|
News Items:
|
|
Headlines
|
|
News Briefs
|
|
Stories
|
|
Movies
|
|
Word To Life
|
|
Other Items:
|
|
Client Area
|
|
Links
|
|
CNS Stylebook
|
|
Archives:
|
|
Origins
|
|
.
|
|
Did You Know...
|
The whole CNS
public Web site
headlines, briefs
stories, etc,
represents less
than one percent
of the daily news
report.
Get all the news!
If you would like
more information
about the
Catholic News
Service daily
news report,
please contact
CNS at one of
the following:
cns@
catholicnews.com
or
(202) 541-3250
|
|
.
|
|
Copyright:
|
The CNS news
report may not
be published,
broadcast,
rewritten or
otherwise
distributed,
including but not
limited to such
means as
framing or any
other digital
copying or
distribution
method, in whole
or in part without
the prior written
authority of
Catholic News
Service.
Copyright
(c) 2004
Catholic News
Service/U.S.
Conference of
Catholic Bishops.
|
|
|
|
CNS Story:
|
UN-OBSERVER Jul-2-2004 (820 words) xxxn
U.N. resolution spells out Vatican's rights as permanent observer
By Tracy Early
Catholic News Service
UNITED NATIONS (CNS) -- The U.N. General Assembly July 1 approved a resolution spelling out the Vatican's "rights and privileges of participation" in its work as a U.N. observer and in conferences sponsored by the United Nations and its agencies.
An annex to the resolution identified specific rights, such as participation in the general debate held at the opening of each new session of the General Assembly and circulation of Vatican documents "directly, and without intermediary, as official documents of the assembly."
Archbishop Celestino Migliore, Vatican nuncio to the United Nations, said in an interview that the resolution would not necessarily bring major changes in the Vatican's U.N. activity.
But he said the action July 1 was significant in establishing the permanent observer status on the "solid base" of an explicit decision of the General Assembly, which includes all 191 U.N. members.
The Vatican has had permanent observer status at the United Nations since 1964, but it operated under unwritten rules. The archbishop noted the Vatican's status was based on a letter from then-Secretary-General U Thant.
The resolution also will simplify the process for the Vatican's U.N. participation, added Archbishop Migliore.
The resolution sets out some clear procedures for how the Vatican can act within the General Assembly, overcoming certain limits.
For example, there was a rule that before speaking to the assembly the Vatican had to have the consent of each of the five regional groups. Also, the Vatican was not allowed to circulate its own documents and it did not have the right to respond to interventions which referred to the Holy See.
A statement from the Vatican Press Office said that "the Holy See, as a sovereign subject under international law with its own, specific character, wants to maintain an active and effective presence within the United Nations as far as having a right to speak -- a right granted to nonmembers -- but does not request a right to vote, a right belonging to member states of the United Nations."
It added that "inevitably voting and full membership would involve the Holy See in a direct way in questions of political, military and economic order which go beyond its aims."
The Vatican's contributions, it said, are of a "religious and moral character," which will benefit from a greater freedom to address the assembly.
The press office said that, despite some signature campaigns to remove the Holy See from any official participation in the United Nations, the resolution demonstrates that U.N. participation is regulated according to "a juridical rather than ideological character."
"This is a democratic guarantee that allows the participation in debates of all members of the international community who can and frequently do have divergent positions," but are interested in dialogue, debate and discussion to promote agreement and peace, it said.
In recent years, some nongovernmental groups, upset by the Vatican's active promotion of pro-life views at U.N. meetings, have charged that the Vatican's place at the United Nations was improper for a religious body, and have sought to get it reduced at least to the consultative status of organizations such as the World Council of Churches.
The most widely publicized of those groups has been Catholics for a Free Choice, led by Frances Kissling. Her organization, which supports legal abortion, launched a campaign in 1999 to get the United Nations to end the Vatican's permanent observer status, but no government expressed support for that effort.
With regard to the newly approved resolution on the Vatican's observer status, Archbishop Migliore said the president of the General Assembly, Julian Robert Hunte of St. Lucia, volunteered to present it to the U.N. body.
The nuncio noted that Ambassador Marcello Spatafora of Italy served as facilitator of the resolution, making himself and a legal adviser available to talk with delegates who had questions.
Archbishop Migliore also talked with people about the resolution, but he said delegates with reservations about a measure often find it easier to discuss them with a third party than with the one proposing it.
After six months of background preparation, passage of the resolution took less than 10 minutes.
Invited then to address the General Assembly, Archbishop Migliore expressed thanks for the action, noting that it came as the Vatican was celebrating its 40th year as a permanent observer.
He also declared it was an important step forward that reflected "the lofty values and collective interests shared by the Holy See and the United Nations."
Both are committed to the same objectives of protecting human rights, defending the dignity of the human person and promoting the common good, he said.
"To achieve these goals, we need an ordered international community built upon the strong edifice of law, a law not of whim and caprice but of principles stemming from the very universality of human nature," the nuncio said.
- - -
Contributing to this story was Cindy Wooden in Rome.
END
Copyright (c) 2004 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The CNS news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed, including but not limited to such means as framing or any other digital copying or distribution method, in whole or in part without the prior written authority of Catholic News Service.
|
|
|
|
