85.12EM Amendment to the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners
Whereas:
Resolutions of the National Council of Women of Canada with respect to the Canadian Penal System and the Humanitarian Provisions of the Helsinki Final Agreement clearly indicate the Council’s concern for the protection of human rights and the humanization of criminal justice; and
Whereas:
The dignity of the human person has come to be recognized as a universal ideal and as the basis of human rights; and
Whereas:
This basic principle is not included in the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners; and,
Whereas:
The full implementation of the Rules may be impeded by a lack of expression of this basic principle; and,
Whereas:
The need for formulation of additional standards and norms has been recognized and is an agenda topic at the Seventh Congress on the Prevention of Crime and The Treatment of Prisoners; and
Whereas:
Delegations from the Government of Canada and the International Council of Women will attend the Seventh Congress; therefore be it
RESOLVED:
That The National Council of Women of Canada urge the Government of Canada and the International Council of Women to support an amendment to Part I of the Rules of General Application of the Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners through addition of the following Basic Principle:
6(3) Every person shall be regarded as having an intrinsic dignity and value in him/her self, regardless of his/her condition and entirely apart from any institutional or social objectives he/she may serve.
6(4) Penal institutions shall have as one of their essential purposes, at least in importance to any other purpose, the development of the individual human person.