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Second Committee General Debate

On October 10, Archbishop Bernardito Auza, Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the UN, gave an intervention during the General Debate of the Second Committee of the Seventy-third Session of the General Assembly.
 
In his statement, Archbishop Auza said that the Holy See believes that development cannot be restricted to economic development alone, but must be integrally human, fostering the development of each person as a whole. He said that last year that some delegations lost focus on holistic development and sought to shift the deliberations of the Second Committee to various controversial issues germane to other Committees. Respect for fundamental human rights and human dignity, he said, are essential to the eradication of poverty and promotion of integral human development. The phrase human rights cannot become a rhetorical catch-all, endlessly expanded to suit the tastes of the age and often undermining the fundamental human rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It is key to maintain, he said, an authentically humanistic vision that looks at others as allies not competitors.

The statement can be found here.