The Rule of Law owes more, perhaps, to lawyers than to rulers. Emperors and military leaders more often than not realise that law establishes and maintains peace, and moreover favours the creation and distribution of wealth, much better than strife and subjugation. Napoleon has successfully "purified" his legendary prowess on the fields of battle by organising the compilation of an ultimately perfected Code Civil. The Emperor Justinian is best remembered for his contribution to the assemblage of the Digest. Many political leaders have achieved some lasting success when accompanied by their own good knowledge of the law or by the advice of wise jurists. Some of the best rulers have been lawyers.
The United Nations Organisation was built into a peace safeguarding organisation, not only by some of the wisest dreamers and philosophers, and the best disposed and "enlightened" of statesmen, but by the very intricate everyday analytic prose of men and women of law. This is not always realised and recognised, so it needs retelling. Our country made a contribution towards the Organisation, even before our political independence, through the service of the eminent scholar and diplomat Dr Arvid Pardo. Now, a Maltese lawyer of Gozitan descent, Dr John P. Pace, with over 45 years' experience in Human Rights and who worked for the United Nations Human Rights Programme from 1966 to 1999, has written a complete account to date of that programme in "substance and chronological breadth". Dr Pardo, and later Dr Pace, made their contributions in the years when the Organisation was facing a number of considerable challenges from important countries on the international stage embracing ideologies hardly in synchronisation with the proclaimed ideals of the Organisation. Our country, soon after achieving its own Independence, was well-placed to furnish the Organisation with scholars and diplomats who could well understand what was experienced in so many countries seeking political independence and eschewing totalitarian domination in various hues.
The book is a painstakingly and scholarly detailed chronicle of the life and work of the Commission on Human Rights of the United Nations: 845 pages of small type text with numerous footnotes. It is not, however, merely commented history: it provides, at every step, described projections into the future. Neither is it merely a scholarly, well-documented tome to be savoured by budding historians and apprentice advocates. It is, above all, a useful book, with a preface including a note to readers on how to use it as a reference book.
Indeed, the United Nations Organisation, together with its Commission on Human Rights is not obsolete or rendered useless by events. Even though it has not lived up to all the expectations of 1945, it is still working to defend rights, brand wrongs and mend sores; while some of its agencies are feeding millions, attending to limiting epidemics, taking care of the Cultural Heritage and the spread of education and culture. In the area of Human Rights Protection, the United Nations Organisation has had, and still has considerable merit; it is still chastising the abusers of the human rights of others and still spreading the awareness of the vital, indeed existential, importance of safeguarding the human rights culture all over the world. It has penetrated into areas of the globe with cultures which seemed to be impervious to the humanism, which produced the basic human rights doctrine.
The Commission on Human Rights is today a pillar of civilization: it has acted not only as the guardian of the "culture": it has also prompted action of safeguard through the repeated admonitions and denunciations. It has to be a cherished organism of the international community. As such, a book of this calibre is needed to sustain the acquired communis opinio of men and women of the State, of politics, of academia, of law in practice, concerning the fundamental importance of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights in its civilisation preserving role, in safeguarding the basic rights of all human beings on our earth.
Dr Pace brought to his task, first of all, his academic preparation in the universities of old Europe in his youth, his 45 years of hands-on experience in the field during the first 45 years of his maturity, and now the acquired skills of exposition and clarification of ideas of the incipient white hairs. The tone is uniformly calm and suavely persuasive.
Those who own this book will find themselves often referring to its contents in substance and detail. More than merely useful, it turns out to be indispensable for all those involved in the wide area of human rights recognition and safeguard. It can perform, perhaps, also an educational task in that it might instruct the younger generations in the development of the constituent ideas and events, which have resulted in the worldwide affirmation of the rule of law and of the right to self-determination.
Dr Pace himself could be invited to Malta again to speak directly on the democratic developments of the last five decades worldwide. His contribution in international affairs stands to be recognised more widely in his own country by his fellow citizens.
is President Emeritus