99. Editorial Note
On December 9, 1977, President Jimmy Carter issued Proclamation 4542, designating December 10 Human Rights Day and December 15 Bill of Rights Day and encouraging Americans to observe international Human Rights Week, December 10–17. (Public Papers: Carter, 1977, Book II, pages 2086–2087) The President began his December 15 news conference by highlighting the significance of Human Rights Week. He referenced his personal attempts to “make sure that a concern for human rights is woven through everything our Government does, both at home and abroad.” He continued:
“This policy has produced some controversy, but it’s very much in keeping with the character and the history of our own country. We became an independent nation in a struggle for human rights. And there have been many such struggles since then, for the abolition of slavery, for universal suffrage, for racial equality, for the rights of workers, for women’s rights.
“Not all of these struggles have yet been won. But the freedom and the vigor of our own national public life is evidence of the rights and the liberties that we have achieved. I believe that public life everywhere, in all nations, should have that same freedom and vigor.
“We have no wish to tell other nations what political or social systems they should have, but we want our own worldwide influence to reduce human suffering and not to increase it. This is equally true [Page 337] whether the cause of suffering be hunger on the one hand or tyranny on the other.
“We are, therefore, working to advance a full range of human rights, economic and social, as well as civil and political.
“The universal declaration and other international human rights covenants mean that one nation may criticize another’s treatment of its citizens without regarding each other as enemies. We will continue to do this, just as we welcome scrutiny and criticism of ourselves as part of the normal dealings between nations. We have strengthened our foreign policy on human rights, and we are letting it be known clearly that the United States stands for the victims of repression. We stand with the tortured and the unjustly imprisoned and with those who have been silenced.”
The President then described various initiatives undertaken in pursuit of those objectives, including the reduction of military assistance to nations engaged in consistent patterns of rights violations, the support of international and non-governmental organizations coordinating human rights activities, and an emphasis upon human rights in relation to U.S. foreign assistance programs. Carter also highlighted U.S. support for the establishment of a United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. The President concluded his remarks on human rights by noting successes, small and large:
“In the past year, human rights has become an issue that no government on Earth can now afford to ignore. There have been numerous instances of improvement. Some represent genuine change, some are only cosmetic in nature. But we welcome them all, because they reflect a relief of suffering people and persecuted people.
“The results of our human rights policy will seldom be dramatic. There will be tensions along the way, and we will often be perceived as either being too rash or too timid. But this is a small risk, compared to the risk assumed by brave men and women who live where repression has not yet yielded to liberty.
“My personal commitment to human rights is very strong. The American people feel as I do. Our Government will continue to express that commitment and not ever hide it. And we will always encourage other nations to join us.” (Public Papers: Carter, 1977, Book II, pages 2115–2116)
The full record of the President’s news conference is ibid., pages 2115–2124.