ABSTRACT
Mr. Chairman, the government of the United States was founded squarely and explicitly on the belief that the most basic function of government is to protect the rights of its citizens. Mr. Chairman, there would be no serious human rights abuses if all peoples enjoyed self-government and democracy. The dynamics of freedom and political competition could be relied upon to work to protect minorities, dissenters, and critics against the arbitrary use of governments' powers against them. Governments, moreover, are not the only source of oppression and tyrany. A government of laws protects and expands rights because it protects individuals against private violence. Mr. Chairman, it is, of course, not enough for the partisans of freedom to define the character and identify the sources of human rights violations. In Geneva and in New York, human rights have become a bludgeon to be wielded by the strong against the weak, by the majority against the isolated, by the blocs against the unorganized.
