Human Rights and World Peace -- Unification Perspectives

Nicolas Nitsch
June 28-30, 1985

Lawyers Conference in Fredericksburg, Virginia

The main question presented at the first ICF sponsored lawyers' conference, the International Conference on Human Rights at d World Peace, was: What is the ideal system of law and how can it be promoted? A lawyer's task has traditionally been to apply existing laws to individual cases. But through three days of stimulating lectures and discussions, the participants, 86 lawyers and jurists from around the United States and also from abroad, were challenged to ponder universal principles and perspectives of law and to try to formulate a synthesis of the ideas presented.

The topic of the conference was, "Human Rights and World Peace: Unification Perspectives." It is Father's hope that through a series of such conferences and the formation of an international association of lawyers, law professors, judges, and jurists, the true meaning of the words "human rights" and "peace" can be restored, both in theory and in practice.

Lawyers and guest speakers gave presentations on such topics as Marxist ideology and human rights, the foundation for human rights in the U.S. Constitution, and religious freedom as the cornerstone of human rights.

In his keynote address Rev. C. H. Kwak stressed the need for protecting two kinds of rights which are deeply interconnected: spiritual rights such as freedom of religion and freedom of intellectual expression, and physical rights such as economic opportunity and material sufficiency. In both cases, the theological basis for human rights is to be found in our relationship with God, he said.

In the latter part of the conference, participants split into small discussion groups to explore ways in which the legal profession can help advance the cause of world peace and human rights. This allowed for a rich exchange of ideas. Afterwards the chairman of the groups presented reports on the discussions, including proposals for future work. It is hoped that these recommendations will form a fruitful foundation for the next conference of this kind.

In the spiritual battle of the Last Days we need to shape the legal weapons that will liberate humankind. This conference was a first step toward the conception of a genuine God-centered system of law.