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On July 30, the Global Liberty Alliance joined a coalition of friends and advocates of fundamental rights committed to upholding human rights and human dignity in sending a letter to the U.S. Department of State’s Commission on Unalienable Rights, which recently released a Draft Report.
On July 30, the Global Liberty Alliance joined a coalition of friends and advocates of fundamental rights committed to upholding human rights and human dignity in sending a letter to the U.S. Department of State’s Commission on Unalienable Rights, which recently released a Draft Report. The coalition of human rights activists and legal experts urged the Commission to “vigorously champion human rights in foreign policy in line with the guiding principle of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and its goal of protecting inherent human dignity,” especially in supporting minority religious groups and vulnerable persons from persecution and physical harm. As the letter states,
Human rights work should be focused on the enforcement and defense of recognized human rights, such as freedom of religion, and the promotion of rule of law instead of creating an unmanageable expansion of the definition of human rights. We encourage the Commission to continue its efforts to focus on the enforcement of foundational, inherent human rights over the growth of rights that are categorized as human rights, especially as inherent rights declared in the UDHR remain vulnerable to abuse around the world.
The Commission on Unalienable Rights was created in July 2019. Composed of academics, philosophers, and activists, the Commission will provide the Secretary of State with advice on human rights. As explained by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in a Wall Street Journal op-ed in 2019, the Commission's mission "isn’t to discover new principles but to ground our discussion of human rights in America’s founding principles.”
The Commission released the draft report to the general public on July 16, 2020. The document was signed and approved unanimously by all 11 commissioners. In his remarks following the release of the report, Secretary Pompeo stated, "We can’t do good – at home or abroad – if we don’t precisely know what we believe and why we believe it. Because without this grounding ... our efforts to protect and promote human rights is unmoored and, therefore, destined to fail." “As defenders of fundamental rights and as a free nation we have a responsibility to do better and work towards promoting values that are at the heart of American principles, and through our actions we are capable of championing these unalienable rights around the globe. U.S. foreign policy and taxpayer dollars allocated for these matters should reflect this central tenet,” said Jason Poblete, GLA President.
In addition to the GLA, the letter was signed by leaders from Jubilee Campaign USA, China Aid, Christian Freedom International, Mission Africa International, Advocates International, Global Center for the Protection of Children, Law and Liberty International, and the Institute on Religion & Democracy, the Anglican Persecuted Church Network of the New Wineskins Missionary Network, and the GAFCON Suffering Church Network, as well as several private individuals.
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