jefferson in the
Declaration of Independence and by the framers of our
Constitution. Promoting human rights and democracy
around the world is a central pillar of our foreign
policy. We seek to protect and advance human rights for
all, not only because a world that respects such rights
will be freer, safer, and more prosperous, but also so
that we may keep faith with the vision of our founders,
who knew that these rights are the deepest reflection
of America's fundamental values.
This week marks the beginning of the world's
celebration of the 50th anniversary year of the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The adoption of
this set of principles by the United Nations on
December 10, 1948, was a landmark event in the course
of modern human history. The Declaration represented a
collective condemnation by nearly 50 U.N. member states
of the widespread and devastating human rights abuses
committed prior to and during World War II, and it
reflected a consensus on what the postwar world should
seek to become. Among the Declaration's 30 articles are
affirmations of the right to life, liberty, and
personal security; the right to freedom of thought,
religion, and expression; and the right to freedom from
slavery, torture, and arbitrary arrest and detention.
It was fitting that a great American, Eleanor
Roosevelt, played a pivotal role in the development of
the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which so
closely reflected the tenets of our own Bill of Rights.
As Chair of the U.N. Commission on Human Rights, she
led the efforts of its 18 members to define basic
rights and freedoms and to draft the international
affirmation of rights that was ultimately adopted by
the General Assembly. Today, thanks to those efforts,
scores of countries across the globe have incorporated
these fundamental principles into their laws and
practices, and millions of people are leading freer,
happier, and more fulfilling lives.
Now our challenge is to reaffirm the universality of
these precepts and to ensure that all the world's
peoples share in their protections. While we have made
great progress in this endeavor, we must recognize that
intolerance, discrimination, and persecution continue
to darken our vision of a better future. Each of us has
a part to play in upholding human rights for men and
women of all political, ethnic, religious, and racial
backgrounds. The words of Eleanor Roosevelt are both an
inspiration and a challenge, not only to Americans, but
also to citizens throughout the
[[Page 65310]]
international community: ``The destiny of human rights
is in the hands of all of our citizens and all of our
communities.''
NOW, THEREFORE, I, WILLIAM J. CLINTON, President of the
United States of America, by virtue of the authority
vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United
States, do hereby proclaim December 10, 1997, as Human
Rights Day; December 15, 1997, as Bill of Rights Day;
and the week beginning December 10, 1997, as Human
Rights Week. I call upon the people of the United
States to celebrate these observances with appropriate
programs, ceremonies, and activities that demonstrate
our national commitment to the Bill of Rights, the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the
promotion of human rights for all people.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
ninth day of December, in the year of our Lord nineteen
hundred and ninety-seven, and of the Independence of
the United States of America the two hundred and
twenty-second.
(Presidential Sig.)
[FR Doc. 97-32685
Filed 12-11-97; 8:45 am]
Billing code 3195-01-P
