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May 11, 1948
Dear Mr. Secretary:
Thank you for sending me mbassador Douglas's letter. I
am very happy that he told you what I said and that he
relt the visit to Great Britain was helprul and created
good feeling. I hope the visits to Holland Belgium
did the same.
1 have Just heard from some of the Jewish organizationt that
they have heard that Russia will recognize the Jewish State
as soon as it 1s declared which will be midnight on Friday,
-
imagine. The people who spoke to me are afraid that we
will lag behind and again follow instead of lead.
I have no idea what the policy of the Administration and the
State Department is going to be on this, and I om only Just
telling you what you probably already know about the Russian
position. I have no feeling that they have any principles
or convictions in what they are doing, but wherever they
can put us in a hole they cer tainly are going to do it.
The attitude of the International Law Committee of the Assoc-
iation of the Bar of the City of New York on the draft
declaration of Human Rights and the Convention, of course,
is going to coincide with the British Government's attitude
as expressed by Lord Jowitt in Parliament the other day.
Neither country, apparently, 1s anxious to do anything at
the present time. I feel that the Human Rights Commission
has an obligation to present the best draft it can to the
Economic and Social Council, but if they wish to recommend
to the General Assekbly that the Assembly consider the
present documents and then refer them to governments for
further comment, that is up to the Economic and Social
Council or even to the Assembly itself.
It would please the Russians to begin all over again as they
have suggested in this meeting, and try to find points on
which we can all agree and base a Declaration on such
points. I coubt very much if they at any time would
consider a Convention.
I doubt very much also if the very restricted Convention
suggested by the Bar Association will satisfy the European
countries or the emaller countries on the Human Rights
Commission, but I think we may hav e to state quote openly
that we want a document which the larger number of govern-
ments can adhere to, that we hope there will be future
conventions and that perhaps even we, ourselves, in view
*
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"ocrText": "May 11, 1948\nDear Mr. Secretary:\nThank you for sending me mbassador Douglas's letter. I\nam very happy that he told you what I said and that he\nrelt the visit to Great Britain was helprul and created\ngood feeling. I hope the visits to Holland Belgium\ndid the same.\n1 have Just heard from some of the Jewish organizationt that\nthey have heard that Russia will recognize the Jewish State\nas soon as it 1s declared which will be midnight on Friday,\n-\nimagine. The people who spoke to me are afraid that we\nwill lag behind and again follow instead of lead.\nI have no idea what the policy of the Administration and the\nState Department is going to be on this, and I om only Just\ntelling you what you probably already know about the Russian\nposition. I have no feeling that they have any principles\nor convictions in what they are doing, but wherever they\ncan put us in a hole they cer tainly are going to do it.\nThe attitude of the International Law Committee of the Assoc-\niation of the Bar of the City of New York on the draft\ndeclaration of Human Rights and the Convention, of course,\nis going to coincide with the British Government's attitude\nas expressed by Lord Jowitt in Parliament the other day.\nNeither country, apparently, 1s anxious to do anything at\nthe present time. I feel that the Human Rights Commission\nhas an obligation to present the best draft it can to the\nEconomic and Social Council, but if they wish to recommend\nto the General Assekbly that the Assembly consider the\npresent documents and then refer them to governments for\nfurther comment, that is up to the Economic and Social\nCouncil or even to the Assembly itself.\nIt would please the Russians to begin all over again as they\nhave suggested in this meeting, and try to find points on\nwhich we can all agree and base a Declaration on such\npoints. I coubt very much if they at any time would\nconsider a Convention.\nI doubt very much also if the very restricted Convention\nsuggested by the Bar Association will satisfy the European\ncountries or the emaller countries on the Human Rights\nCommission, but I think we may hav e to state quote openly\nthat we want a document which the larger number of govern-\nments can adhere to, that we hope there will be future\nconventions and that perhaps even we, ourselves, in view\n*"
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