c. 1999 Religion News Service
VATICAN CITY _ Asserting that”human rights have no borders,”Pope John Paul II said Monday (Dec. 13) armed intervention in internal conflicts is justified to protect civilian populations from”an unjust aggressor.””Crimes against humanity cannot be considered an internal affair of a nation,”the Roman Catholic pontiff said in his message for the World Day of Peace, which the church celebrates annually Jan. 1.
The wide-ranging statement helps set the themes of activism by the church and its members on peace and development issues for the coming year.
Although the pope stated his views in general terms, it was clear he was concerned about the fate of hundreds of thousands of civilians caught up in the conflicts in Kosovo, Chechnya, Sierra Leone and other strife-torn African countries.
In recent internal conflicts, he said,”it is the civilian population which suffers most tragically, since neither ordinary laws nor the laws of warfare are respected in practice. Far from being protected, civilians are often the prime target of the conflicting forces.
John Paul said it was”the paradox of contemporary warfare”that”as recent conflicts have shown, armies enjoy maximum security while the civilian population lives in frightening situations of danger.”It is the civilian population which suffers most tragically, since neither ordinary laws nor the laws of warfare are respected in practice,”he said.”All too many and horrifying are the macabre scenarios in which innocent children, women and unarmed older people have become intentional targets in the bloody conflicts of our time; too many, in fact, for us not to feel that the moment has come to change direction, decisively and with a great sense of responsibility,”the pope said.
But, he said, intervention must serve only as a last resort after attempts at negotiation, mediation and pacification by international and regional bodies have failed.”These measures,”the pope said,”must be limited in time and precise in their aims. They must be carried out in full respect for international law, guaranteed by an authority that is internationally recognized and, in any event, never left to the outcome of armed intervention alone.
In particular, John Paul called for more effective use of the United Nations and the framework of international law.
Apparently backing proposals to enlarge and reform the U.N. Security Council, the pope urged the United Nations to”offer all its member states an equal opportunity to be part of the decision-making process, eliminating privileges and discriminations which weaken its role and its credibility.” John Paul commended the work of nongovernmental organizations, which offer humanitarian aid and attempt to mediate between warring parties, and he hailed the establishment of an International Criminal Court to try crimes against humanity.”We must thank God,”he said,”that in the conscience of peoples and nations there is a growing conviction that human rights have no borders because they are universal and indivisible.” The pope said the world needs more than an end to war, however.”There is no true peace without fairness, truth, justice and solidarity,”he said.
He deplored”the persistent and growing gulf in the world between a North filled with abundant commodities and resources and increasingly made up of older people and a South where the great majority of younger people now live, still deprived of credible prospects for social, cultural and economic development.” Noting that at the start of the new millennium, more than 1.4 billion people will be living”in a situation of dire poverty,”John Paul said,”there is an urgent need to reconsider the models which inspire development policies.” The poor should be regarded not as a problem but as a potential resource and helped to become”the agents of their own development,”he said.
John Paul invited economists, financial operators and political leaders to direct their policies to”the good of every person and of the whole
person.””This is not only a demand of ethics but also of a sound economy,”he said.”Experience seems to confirm that economic success is increasingly dependent on a more genuine appreciation of individuals and their abilities, on their fuller participation, on their increased and improved knowledge and information, on a stronger solidarity.” The pope urged Roman Catholics to work with members of other Christian churches, followers of other religions and all men and women of good will to”foster a consciousness of universal moral values in order to face the problems of the present, all of which are assuming an increasingly global dimension.””The promotion of peace and human rights, the settling of armed conflicts, both within states and across borders, the protection of ethnic minorities and immigrants, the safeguarding of the environment, the battle against terrible diseases, the fight against drug and arms traffickers and against political and economic corruption: these are the issues which nowadays no nation is inn a position to face alone,”he said.”They concern the entire human community, and thus they must be faced
and resolved through common efforts.”
DEA END POLK
