On October 1, Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, Secretary for Relations with States and Head of the Delegation of the Holy See to the 73rd Session of the United Nations General Assembly, gave an intervention during the High Level session of the General Debate dedicated to the theme “Making the United Nations Relevant to All People: Global Leadership and Shared Responsibilities for Peaceful, Equitable and Sustainable Societies.”  
 
In his intervention, Archbishop Gallagher focused on the seventieth anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and how “recognition of the inherent dignity and equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world.” He said it is the bedrock on which the four pillars of the United Nations are grounded. Human rights are grounded on human dignity and the seventieth anniversary of the UDHR is an opportunity to renew the commitment to defend those rights. He focused on the right to life, liberty and security of person (Art. 4); the right to the “realization of the economic, social and cultural rights” in the context of the Global Compacts on Refugees and on Migration (Art. 22); the summons to “act toward one another in a spirit of brotherhood” as a ground for ending war and armed conflicts, promote the Responsibility to Protect, and work for disarmament; the “equal rights of men and women” (Preamble of the UDHR), the protection of the family (Art. 16.3) and special assistance for motherhood and childhood (Art 25.2); the “free and full development” of the human person (Art. 29.1) as the ground for integral human development; and the protection of the environment as part of the integrated ethical approach to ensure human rights and dignity.

His address can be found here.