Geneva (Switzerland). On 8 December 2023 at the United Nations Building in Geneva, a high-level event was held to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and present the Apostolic Exhortation Laudate Deum of Pope Francis on the climate crisis. There were General Directors of International Organizations based in Geneva, representatives of Dicasteries of the Holy See, and members of different States and civil society.
The universality of human rights and the universal responsibility of care was the theme of the event, organized by the Permanent Mission of the Holy See. Among the partners in the organization, the Forum of Catholic-inspired NGOs, which includes the Office for Human Rights of the International Institute Mary Help of Christians (IIMA) of Geneva, and VIDES International, represented by Sister Sarah Garcia, Daughter of Mary Help of Christians, collaborator of the Youth Ministry Sector and Director of IIMA.
Msgr. Ettore Balestrero, Apostolic Nuncio, Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations Office in Geneva, moderated the round table with the interventions of Tatiana Valovaya, Director General of the United Nations Office in Geneva; Sister Alessandra Smerilli, FMA, Secretary of the Dicastery for the Promotion of Integral Human Development of the Holy See; Gilbert Houngbo, Director General of the International Labor Organization; Amy Pope, Director General of the International Organization for Migration; Fabrice Hadjadj, Philosopher and writer, Member of the Dicastery for the Laity, Family, and Life of the Holy See.
The event highlighted the inseparable link between rights and responsibilities. While the Universal Declaration recognizes the universality of all human rights and the common human dignity, Pope Francis’ Apostolic Exhortation Laudate Deum reaffirms the universal responsibility to ensure that these rights and freedoms can be fully respected, promoted, and enjoyed by all, especially by the most vulnerable groups. The human family is facing increasingly complex challenges including poverty, food insecurity, forced displacement, climate change, difficulties in accessing medical care, uncontrollable technological developments, conflicts, and so on.
The speakers therefore deepened the correlation between rights and responsibilities, in the various contexts within their competence, including the rethinking/renewal of multilateralism, the care of the common home, social justice, assistance to people on the move, and care for the dignity of human life and the family. Sister Alessandra Smerilli, presenting the key points of Laudate Deum, reiterated Pope Francis’ appeal to the powerful, repeating the question: “Why do you want to maintain today a power that will be remembered for its inability to intervene when it was urgent and necessary to do so?” (L D No. 60).
In concrete terms, what Pope Francis asks is to feel the responsibility for the legacy that will be left once they leave this world (cf. LD No. 18). The Pope also stresses the need for “a different framework” for effective cooperation in a world “so multipolar and at the same time so complex.”
“It is not enough to think only of the balance of power, but also of the need to respond to new problems and to react with global mechanisms to environmental, public health, cultural, and social challenges, especially to consolidate respect for the most basic rights human, of social rights, and the protection of our common home. It is a question of establishing global and effective rules that will allow this global safeguard to be provided” (LD 42).
The commitment of IIMA and VIDES continues in this direction in collaboration with other organizations. On 16 December 2023, Sister Sarah Garcia participated in the Christmas luncheon organized by the Apostolic Nuncio in which every NGO representative of the Forum of Catholic-inspired NGOs in Geneva was able to share their initiatives and programs carried out in 2023 and those to be implemented in 2024. It was a rich time of sharing with the desire and willingness on the part of all to collaborate and mutually support advocacy and mission in the Church and in the world.
