Council of Europe: Mgr. Gallagher, “universality of rights rests on the universal character of the human person”

(Strasbourg) The 70^th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is “an opportune occasion to relaunch that ‘faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person and in the equal rights of men and women’, given such eloquent expression in the Preamble” of the Declaration itself. “The universality of human rights rests on the universal character of the human person, which is intrinsic to it by reason of its natural openness to a truth that transcends itself”. This was stated by Mgr. Paul Richard Gallagher, Secretary for Relations with States of the Holy See, at a seminar held yesterday at the Council of Europe in Strasbourg to mark the anniversary of the Declaration. The title of the seminar was “The Challenge of Universality. Crossed Perspectives 70 years after the Universal Declaration of Human Rights”. The initiative was promoted by the Permanent Mission of the Holy See to the COE together with the International Catholic Child Bureau (BICE) and the European Centre for Law and Justice (ECLJ-Strasbourg). Mgr. Gallagher stated: “In this openness to universal truth and good lies the foundation of the unity of the human race. It is precisely upon this common openness that the universality of the human family is founded. This is the reason why the human rights of each person are never separable from the human rights of all within the community”.