Sakharov, Walesa Join in Marking Rights Declaration

Soviet activist Andrei D. Sakharov, Polish labor leader Lech Walesa and U.N. Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar joined champions of human dignity from around the world Saturday to mark the 40th anniversary of the U.N. Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

“States can no longer abuse their sovereignty without damaging their international image,” Perez de Cuellar said during a two-hour ceremony at the Chaillot Palace commemorating the declaration.

The Peruvian diplomat spoke at the ceremony after flying to Paris from Oslo, where he accepted the 1988 Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of U.N. peacekeeping forces.

Walesa and Sakharov, meeting for the first time, discussed human rights problems in their homelands, an adviser to Walesa said.

Elsewhere Saturday, police clashed with protesters calling for human rights in Tibet and Paraguay, and the leaders of nations such as Cyprus and the Philippines issued statements calling for an end to human rights abuses.

Walesa, leader of Poland’s banned Solidarity labor union, and Sakharov met privately for about 45 minutes Saturday morning in a “very friendly and very warm” session, according to Bronislaw Gemerek, an adviser to Walesa who is acting as translator.

“Walesa spoke of the problems in Poland. Sakharov spoke of the problems in the Soviet Union, and Walesa said he thinks perestroika is a good program for both countries.”

Perestroika refers to Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev’s program of political and economic restructuring.

The Paris trip was the first time Walesa has been allowed to leave Poland since martial law was declared in 1981. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1983, after the creation of Solidarity, but was not allowed to go to Oslo to accept it.

Sakharov, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1975, arrived in Paris after a four-week visit to the United States.

A nuclear physicist who helped develop the Soviet hydrogen bomb, Sakharov previously was barred from traveling abroad because the Soviets said his scientific work gave him knowledge of state secrets.

For seven years, he lived in internal exile in the closed city of Gorky because of his outspoken opposition to Soviet intervention in Afghanistan.

In 1986, he was allowed to return to Moscow. Since then, Sakharov has generally supported Gorbachev’s reforms while speaking out against some trends, including the growing concentration of power in the Soviet leader’s hands.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the U.N. General Assembly on Dec. 10, 1948, is the basic document under which member nations pledge to safeguard life and liberty and abolish torture and slavery.