Human Rights and Social Justice
The Geneva Conventions adopted August 12 revise the conventions of 1864, 1907, and 1929. They provide for “free passage of all consignments of essential foodstuffs, clothing, and tonics intended for children under 15, expectant mothers, and maternity cases” in event of war but do not specifically outlaw sieges, blockades, or “resource denial” operations and do not address conflicts that are partly internal and partly international. More than 185 nations will eventually sign the conventions.
China, Indonesia, and Costa Rica grant women the right to vote on the same basis as men. Chile grants woman suffrage after a long campaign, but women must vote separately from men.
FAO chairman John Boyd Orr receives the Nobel Peace Prize and is elevated to the peerage as Lord Boyd Orr of Brechin. He observes that “hunger, which is the worst manifestation of poverty, is also the fundamental cause of the rebellion of the Asians against the economic domination of the European powers, a rebellion that cannot be put down with bombs and guns as long as these peoples remain convinced that their hunger and their poverty are sufferings to which they are not condemned by necessity.”
