Mrs Mary Robinson yesterday praised the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as "one of the clearest and most understandable texts on the fundamental rights of the human being". Yet despite the elegance of the crowd in the packed UNESCO auditorium to celebrate the declaration's 50th anniversary, despite the joyful performance of Bach's Concerto for Two Violins directed by Yehudi Menuhin, there was no hiding the fact that the ambitious and idealistic declaration is the world's most violated document.
Mrs Robinson, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, noted that "institutionally, much has been achieved". The concept of universal and indivisible human rights had attained "legitimacy, officially at least". President Jacques Chirac pointed to democracy in India, the end of apartheid in South Africa, the fall of communism in eastern Europe and the democratisation of Latin America as achievements of the past half-century. Nonetheless, he added, half of the countries in the world still practise torture. In the diplomatic section of the auditorium, the ambassadors from guilty countries did not even squirm.
"Who could fail to be dismayed when we compare the reality of the human rights situation around the world with the idealistic aims of the Universal Declaration?" Mrs Robinson asked. "The duty, under Article 14, to respect the rights of asylum-seekers is made subject to financial considerations," she added. "We dispense humanitarian aid to the victims of famine and conflict rather than addressing the human rights issues at the heart of their problems."
A billion and a half people earn less than a dollar a day and the same number have no access to clean water, Mrs Robinson said. "We are in danger of reaching a point where the world is divided - not between developing and developed states, but between overdeveloped and never-to-be-developed states."
She blamed "a failure of will on the part of governments", who spend $800 billion a year on weapons. "We can, and must, do better," she concluded. "The credibility of our institutions of governance is at issue."
The French government has spent 27 million francs (£3.25 million) on four days of celebrations, of which a miserly 2 million francs was given to the courageous non-governmental organisations who work hardest to end human rights abuses. Four NGOs, including Amnesty International and the International Federation of Human Rights Leagues, are holding the "States General of Human Rights Defenders" today and tomorrow at the Palais de Chaillot, where the declaration was proclaimed in 1948 by the United Nations General Assembly. They will have to vacate the hall on Thursday for an official ceremony presided over by President Chirac.
Official events include a lunch at the Elysee Palace today, followed by the speech of the UN Secretary-General, Mr Kofi Annan, before the National Assembly, a gala evening at the OperaComique and the presentation of two human rights awards by the Prime Minister, Mr Lionel Jospin, on Thursday.
Unofficial events show more ingenuity. This evening, the Secretary-General of Amnesty, Mr Pierre Sane, will present to Mr Annan the signatures of 11 million people who have promised to promote human rights. Tomorrow morning, Amnesty and the Body Shop will open an exhibition of 34 portraits of defenders of human rights in a Paris art gallery. The pictures are made from three million thumb-prints collected in a worldwide campaign. And tomorrow night the same groups are sponsoring a concert.
French unemployed are taking advantage of the anniversary to stage a day of protest on Thursday. Article 23 of the declaration states that "everyone has the right to work".