STATEMENT OF THE UNITED NATIONS HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS TO THE GERMAN EXPELLEES AT THE CEREMONY HELD AT THE PAULSKIRCHE, FRANKFURT, ON 28 MAY 1995 ON OCCASION OF THE FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE EXPULSION OF 15 MILLION ETHNIC GERMANS FROM EASTERN AND CENTRAL EUROPE, 1945-48

At this historic Church of St. Paul many have already spoken about human rights and democracy. This is good, because our commitment to the dignitas humana needs reaffirmation everywhere and on every occasion.

Fifty years after the end of the Second World War, we see that new wars and grave human rights violations continue to take their toll in lives, cause major refugee movements, deprive men and women of their rights and render them homeless.

Also fifty years ago the United Nations Organization was founded with the noble aims of maintaining international peace and security and promoting and protecting human rights throughout the world. The Organization has worked hard, achieved many successes, but also experienced serious disappointments. The United Nations and I myself as High Commissioner for Human Rights will devote all of our energies to make these goals reality.

Over the past fifty years the General Assembly has adopted inter alia the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination, and the Convention against Torture. In this perspective, it is clear that ethnic cleansing, expulsion and involuntary transfers of population violate many of the fundamental human rights enshrined in these Conventions.

The right not to be expelled from one's homeland is a fundamental right. The Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities is currently seised of the question of the human rights dimensions of population transfers. The newest report of Special Rapporteur Awn Shawkat Al-Khasawneh concludes that population transfers violate the human rights of both transferred and receiving populations (E/CN.4/Sub.2/1994/18).

The United Nations International Law Commission is also currently examining this important question. In Article 21 of the Draft Code of Crimes against the Peace and Security of Mankind the expulsion of persons from their homeland is referred to as a gross and systematic violation of human rights and as an international crime. In Article 22 of the Code population expulsions and collective punishments against the civilian population are listed among the gravest war crimes.

The most recent statement of the United Nations on the Right to the homeland was given on 26 August 1994 by the Sub-Commission, which in its Resolution 1994/24 affirmed the right of persons to remain in peace in their own homes, on their own lands and in their own countries. Moreover, the Resolution affirms the right of refugees and displaced persons to return in safety and dignity, to their country of origin.

I submit that if in the years following the Second World War the States had reflected more on the implications of the enforced flight and the expulsion of the Germans, today's demographic catastrophies, particularly those referred to as "ethnic cleansing", would, perhaps, not have occurred to the same extent.

In this context I should like to refer to the Charter of the German Expellees. It is good that men and women who have suffered injustice are prepared to break the vicious circle of revenge and reprisals and devote themselves in peaceful ways to seek the recognition of the right to the homeland and work toward reconstruction and integration in Europe. One day this peaceful approach will receive the recognition it deserves.

There is no doubt that during the Nazi occupation the peoples of Central and Eastern Europe suffered enormous injustices that cannot be forgotten. Accordingly they had a legitimate claim for reparation. However, legitimate claims ought not to be enforced through collective punishment on the basis of general discrimination and without a determination of personal guilt. In the Nuremberg and Tokyo trials the crucial principle of personal responsibility for crimes was wisely applied. It is worth while to reread the Nuremberg protocols and judgment.

Our goal remains the universal recognition of human rights, which are based on the principle of the equality of all human beings. Indeed, all victims of war and injustice deserve our respect and compassion, since every individual human life is precious. It is our duty to continue our endeavors in the name of the dignitas humana.

Jose Ayala Lasso, High Commissioner for Human Right, Paulskirche, 28 May 1995

[The statement exists in authentic English and German versions. The German version of this statement was published by Professor Dieter Blumenwitz (ed.) in: Dokumentation der Gedenkstunde in der Paulskirche zu Frankfurt am 28 Mai 1955: 50 Jahre Flucht, Deportation Vertreibung, Bonn, 1995, pp. 4-5. Quoted in "Lob für Charta der Vertriebenen", Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung 27 May 1995, p. 5. Also in de Zayas Die anglo-Amerikaner und die Vertreibung der Deutschen, Ullstein-Taschenbuch pp. 389-390. The English version is reproduced as an appendix to de Zayas Heimatrecht ist Menschenrecht, Universitas Verlag, München, pp.285-287]

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