Declaration drafted on human responsibilities

JAKARTA (JP): The InterAction Council, comprising former international political leaders, is to propose a declaration of human responsibilities to the United Nations next year.

The declaration -- to be put forward during the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights -- seeks to bring freedom and responsibility into balance.

"There are no rights which are free from responsibility and if everybody only claims rights, the end would only be chaos," former German chancellor Helmut Schmidt told journalists here yesterday at the end of a six-day visit to Indonesia. Schmidt is the council's honorary chairman.

Schmidt said Indonesia, through foreign minister Ali Alatas, supports the council's idea and has helped lobby the declaration draft to the UN General Assembly.

Indonesia strongly believes that rights should exist side by side with a person's obligations toward society and that individual rights should not overtake the interests of the public in general.

The proposed declaration by the council points out that the exclusive assertion of rights can lead to endless dispute and conflict. For example, religious groups, in asserting their own freedom, have a duty to respect the freedom of others.

The InterAction Council began its work on the universal ethical standard with a meeting of spiritual and political leaders in 1987 in Rome.

The initiative was taken by the late Takeo Fukuda, former prime minister of Japan, who founded the council in 1983.

The council is calling for the UN to convene a conference next year to consider a declaration of human responsibilities to complement the earlier crucial work on rights.

The basic premise of the declaration is that humans deserve the greatest possible amount of freedom but should also develop their sense of responsibility in order to correctly administer their freedom.

Schmidt said that the universal declaration of human responsibilities is designed to avoid a possible clash between different civilizations or religions in the 21st century.

One of the declaration's articles stipulates that religious freedom must be guaranteed, the representatives of religions have a special responsibility to avoid expressions of prejudice and acts of discrimination toward those of different beliefs.

Besides Schmidt, a number of renowned international figures like former United States president Jimmy Carter and former Australian prime minister Malcolm Fraser are also members of the council. (10)