UN General Assembly Adopts Two Human Rights Covenants

10 Jewish Organizations
of `COJO' Abolish Veto

Universal Declaration of Human
Rights was passed by the General
Assembly as "a standard of

ended with approval of the new
COJO constitution abolishing the
veto formerly held by each of the
10 participant groups.
The announcement of the deci-
sion was made by Dr. William
Wexler, COJO co-chairman and
president of Bnai Brith. lie also
reported that the officers decided
to hold the next session of COJO
in Geneva in July.
He said he expected the July
meeting to take another forward
step by establishing cooperation
for a better interchange of data
and other material and for more
effective activity generally.

LONDON (JTA) — A meeting
The lengthy debates on the Arab
(Continued from Page 1)
right, in community with other an assembly committee on the an-
of the officers of the Conference
refugee
issue
were
not
quite
as
nual
report
of
the
United
Nations
members
of
their
group,
to
enjoy
in 1954, and 18 years after the
their culture, to profess and prac- Relief and Works Agency f o r stormy as usual, because Ambassa- of Jewish Organizations (COJO)

achievement"
While the Soviet Union joined
the United States, Israel and the
other members of the United
Nations in voting for the cove-
nants, the USSR was °severely
criticized by Israel and the Do-
minican Republic for its suppres-
sion of cultural and religious
rights now given full legal recog-
nition through the newly-adopted
covenants. Neither Israel nor the
Dominican Republic, however,
named the USSR specifically.
Ambassador Michael S. Comay,

Israel's permanent representative
here, referred , only to a country
he did not name where, he charged,
"deprivations" are suffered by the
Jewish people, while other minori-
ties are free from such cultural
and religious discriminations. The
Dominican e n v o y, Ambassador
Ornes Coiscou, spoke of "Jews who
live among the snows of the
steppes."
In his address explaining his
favorable votes on both covenants,
Comay reminded the delegates
that the instruments will be bind-
ing "only to the extent that sov-
ereign states subscribe to them."
He noted that "the precepts in
the present covenants are still a
long way from being commit-
ments." With the adoption of the
covenants, he said, "we enter a

new and more difficult phase,"
the phase of implementation.
Referring to the "bitter and

tragic experience of Jewish history

in the Diaspora which kept alive
for us the basic teachings of Juda-

ism," the Israeli envoy said: "It is
little wonder that we Jews remain
intensely aware of fresh manifes-
tations of anti-Semitism, and re-
fuse to take lightly any revived
neo-Nazi tendencies, where they
occur." He was understood to be
referring in this context to the
resurgence of neo-Nazism in West
Germany. Then Comay said:
"At the same time, we remain
sensitive to the form of discrimi-
nation which denies to a minority
the free exercise of its own dis-
-tinctive faith and culture. This, I
regret to say, is not just an aca-
demic concern at the present time.
We are deeply disturbed at the
fact that a large section of the
Jewish people suffers such cul-
tural deprivation, and does not
enjoy even the same degree of
religious autonomy that is still ex-
tended to other faiths."
Comay stressed particularly one
clause in the Covenant on Civil
and Political Rights, which reads:
"In those states in which ethnic,
religious or linguistic minorities
exist, persons belonging to such
minorities shall not be denied the

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tice their own religion, or to use
their own language."
"It is our earnest hope," said
the Israeli diplomat, "that this
minimal provision will come to be
observed in all lands." He added
in concluding his address: "While
there is no room for complacency,
the adoption of these two cove-
nants represents an important step
forward along the road of human
progress, and should afford us all
satisfaction and a renewal of faith
and hope."
The Dominican ambassador said
in his talk: "It is necessary to
raise our voice again to ask, even
to demand that the Jews who live
among the snows of the steppes
be allowed to read the Tora, to
admire the great leader of a people,
Moses, to attend their synagogues,
to nourish their spirit with tradi-
tional ceremonies without which
no Jew would feel his life worth
living."

The government of Israel was
among the first to sign the two

covenants on human rights.
Ambassador Comay, who signed
the covenant at a formal ceremony
Monday, in the presence of Secre-
tary-General U Thant, stated:
"These covenants are a historic
step forward, but the real test
lies ahead in the process of ratifi-
cation by states and their accept-
ance of binding commitments. The
Jewish people has a special and
tragic interest in the freedom and
dignity of all human beings and
groups."
The General Assembly decided
to postpone until next year con-
sideration of proposals for the
creation of a new post to be known
as High Commissioner for Human
Rights. The delay had been pro-
posed by the UN's social,
humanitarian and cultural com-
mittee, which reported that it had
not had the time at this year's
meetings to give full consideration
to the proposal.
In another decision, adopted by
a vote of 108 in favor, with none
against and two abstentions, the
assembly approved plans for de-
voting the year 1968 to a program
celebrating the 20th anniversary
of the .adoption of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights.
Under the measure, 1968 is to be
known here as International
Human Rights Year. /
After Thant w air n e d that
further reduiction of the 3,400-
man strength of the United Na-
tions Emergency Force could
lead to aggravation of the "dis-
turbing signs" of trouble on the

Palestine Refugees, the vast UN
organization feeding and sheltering
the Arab refugees.
UNRWA now carries some 1,-
300,000 so-called refugees on its
relief rolls. Laurence Michelmore,
the American who heads UNRWA,
had reported that he was channel-
ing rations to about 8,000 PLO
members. He reported also that he
had made no significant progress
toward ridding the relief rolls of
fraudulent claimants, who include
persons holding ration cards pre-
viously issued to people who are
now dead.
Not only Israel, but a number
of other governments, including
the United States and Britain,
called for an end of UN involve-
ment, even if indirectly, in provi-
sion of relief to persons recruited
for purposes of making war against
another member state. The Ameri-
can, British and other delegations
also called for more vigorous
UNRWA efforts to rid its relief
rolls of the fraudulent claimants.
In the end, however, although
the UNRWA debate lasted five
weeks, nothing substantive was
done about feeding PLO members
or about the fraudulent claims.

Sharp Rise of Jews Living
in Bergen County, N.J.

ENGLEWOOD, N.J. (JTA)
The Jewish population of Bergen
County, N.J., which has been esti-
mated as having grown by 12,000
from 1964 to 1965, may pass'
100,000 by 1970, it was indicated
here.
The 12,000 increase in itself was
seen as very significant, showing
a growth of about 17.5 per cent in
one year. However, according to
figures made public here by the
Bergen County Planning Commis-
sion, the entire county's popula-
tion is expected to reach 1,000,000
by 1970. Based on the current pro-
portions, it was noted, that would
mean a Jewish population of over
100,000 four years from now.
The increases in population here,
general as well as Jewish, have
been attributed largely to the in-
flux of new residents from nearby ;
metropolitan areas.

Egyptian-Israeli borders for

which UNEF acts as a buffer,
the General Assembly adopted
the UNEF budget for 1967, as
well as a supplementary budget
for UNEF's 1966 expenditures.
In his report, Thant also voiced
"concern" over the existence of
Liberation Organization, a force
12,000 members of the Palestine
pledged to make war against Is-
srael. He stated that these 12,000
military men are behind the UNEF
lines in the Gaza Strip. UNEF
stands on guard against the erup-
tion of Israeli-Egyptian warfare
along the Egyptian side of the
Gaza Strip border, as well as at
Sharm el-Sheikh, a Sinai outpost
overlooking Israel's Gulf of Akaba
outlet to the Red Sea.
Arab spokesmen in the Assem-
bly protested against Thant's ref-
erence to the PLO, insisting that
such mention was beyond UNEF's
competence. The Soviet Union, vot-
ing against the adoption of the
UNEF budgets, reiterated its op-
position to UNEF, voiced here
many times since that force was
established in 1956, insisting that
only the Security Council, and not
the General Assembly, was empow-
ered to establish a UN peace-
keeping force.
The budgets were voted in two
separate resolutions. One set the
1967 budget at $14,000,000. The
other raised the 1966 allocation
from the $15,000,000 voted for this
war last December to a total of
$16,146,000.
The PLO issue figured much
more prominently in a debate by

dor Comay had refused to answer,
except in wholesale fashion, the
literally dozens of anti-Israeli dia-
tribes voiced by the Arab delega-
tions. The Arabs were as violent
as ever, but Israel refused to join
in transforming the sessions into
a donnybrook.
A resolution on the United
Nations peace-keeping machin-
ery—not entirely acceptable to
Israel—was adopted here Dec.
14 by a slim margin in the Gen-
eral Assembly's special political
committee. It will have tough
sledding when it reaches a plen-
ary session of the assembly, and
may be defeated, it was pre-
dicted.
The committee concluded weeks
of debate on peace-keeping opera-
tions by adopting a number of
resolutions. One of the drafts had
been introduced by Jamaica and
linked peace-keeping operations
with law enforcement. Under such
a procedure, a peace-keeping force
could be introduced in a manner
which would be objectionable to
Israel, which jealously guards its
sovereignty.
When the draft came to a ballot,
it passed in the 122-member com-
mittee by a vote of 20 in favor,
five against and 80 abstentions.
Israel was among the abstainers.

'

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Friday, December 23, 1966-11

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