In Defense of Human Dignity: Striking the Balance of Peace and Justice
Mr. Moses Katjiuongua, MP (Namibia), and President of Parliamentarians for Global Action (PGA), opened PGA's 20th Annual UN Parliamentary Forum on human rights and peace with the fundamental question of how, in a rapidly globalizing world, principles of human rights can be enforced on international, national and local levels?
H.E. Louise Frechette, the first UN Deputy Secretary General, in her opening salutation, noted the hurdles that had to be overcome to produce the Rome statute:
Small states had to be reassured that the statute would not give more powerful states hold over their sovereignty; others had to be assured that peace would not outweigh justice.
Across the globe, war-torn countries have faced this seemingly inevitable trade-off. But Mr. Moses Katjiuongua, in his opening remarks, also presented the possibility that peace and justice can have a complementary rather than a zero-sum relationship, stating that "peace, democracy and justice are mutually reinforcing principles."
Publication
In Defense of Human Dignity: Striking the Balance of Peace and Justice
20th Annual Forum of Parliamentarians for Global Action (PGA)
Description
Mr. Moses Katjiuongua, MP (Namibia), and President of Parliamentarians for Global Action (PGA), opened PGA’s 20th Annual UN Parliamentary Forum on human rights and peace with the fundamental question of how, in a rapidly globalizing world, principles of human rights can be enforced on international, national and local levels?
Striking an acceptable balance of peace and justice is a delicate operation, and unique to each situation. The record of truth commissions, in those countries that have had them, offers a preview of some of the challenges the ICC will have to address.
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Additional Details
- Publication Type: Report
- Publication Date: 02 October, 1998
- Author(s): Parliamentarians for Global Action
