wfn.org | WCC Official Says Pinochet Ruling Is `Cause For Celebration'

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15-December-1998 
98421 
 
    WCC Official Says Pinochet Ruling Is 
    `Cause For Celebration' 
 
    by Stephen Brown 
    Ecumenical News International 
 
Harare, Zimbabwe - A senior official of the World Council of Churches has 
hailed as a "cause for celebration" the British government's decision not 
to stand in the way of the extradition of former Chilean president General 
Augusto Pinochet. 
 
    Dr. Janice Love, moderator of the WCC's Commission of the Churches on 
International Affairs, told a press conference today at the WCC's eighth 
assembly that the decision announced yesterday 9 December was a "profound 
moment for the people of Latin America who suffered under such extreme 
brutality." 
 
    "This doesn't mean that every dictator with every violation will now be 
held accountable, but without question it is a profound step forward in 
recognition by a government that [it] will abide by the international laws 
and standards," Love said. 
 
    General Pinochet was arrested in October while a patient at a London 
hospital, following an official request by Spanish judges investigating the 
deaths of Spanish citizens during his dictatorship in Chile from 1973 to 
1980, during which thousands of people were killed, tortured or 
"disappeared." 
 
    Since his arrest Pinochet has been caught in a legal battle in Britain 
over moves for his  extradition. Britain's highest legal authority, the 
House of Lords, had already ruled that Pinochet could in principle be 
extradited to Spain, but the ruling was only confirmed on 9 December by 
Britain's Home Secretary, Jack Straw. 
 
    Straw's decision, announced on the eve of the 50th anniversary of the 
Universal Declaration Of Human Rights, does not mean that Pinochet will be 
extradited immediately to Spain. Instead it allows further legal argument 
which could last for up to two years, during which time Pinochet must 
remain in Britain. 
 
    To mark the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human 
Rights, the WCC assembly issued a declaration remembering "the victims of 
human rights violations" and paying tribute particularly to "those 
Christians and people of other faiths and convictions around the world 
who have suffered persecution and martyrdom in defense of human rights." 
 
    According to the WCC declaration: "As Christians, we believe that God 
created every person infinitely precious and endowed with equal dignity and 
rights. Yet we confess that we have often failed to respect such equality, 
even in our own midst. We have not always stood up courageously for those 
whose rights and human dignity are threatened or violated by 
discrimination, intolerance, prejudice and hatred. Indeed Christians have 
sometimes been agents of such injustice. 
 
    "The World Council of Churches has affirmed that human rights, 
including the right to religious freedom, are not to be claimed by any 
religion, nation or group as an exclusive privilege, but rather that the 
enjoyment of these rights is essential in order to serve the whole of 
humanity." 
 
    In Geneva, Dr. Ishmael Noko, general secretary of the Lutheran World 
Federation, has issued a statement describing the Universal Declaration as 
the "founding instrument of modern international human rights law." 
 
    "Wherever people are suffering, being detained, enduring torture, being 
denied good health, or experiencing discrimination, the church is 
suffering, being detained, enduring torture, being  denied good health, or 
experiencing discrimination," Dr. Noko said. 
 
    He paid tribute to the successful conclusion of the international 
conference on the establishment of an international criminal court, and the 
ruling by the House of Lords that former heads of state do not 
automatically enjoy immunity from prosecution for human rights violations. 
 
    "These two events indicate a welcome evolution of international law 
which may help to reduce the phenomenon of impunity and to promote justice 
for the victims of human rights violations. It is fitting that they should 
have occurred in this year, which marks the end of a 
productive 50-year period of standard-setting, and the beginning of a 
period in which the emphasis must be on implementation and enforcement." 

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