UNITED NATIONS

Distr.
ECONOMIC GENERAL

AND E/CN.U/702/Add.2
23 February 195^4-
SOCIAL COUNCIL ENGLISH
ORIGINAL: FRENCH

COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS

Tenth session

DRAFT INTERNATIONAL COVENANTS ON HUMAN RIGHTS

AND MEASURES OF IMPLEMENTATION

Observations of non-governmental organizations

received by the Secretary-General in pursuance
of resolution 501 B (XVl) of the Economic and
Social Council

The following organizations have submitted their comments in pursuance

of resolution 501 B (XVl) of the Economic and Social Council:
XXIX. World Union of Catholic Women's Organizations
XXX. International Catholic Child Bureau

5^-OU-9Î+5
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XXIX. World Union of Catholic Women's Organizations

(Non-governmental organization with consultative status - Category B)

The world Union of Catholic Women's Organizations (WUCWO) transmitted the

following observations in a letter of 28 December 1953:
The WUCWO has the honour to submit to the Commission on Human Rights
the following observations suggested by a perusal and analysis of the two
draft covenants on human rights. Being a women's organization, its observations
refer chiefly to items of particular interest tô women which, if adopted, may
directly affect their lives and, consequently, the lives of their families
and children.

A. Draft covenant on economic', social and cultural rights

Article 3

The WUCWO is gratified to note that an article specifically recognizing

the equal right of men and women to the enjoyment of the rights set forth
therein is included in this covenant.

Article 10

The WUCWO warmly supports this article as a whole.

It requests the inclusion, in paragraph 2 of a phrase to protect the
morals of adolescents and young persons in employment.
The relevant passage would then read: "To protect children from exploitation^
the unlawful use of child labour and the employment of young persons in work
harmful to health or dangerous to life and morality should be made legally
actionable;"

Article ik

The WUCWO is pleased to note that the right of "everyone" to education

is recognized, and hopes that education for men and women will be of equal
quality.
It stresses the importance of this article, In particular for under-developed
countries where women have a major part to play in community development.
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B. Draft covenant on civil and political rights

Article 3

The WUCWO is gratified to note that an article specifically recognizing

the equal right of men and women to the enjoyment of the rights set forth
therein is included in this covenant.

Artic_le__22

Paragraph 1 The WUCWO would prefer, as the Philippines representative has

suggested, to replace the words "the State" by the words "the law", thus
making the text more objective and more timeless. The text would then read:
"1. The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and
is entitled to protection by society and the law".
Paragraphs 2 and 3 The WUCWO emphasizes the appropriateness of these two
paragraphs. It is essential to put an end to certain practices contrary to the
dignity and happiness of women and to the welfare of the family, such as
the marriage of girls under the age of puberty, and marriage legally contracted
without the women8s consent.
Paragraph k The'WUCWO feels that public opinion would be justifiably surprised
to find marriage and its dissolution placed on the same footing as if the latter
were the usual and inevitable result of the former. (The last sentence appears
to imply that the death of one of the spouses is not the only reason for
dissolution of the marriage).
If, as paragraph 1 proclaims, "The family is the natural and fundamental
group unit of society", its stability and not what upsets that stability should
be the primary concern of the lav-maker.
Moreover, while the WUCWO would like to have included in the article a
reference to the equal rights of men and women with respect to legal procedures for
separation of the spouses, should such separation become necessary, it has the most
emphatic reservations with regard to the proposed text. As it now stands, it
might give rise to an interpretation unacceptable to the conscience of Catholics
namely that any dissolution of the marriage bond is to be considered normal and
legitimate.
Consequently, the WUCWO requests that paragraph k should be amended as
follows :
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Page k

"k. The legislation of the States Parties to this Covenant shall be

directed towards equality of rights and responsibilities for the spouses as
to marriage^ during marriage and in the event that the spouses are separated
or that one of them dies. In the last-mentioned cases, the law shall lay down
special measures for the protection of any children of the marriage."

Article ho

The WUCWO draws the Commission's attention to the restrictive character

which the right to complain would assume if granted to States exclusively.
Would not the United Nations, by adopting such a measure, tend to weaken the
confidence which the peoples of the world place in it?
While the right of individual petition cannot yet be contemplated, as it
would open a flood of more or less justified complaints, it might at least be
exercised through the non-governmental organizations enjoying consultative
status with the Economic and Social Council. They would assume responsibility
for the complaints they agreed to transmit.

XXX. International Catholic Child Bureau

(Non-governmental organization with consultative status - Category B)

In a letter dated 12 February 19 5 U, the International Catholic Child Bureau

transmitted the following observations :
"As the International Catholic Child Bureau is an organization dealing
exclusively with the child problems, our remarks refer to points which have
a special bearing on such problems or to those which will have a definite
effect on the child development namely,.family problems. This letter is
therefore confined to articles 6 and 22 of the draft covenant on civil and
political rights :
1. It seemed to us that article 6, paragraph 1 is not sufficiently explicit
on the following points :
that the child has the right to life from the very moment of its
conception;
that it must be protected from anything liable to impair that right;
that abortion is a crime against the human person.
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We already made a similar observation in connexion with the draft

declaration on the rights of the child i/ which is equally inexplicit in the
matter.
2. While the International Catholic Child Bureau fully approves of the
wording of paragraphs 1, 2 and 3 of article 22 and especially paragraph 1, it is
dismayed to see that marriage and its dissolution (paragraph k) are placed
on the same footing.
As an international Catholic organization, the International Catholic
Child Bureau maintains that the text as drafted cannot be accepted by Catholics
who firmly believe in the indissolubility of marriage. Moreover, official
recognition of divorce would not be welcomed, by anyone who sincerely believes
that the family is "the natural and fundamental group unit of society".
As an international children's organization, the International Catholic
Child Bureau feels that to recognize the dissolution of marriage is to
recognize that parents have the right to interfere with the sound and harmonious
development, to which the child is entitled, by granting them full freedom
to dissolve a fundamental unit of which the child is also a constituent part
and "which provides what the child needs for sound growth and development".
Briefly, the Bureau feels that to recognize the dissolution of marriage is to
defraud the child of his very right to life, a right which is not confined to
birth but which also involves the complete education of the child, that is to say,
the development of his personality and his talents until maturity in a normal
2/
and stable family background. —'

l/ Draft declaration on the rights of the child: statement submitted by the

~ International Catholic Child Bureau, document E/CN.*4-/WGO/51, page 2,
11 May 1953. .
2/ Document E/CN.5/29I, 2 March 1953^ Social Commission, 9th session:
"Programme of concerted practical action in the social field of the United
Nations and specialized agencies," paragraph 56I; and document E/CN.5/271,
2k January 1952: "Children deprived of a normal home life", paragraphs 7 and 8.
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To support this statement the International Catholic Child Bureau

cannot do better than to refer to the studies published by the Secretariat
of the United Nations, the World Health Organization and the International
Children's Centre on the disastrous effects on the child of the absence of a
normal family background. 2.1 The Bureau also considers it particularly
necessary to recall the following phrase taken from a document on the subject
published by the Secretariat cf the United Nations for the eighth session of
the Social Commission:
"There is greater realization to-day of the destructive impact
on normal family life... of such.., factors... as illegitimacy,
separation, divorce..." (E/CN.5/271, 2k January 1952).
Accordingly, the International Catholic Child Bureau feels that the
measures recommended in the last sentence of article 22, paragraph k, are
absolutely incapable of offsetting the effects of dissolution. It is better
not to destroy than to seek to repair the effects of destruction after having
allowed it.

3/ See, in particular: J. Bowly - "Maternal Care and Mental Health", WHO

(Geneva) 1951; "Children deprived of a normal home life," Social Commission,
E/CN.5/271, 2k January 1952. Symposium on children deprived of a normal
family life, organized by the International Children's Centre (ICC) in
London, 9 to 18 June 1952; Symposium on research on.,the effects on
personality development of the separation of the young child from his
mother, organized by the International Children's Centre at the Chateau
de Longehamp, Paris, 18 June 1955j work of the Working Group assigned
by the ICC to undertake research on the effects on personality development
of the separation of the young child from its mother, published in the
Courrier (ICC), Paris, in 1952.
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As the United Nations expresses a desire to carry out a family and

child welfare programme, the importance of which has been so well expressed
in the two following sentences :
"Given acceptance of the view that the family is the social unit which
provides what the' child needs for sound growth and development, the
programme for family and child welfare should be developed with that in
mind". (E/CN.5/291, 2 March 1953, page 205).
"International social programmes should be based on the
principle of recognition and protection of the family as the basic
social unit of society towards which action to promote the raising
of standards of living should be directed". (E/2Î+37, May 1953, annex,
page Ik),
the International Catholic Child Bureau feels, in conclusion, that to recognize
divorce in an international covenant would be to set such principles at
defiance, by tolerating the prime cause of the destruction of family life
and by refusing the child his strict right to a normal family background.