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First and foremost, we feel it is of the upmost of importance to emphasize that Kautantowit's Mecautea is an Independent Native American Church, and that our primary focus lyes upon our most basic, precious and important fundamental rights, liberties and freedom as the Native born Human Beings upon our globe. These are best known as our "Declaration of Human Rights", Internationally honored too, just so we are clear.

 

 Because we and our church both, were born upon the North American continent, we are deeply rooted in the cultural practices as well as the spiritual and even religious values of our lands 'First Peoples" beliefs, teachings and ways. We understand as well as embrace the reality that we are of the earth, and completely co-dependant upon her for All creation's literal survival as earthly creations.

 

In turn, we have a very high code of ethics and rules of good behavior and proper conduct expected of All of our members at All Times while presenting oneself as a reflection of Kautantowit's Mecautea Native American Church. Moral and ethical conduct speak volumes when it comes to who and what type of human being you individually as well as collectively you are, especially when you claim or are claimed as part of a "tribe" of people and/or a "church".

 

Our ancestors did not imprison each other or lock up valuables and depended on one another to be honest, and the fact that we have to do such things today here upon the same land is clear eidence that something his and has gone Seriously Wrong when it comes to the proper conduct and behavior patterns as the descendents of the peoples of our land. 

 

All contracts and agreements were verbal promises that once-upon-a-time Honored and Respected among the people of the tribes of our land, and they depended on with success more often than not for one another to keep to the promises they and or their ancestor relations made.

 

"Your word is your bond... your Honor" is how it Used to be taught to and by the ancestor generations before us, but as we look within society right now, more often than not these promises are being proven to be nothing more than broken treaties and lost rights and freedoms amongst the disconnected descending generations known as we the people today. 

 

Once upon a time, our ancestor also had to and could actually count on one another to be fair, honest and respectable; to not take more from the earth than was needed to survive, and to care for one another including especially for those who could not and didn't have immediate family to care for and overr them. 

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As members of Kautantowit's Mecautea Native American Church (KM NAC), we pray twice every day IF NOT MORE, perform as well as participate in a variety of sacred ceremonies of purpose and sorts, and honor all laws and instruction of the Creator above All Else. 

 

We love and protect Mother Earth and all things that dwell upon and within her.  We respect and honor our ancestors, the Elders and each other and know that all we do is a reflection upon they as well as Great Creator.  We learn ancient traditions and pass our wisdom to our children and others needing enlightenment from it.

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 We are one,  with ALL Creation and the Creator, including Father Sky and our Mother the Earth.  We as members of Kautantowit's Mecautea are learning to walk the good red road and the seven steps of our sacred Fire Circle.  As a member, we each individually as well as collectively keep the creed, oath and code of conduct of Oklevueha sacred and inviolate.  

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 We have strong faith in Kautantowit, the Great Mystery and All-Mighty Creator... commonly referred to as "God". We love and respect all things and strive to protect as well as defend and preseve them.  

 

 We are truthful, honest and fair in all our actions and dealings.  We are honored to be among the teachers of Great Creator's sacred wisdom and beauty and to be the builders of the Rainbow Bridge which ultimately will unite all together as one web. We know that the honor of our ancestors rides on our shoulders every second of everyday that we exist, in and beyond the realms of living our lives here upon Mother Earth, and that all we do is a reflection upon them as well as Great Creator.

 

Material possessions are not ours for avarice and gluttony are without honor. We are thankful for all that we are given and appreciate all that is given to us, be it materialistic, spiritual or other, and give freely what we can in the interest of helping others.

 

 We tread lightly on our Mother Earth and hold no dominion over her plants, creatures and elements. All life upon and including the earth and sky are our relations and we honor and strive to protect them. All earth-based healing plants, fungi, minerals and metals etc. are very sacred to us and we honor and are grateful for All the gifts Creator has given us to use as healing and life source tools of survival. 

 

 We are a giving and caring people who respect all races, religions and fellow human beings without judgment.  We know, understand and accept the reality that All things have the Creator given right to be and exist peaceably and honorably defend that which cannot defend itself.

 

 We are each a rainbow warrior and we come to spread our love, light, peace and joy amongst all our relations.  

HONESTY AND JUSTICE

A Kautantowit's Mecautea warrior strives to be  acutely honest throughout our dealings with all people. We believe in justice, not from other people, but from ourself. To the true Exemplar, there are no shades of gray in the question of honesty and justice. There is only right and wrong and we strive for that which is right and just.

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POLITE COURTESY

A Warrior has no reason to be cruel. We do not need to prove our strength. An Exemplar is courteous even to his enemies. Without this outward show of respect, we are nothing more than animals.

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HEROIC COURAGE

Kautantowit's Mecautea warriors are among the first to rise up above the masses of people who are afraid to act because we know that hiding like a turtle in a shell is not living at all. A warrior of Kautantowit's Mecautea must have heroic courage. We know that it is absolutely risky, that it is dangerous, but that it is necessary in order to  live our life completely, fully, wonderfully and honorably. Heroic courage is not blind, it is intelligent and strong.

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HONOR

A true person of honor has only one conscious judge of honor, and this is him/herself. We as Kautantowit's Mecautea understand that the Decisions we make and how these decisions are carried out are a refection of whom we truly are, and too, that everything we say and do are a reflection not only upon ourselves and our own honor, but too, the honor of all of our ancestor relations as well as a reflection of our relationship with Kautantowit (Great Creator). Noone cannot hide from ourself, nor from our ancestors passed or Great Creator.

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COMPASSION

Through intense training Kautantowit's Mecautea warriors become quick and strong. We is not as other human beings. we develop a power that must be used for the good of all. We have compassion for and upon all things. We helps our fellow human being, plant, animal, metal and mineral at every opportunity. If an opportunity does not arise, we goes out of our way to find one.

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COMPLETE SINCERITY

When a warrior of Kautantowit's Mecautea have said they will perform an action, it is as good as done. Nothing will stop them from completing what they has said they will do. They do not have to "give their word and then Not live up to it. They do not have to "promise in order to make their obligation an obligation.

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DUTY AND LOYALTY

For the warriors of Kautantowit's Mecautea, having done some "thing" or said some "thing," we know we owns that "thing." We are responsible for it, good medicine or bad medicine, and too, we are responsible for all the consequences that follow. A Kautantowit's Mecautea warrior is immensely loyal to those in our care, to those we are responsible for, we remain fiercely true.

Ethical Code for Ceremony
Ethical Code for Ceremony

We begin, not on the Fourth of July, but instead, on the second of July because it was on July 2, 1776, that the American colonies actually declared their independence from Great Britain here upon the North American Continent.

 

With twelve colonies voting yes and New York abstaining, the Continental Congress approved a short resolution declaring that "these United Colonies are, and, of right, ought to be, Free and Independent States."
 
The next day, John Adams wrote a letter to his wife Abigail, in which he called the second day of July 1776,
"the most memorable Epocha, in the History of America . . . It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires, and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more."
 
Adams, of course proves that our "History" intentionally remains being mis-taught because here in "America", we celebrate not the day on which we
declared our independence, which was July 2nd, but the day on which we justified our independence to "a candid World" which was on July 4th.

 

What we call the Declaration of Independence--"The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America"--is, in fact, a justification of independence, an argument for independence. The actual declaration of independence only takes up one paragraph at the very end of the document.
 
In the course of making this argument and building their case, the "founders"aka "Colonial Settlers"  also laid down the timeless and universal principles that were to define the new country that we now declare our "Nation".

 

In that second paragraph, we find the clearest, most concise, and most eloquent articulation of the American creed. The truths proclaimed by the Declaration of Independence define us as a nation and bind us together as Americans. They unite the diverse pluribus into an American unum.
 

Natural human equality is the first axiom of the American creed. The founders, of course, recognized that human beings are different and unequal in more ways than anybody could count. But for political purposes, all men and women--regardless of race, religion, sex, or whatever the oppressed category du jour might be--are born equally free and independent and therefore may not be ruled without their consent.

 

In America, we recognize neither natural slavery nor divine-right monarchy. The differences that separate us are never so great as to create a chasm between human beings. As Thomas Jefferson explained: "Because Sir Isaac Newton was superior to others in understanding he was not therefore lord of the person or property of others."
 
Given the vagaries of life and the great diversity of talents and interests among human beings, we will inevitably end up in different stations in life. And so the greatest work of American political thought defined the "first object of Government" as "the protection of different and unequal faculties of acquiring property," from which result "different degrees and kinds of property."
 
As for the claim that equality mandates redefining marriage, it is risible. The "Laws of Nature and of Nature's God" countenance ordered liberty, and the husband-and-wife, mother-and-father family is a core institution for securing what the Constitution calls
"the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity." What's more, no one's core rights are violated if marriage is not redefined to suit their tastes.
 
The second axiom of the American creed is that
human beings are "endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights." Other Founding era documents say that we possess them by birth or by nature. Today, we could say that they are seared into our DNA.

 

Whatever the formulation, the point is the same: no one needs to give us our core rights. We possess them simply by virtue of being human. Criminals may violate them, governments may fail to secure them, but we are all morally entitled to "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."
 
The Declaration emphasizes rights and not duties because its purpose is
to affirm the rights of man against the claims of those in power--not to teach us our duties toward our Maker or our fellow man. Its aim, in Abraham Lincoln's memorable formulation, is to act as "a rebuke and a stumbling-block to the very harbingers of re-appearing tyranny and oppression."
 
The Declaration isn't meant to displace the Bible or Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics as the guide to the good life. It doesn't speak of friendship, family, and music, for example, not because it denies their importance, but because they fall outside its properly defined political purpose.
 
It does, however, acknowledge and point to the highest things--the reasons why it's so important to resist tyranny and oppression. Hence the references to both the pursuit of happiness and happiness, the invocation of our "Creator" and "the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God," and the appeal to the "Supreme Judge of the World."

 

Politics is about creating the conditions that allow us to pursue the comprehensive human good--it's not about directly securing the comprehensive human good for each person.
 
The Declaration's two axioms, though self-evidently true, are by no means obvious. In fact, no other country had ever recognized them before, none at the time did, and most today only pay lip service to them. What the founders meant by a self-evident truth is an axiomatic definition: embedded in the word "man" are the
inviolable principles of equality and natural rights. Others, the Third Reich or the Ayatollahs in Iran for example, may deny this and use another definition of man, but in America, we hold these truths to be self-evident and strive to live up to their true meaning.
 
From this simple definition of man, the remainder of the political teaching of the Declaration of Independence logically follows. If all men are created equal--i.e., if there are not natural or divine titles to political rule--then governments can only derive "their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed.
" If we already possess our rights simply by virtue of being human, then the task of the government is not to give us rights, but "to secure these Rights."

 

We are free as a sovereign people to decide to enact additional rights--entitlements like Medicare, for example--but there is no God-given right to have the state or anyone else pay for your health insurance.
 
Lastly, if a government so established consistently fails to do its job, "it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness." The security of individual rights translates into the collective safety and happiness of the political community.

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And that's the whole political teaching of the Declaration in a nutshell: a political definition of man contained in two axioms, and three corollary propositions on government. It's that simple. And it's easy to see why Progressives who ushered in modern liberalism made these principles their number one target.

 

The affirmation of natural, unalienable rights, and the requirement that government be grounded in consent poses an insuperable obstacle for those who place their faith in the omnipotent administrative state.
 
Having laid down these core principles, the rest of the Declaration is devoted to marshaling evidence--the twenty-seven facts "submitted to a candid World"--to prove that "a Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people." Only then, after this long chain of reasoning, do "we, therefore" declare our independence.

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It ends with the humble appeal for "the protection of divine Providence" and the noble pledge to support this declaration with "our Lives, our

Fortunes and our sacred Honor."

 

America is not a country for servile men.

 

We believe that we have not only a right to be free, but also a duty to be free. Like the founders before us, we too must pledge to oppose "with manly firmness [any] invasions on the rights of the people."

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-David Azerrad is the Associate Director of the B. Kenneth Simon Center for Principles and Politics at The Heritage Foundation.

Fire Circle -

You should be smudged before entering the Circle.  

Always enter from the east and move sun-wise.   

Never walk between the Fire and another person. 

No eating, drinking or smoking in the Circle.    

Children are not to run and play in the circle - adults included. 

Idle talking in the Circle is discouraged.  

 

New Members - Making of A Relative Ceremony

If you have not been present in the sacred Fire Circle of Mecautea during ceremonies and received your blessings and taken the oath, and you plan to attend the Gathering, go to the Wolf Band after the meal and before the start of ceremonies.  You will receive important instructions about your part in the ceremonies.  If you have an offering or gift to make during ceremonies, please make this known to the officiating elders.

 

Gifting -

If you plan to speak with an Elder or honored guest, it is suggested you offer a small gift as a sign of respect.   When the blanket is laid on the ground near the entry into the circle, please lay down a gift.  

 

Kautantowit's Mecautea operates solely on membership token offerings and gifts. Your help is needed to defray the cost of events and projects.  Walk the talk.

 

Mecautea Lodge - 

Except for Elders and Clan Leaders, enter the tipi only when invited. 

Remove shoes before entering. 

Always move sunwise (clockwise) around the fire pit. 

Never walk between the fire pit and another person, walk behind. 

Please do not handle objects without permission. 

Children should be accompanied by an adult inside the lodge. 

 

Sweat Lodge - 

You must be invited to enter.  Protocols for the Sweat Lodge are explained by the Lodge Elder prior to entering.  The Lodge is a sacred place.  You will be asked to leave at the slightest disrespect.  Ceremonies in the lodge are done according to the ways of the tribe or nation from which the Lodge Elder received  training.   A Lodge will not be opened if no qualified Lodge Elder is present and consents to performing ceremonies.     

 

Potluck Picnic -

Paper plates, cups, napkins and eating utensils supplied.

Elders, honored guests, dancers and drummers eat first.  Those who brought food eat next.   If you did not bring a food gift, you are welcome to eat and make a gift to this event.

 

Parking -     Do not park on grass or at campsites without paying.  
Litter -          Do not throw litter on the ground - Take trash with you. 
Dogs -         Must be muzzled and on a leash.

Drinking -   No drugs or alcohol are permitted.   
Selling -      No selling of kind is permitted on the sacred grounds.

CODE OF ETHICS 

Upon rising each morning and before retiring each night, give thanks to the Creator for the life within you and all life.  Thank the Creator for the good things and for the opportunity to grow a little more each day.  Consider your thoughts and actions of the past day and seek the courage and strength to be a better person. Seek for the things that will benefit others (everyone). 

Respect: Respect means "To feel or show honor or esteem for someone or something; to consider the well being of, or to treat someone or something with deference or courtesy".  Showing respect is a basic law of life.

 

Relationships:

Always treat every person from the tiniest child to the oldest elder with respect.   

Give special respect to elders, parents, teachers, and community leaders.

Avoid hurting others physically, mentally and emotionally by words and actions.

Respect the privacy of others. 

 

Never intrude on a person's quiet moment or personal space.  Never walk between or interrupt people who are talking. 

Speak in a soft voice, especially when you are in the presence of elders, strangers or others to whom special respect is due. 

Never speak about others in a negative way, whether they are present or not.   

Gossip is a snake in the lodge of our people - do not fall prey to it.

Treat the earth and all her aspects as your mother. Show respect for animals, stone people and plant world. Do not pollute Mother Earth, rise up in wisdom and defend her.

Respect all life - especially the animal kingdom.  The Creator did not give humans dominion over animals, but rather the animals teach and guide humans. 

 

Show deep respect for the beliefs and religion of others.

Touch nothing that belongs to someone else without permission.

 

Life 

Always treat your guests with honor and consideration. Give of your best food, best blankets, best part of your house, and the best service to your guests.

Receive strangers and outsiders with a loving heart and as members of the human family.  All the races and tribes are different colored flowers of one meadow.  All are beautiful.  Respect all of the Creator's children.

Humans are created to serve others, to their family, community, nation and the world.  Do not fill yourself with your own affairs.  True happiness comes only to those who dedicate their lives to the service of others. 

Know those things good for your well-being and those things that lead to your destruction. Listen to and follow the guidance given to your heart. 

Expect guidance to come in many forms; in prayer, in dreams, in times of quiet solitude, and in the words and deeds of wise elders and friends. 

Observe moderation and balance in all things.

Eat well but not excessively.  Eat 'natural' foods given by Mother Earth - for it is what you are made from.  Do not eat what man manufactures for it is full of poison chemicals and unnatural elements.

 

During Meetings and Gatherings

Listen with your heart in courtesy to what others say.  Respect the wisdom of the people in council.  Once you give an idea in council, it no longer belongs to you.  It belongs to the people.  Listen intently to the ideas of  others in council and that you do not insist that your idea prevail. Indeed, freely support the ideas of others if they are true and good, even if they are quite different from yours.  The clash of ideas brings forth the spark of truth.

Once a council has decided an issue in unity, do not speak secretly against what has been decided.  If the council has erred, the error will be apparent to everyone in its own time. 

Be truthful at all times, under all conditions.

The hurt of one is the hurt of all, the honor of one is the honor of all.

 

Bring problems with others to the Elder Council.  Do not circulate these problems among the membership.  Harsh words against others only serve to inflame a problem.

 

If you plan to speak with an Elder or honored guest, it is suggested you offer a small gift as a sign of respect.   When the blanket is laid on the ground near the entry into the circle, please lay down a gift. 

UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS

 


Preamble
Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world,

 

Whereas disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind, and the advent of a world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want has been proclaimed as the highest aspiration of the common people,

 

Whereas it is essential, if man is not to be compelled to have recourse, as a last resort, to rebellion against tyranny and oppression, that human rights should be protected by the rule of law,

 

Whereas it is essential to promote the development of friendly relations between nations,

 

Whereas the peoples of the United Nations have in the Charter reaffirmed their faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person and in the equal rights of men and women and have determined to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom,

 

Whereas Member States have pledged themselves to achieve, in co-operation with the United Nations, the promotion of universal respect for and observance of human rights and fundamental freedoms,

 

Whereas a common understanding of these rights and freedoms is of the greatest importance for the full realization of this pledge,

 

Now, therefore, The General Assembly, proclaims this Universal Declaration of Human Rights as a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations, to the end that every individual and every organ of society, keeping this Declaration constantly in mind, shall strive by teaching and education to promote respect for these rights and freedoms and by progressive measures, national and international, to secure their universal and effective recognition and observance, both among the peoples of Member States themselves and among the peoples of territories under their jurisdiction.

 

Article 1

 

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

 

Article 2

 

Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of a kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.

 

Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty.

 

Article 3

 

Everyone has the right to life, liberty and the security of person.

 

Article 4

 

No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms.

 

Article 5

 

No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

 

Article 6

 

Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law.

 

Article 7

 

All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law. All are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in violation of this Declaration and against any incitement to such discrimination.

 

Article 8

 

Everyone has the right to an effective remedy by the competent national tribunals for acts violating the fundamental rights granted him by the constitution or by law.

 

Article 9

 

No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile.

 

Article 10

 

Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal, in the determination of his rights and obligations and of any criminal charge against him.

 

Article 11

 

1. Everyone charged with a penal offence has the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law in a public trial at which he has had all the guarantees necessary for his defense.

 

2. No one shall be held guilty without any limitation due to race, of any penal offence on account of nationality or religion, have the any act or omission which did not constitute a penal offence, under national or international law, at the time when it was committed.

 

Article 12

 

No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.

 

Article 13

 

1. Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state.

 

2. Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country.

 

Article 14

 

1. Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution.
2. This right may not be invoked in the case of prosecutions genuinely arising from non-political crimes or from acts contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.

 

Article 15

 

1. Everyone has the right to a nationality.

 

2. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality nor be denied the right to change his nationality.

 

Article 16

 

1. Men and women of full age, without any limitation due to race, nationality or religion, have the right to marry and to found a family. They are entitled to equal rights as to marriage, during marriage and at its dissolution.

 

2. Marriage shall be entered into only with the free and full consent of the intending spouses.

 

3. The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State.

 

Article 17

 

1. Everyone has the right to own property alone as well as in association with others.
2. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property.

 

Article 18

 

Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.

 

Article 19

 

Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.

 

Article 20

 

1. Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association.

 

2. No one may be compelled to belong to an association.

 

Article 21

 

1. Everyone has the right to take part in the Government of his country, directly or through freely chosen representatives.

 

2. Everyone has the right of equal access to public service in his country.

 

3. The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government; this will shall be expressed in periodic and genuine elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret vote or by equivalent free voting procedures.

 

Article 22

 

Everyone, as a member of society, has the right to social security and is entitled to realization, through national effort and international cooperation and in accordance with the organization and resources of each State, of the economic, social and cultural rights indispensable for his dignity and the free development of his personality.

 

Article 23

 

1. Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment.

 

2. Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work.

 

3. Everyone who works has the right to just and favourable remuneration insuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection.

 

4. Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests.

 

Article 24

 

Everyone has the right to rest and leisure, including reasonable limitation of working hours and periodic holidays with pay.

 

Article 25

 

1. Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.

 

2. Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection.

 

Article 26

 

1. Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit.

 

2. Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace.

 

3. Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children.

 

Article 27

 

1. Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits.

 

2. Everyone has the right to the protection of the moral and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production of which he is the author.

 

Article 28

 

Everyone is entitled to a social and international order in which the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration can be fully realized.

 

Article 29

 

1. Everyone has duties to the community in which alone the free and full development of his personality is possible.

 

2. In the exercise of his rights and freedoms, everyone shall be subject only to such limitations as are determined by law solely for the purpose of securing due recognition and respect for the rights and freedoms of others and of meeting the just requirements of morality, public order and the general welfare in a democratic society.

 

3. These rights and freedoms may in no case be exercised contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.

 

Article 30

 

Nothing in this Declaration may be interpreted as implying for any State, group or person any right to engage in any activity or to perform any act aimed at the destruction of any of the rights and freedoms set forth herein.

 

Hundred and eighty-third plenary meeting
Resolution 217(A)(III) of the United Nations General Assembly,
December 10, 1948

AMERICAN DECLARATION OF THE RIGHTS AND DUTIES OF MAN

 

(Adopted by the Ninth International Conference of American States, Bogotá, Colombia, 1948)

 

 WHEREAS:

  

            The American peoples have acknowledged the dignity of the individual, and their national constitutions recognize that juridical and political institutions, which regulate life in human society, have as their principal aim the protection of the essential rights of man and the creation of circumstances that will permit him to achieve spiritual and material progress and attain happiness;

 

            The American States have on repeated occasions recognized that the essential rights of man are not derived from the fact that he is a national of a certain state, but are based upon attributes of his human personality;

 

            The international protection of the rights of man should be the principal guide of an evolving American law;

 

            The affirmation of essential human rights by the American States together with the guarantees given by the internal regimes of the states establish the initial system of protection considered by the American States as being suited to the present social and juridical conditions, not without a recognition on their part that they should increasingly strengthen that system in the international field as conditions become more favorable,

 

            The Ninth International Conference of American States

 

AGREES:

 

            To adopt the following 

 

AMERICAN DECLARATION OF THE RIGHTS AND DUTIES OF MAN

 

Preamble

 

            All men are born free and equal, in dignity and in rights, and, being endowed by nature with reason and conscience, they should conduct themselves as brothers one to another.

 

            The fulfillment of duty by each individual is a prerequisite to the rights of all.  Rights and duties are interrelated in every social and political activity of man.  While rights exalt individual liberty, duties express the dignity of that liberty.

 

            Duties of a juridical nature presuppose others of a moral nature which support them in principle and constitute their basis.

 

            Inasmuch as spiritual development is the supreme end of human existence and the highest expression thereof, it is the duty of man to serve that end with all his strength and resources.

 

            Since culture is the highest social and historical expression of that spiritual development, it is the duty of man to preserve, practice and foster culture by every means within his power.

 

            And, since moral conduct constitutes the noblest flowering of culture, it is the duty of every man always to hold it in high respect. 

 

CHAPTER ONE

 

Rights

  

       Article I.  Every human being has the right to life, liberty and the security of his person.

Right to life, liberty and personal security.

       Article II.  All persons are equal before the law and have the rights and duties established in this Declaration, without distinction as to race, sex, language, creed or any other factor.

Right to equality before law.

       Article III.  Every person has the right freely to profess a religious faith, and to manifest and practice it both in public and in private.

Right to religious freedom and worship.

       Article IV.  Every person has the right to freedom of investigation, of opinion, and of the expression and dissemination of ideas, by any medium whatsoever.

Right to freedom of investigation, opinion, expression and dissemination.

       Article V.  Every person has the right to the protection of the law against abusive attacks upon his honor, his reputation, and his private and family life.

Right to protection of honor, personal reputation, and private and family life.

       Article VI.  Every person has the right to establish a family, the basic element of society, and to receive protection therefore.

Right to a family and to protection thereof.

       Article VII.  All women, during pregnancy and the nursing period, and all children have the right to special protection, care and aid.

Right to protection for mothers and children.

       Article VIII.  Every person has the right to fix his residence within the territory of the state of which he is a national, to move about freely within such territory, and not to leave it except by his own will.

Right to residence and movement.

       Article IX.  Every person has the right to the inviolability of his home.

Right to inviolability of the home.

       Article X.  Every person has the right to the inviolability and transmission of his correspondence.

Right to the inviolability and transmission of correspondence.

       Article XI.  Every person has the right to the preservation of his health through sanitary and social measures relating to food, clothing, housing and medical care, to the extent permitted by public and community resources.

Right to the preservation of health and to well-being.

       Article XII.  Every person has the right to an education, which should be based on the principles of liberty, morality and human solidarity.

 

       Likewise every person has the right to an education that will prepare him to attain a decent life, to raise his standard of living, and to be a useful member of society.

 

       The right to an education includes the right to equality of opportunity in every case, in accordance with natural talents, merit and the desire to utilize the resources that the state or the community is in a position to provide.

 

       Every person has the right to receive, free, at least a primary education.

Right to education.

       Article XIII.  Every person has the right to take part in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts, and to participate in the benefits that result from intellectual progress, especially scientific discoveries.

 

       He likewise has the right to the protection of his moral and material interests as regards his inventions or any literary, scientific or artistic works of which he is the author.

Right to the benefits of culture.

       Article XIV.  Every person has the right to work, under proper conditions, and to follow his vocation freely, insofar as existing conditions of employment permit.

Right to work and to fair 
remuneration.

       Every person who works has the right to receive such remuneration as will, in proportion to his capacity and skill, assure him a standard of living suitable for himself and for his family.

 

       Article XV.  Every person has the right to leisure time, to wholesome recreation, and to the opportunity for advantageous use of his free time to his spiritual, cultural and physical benefit.

Right to leisure time and to the use thereof.

       Article XVI.  Every person has the right to social security which will protect him from the consequences of unemployment, old age, and any disabilities arising from causes beyond his control that make it physically or mentally impossible for him to earn a living.

Right to social security.

       Article XVII.  Every person has the right to be recognized everywhere as a person having rights and obligations, and to enjoy the basic civil rights.

Right to recognition of juridical personality and civil rights.

       Article XVIII.  Every person may resort to the courts to ensure respect for his legal rights.  There should likewise be available to him a simple, brief procedure whereby the courts will protect him from acts of authority that, to his prejudice, violate any fundamental constitutional rights.

Right to a fair trial.

       Article XIX.  Every person has the right to the nationality to which he is entitled by law and to change it, if he so wishes, for the nationality of any other country that is willing to grant it to him.

Right to nationality.

       Article XX.  Every person having legal capacity is entitled to participate in the government of his country, directly or through his representatives, and to take part in popular elections, which shall be by secret ballot, and shall be honest, periodic and free.

Right to vote and to participate in government.

       Article XXI.  Every person has the right to assemble peaceably with others in a formal public meeting or an informal gathering, in connection with matters of common interest of any nature.

Right of assembly.

       Article XXII.  Every person has the right to associate with others to promote, exercise and protect his legitimate interests of a political, economic, religious, social, cultural, professional, labor union or other nature.

Right of association.

       Article XXIII.  Every person has a right to own such private property as meets the essential needs of decent living and helps to maintain the dignity of the individual and of the home.

Right to property.

       Article XXIV.  Every person has the right to submit respectful petitions to any competent authority, for reasons of either general or private interest, and the right to obtain a prompt decision thereon.

Right of petition.

       Article XXV.  No person may be deprived of his liberty except in the cases and according to the procedures established by pre-existing law.

 

       No person may be deprived of liberty for nonfulfillment of obligations of a purely civil character.

 

       Every individual who has been deprived of his liberty has the right to have the legality of his detention ascertained without delay by a court, and the right to be tried without undue delay or, otherwise, to be released.  He also has the right to humane treatment during the time he is in custody.

Right of protection from arbitrary arrest.

        Article XXVI.  Every accused person is presumed to be innocent until proved guilty.

 

        Every person accused of an offense has the right to be given an impartial and public hearing, and to be tried by courts previously established in accordance with pre-existing laws, and not to receive cruel, infamous or unusual punishment.

 Right to due process of law.

        Article XXVII.  Every person has the right, in case of pursuit not resulting from ordinary crimes, to seek and receive asylum in foreign territory, in accordance with the laws of each country and with international agreements.

 Right of asylum.

        Article XXVIII.  The rights of man are limited by the rights of others, by the security of all, and by the just demands of the general welfare and the advancement of democracy.

Scope of the rights of man.

 

 CHAPTER TWO

 

Duties

  

        Article XXIX.  It is the duty of the individual so to conduct himself in relation to others that each and every one may fully form and develop his personality.

Duties to society.

        Article XXX.  It is the duty of every person to aid, support, educate and protect his minor children, and it is the duty of children to honor their parents always and to aid, support and protect them when they need it.

 Duties toward children and parents.

        Article XXXI.  It is the duty of every person to acquire at least an elementary education.

 Duty to receive instruction.

        Article XXXII.  It is the duty of every person to vote in the popular elections of the country of which he is a national, when he is legally capable of doing so.

 Duty to vote.

         Article XXXIII.  It is the duty of every person to obey the law and other legitimate commands of the authorities of his country and those of the country in which he may be.

 

Duty to obey the law.

         Article XXXIV.  It is the duty of every able-bodied person to render whatever civil and military service his country may require for its defense and preservation, and, in case of public disaster, to render such services as may be in his power.

 

         It is likewise his duty to hold any public office to which he may be elected by popular vote in the state of which he is a national.

Duty to serve the community and the nation.

         Article XXXV.  It is the duty of every person to cooperate with the state and the community with respect to social security and welfare, in accordance with his ability and with existing circumstances.

Duties with respect to social security and welfare.

         Article XXXVI.  It is the duty of every person to pay the taxes established by law for the support of public services.

Duty to pay taxes.

         Article XXXVII.  It is the duty of every person to work, as far as his capacity and possibilities permit, in order to obtain the means of livelihood or to benefit his community.

Duty to work.

         Article XXXVIII.  It is the duty of every person to refrain from taking part in political activities that, according to law, are reserved exclusively to the citizens of the state in which he is an alien.

Duty to refrain from political activities in a foreign country.

 

 

BASIC DOCUMENTS PERTAINING TO HUMAN RIGHTS
IN THE INTER-AMERICAN SYSTEM

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