SEI FUJII v. STATE (1950)

Section 2 of Article 2 of the United Nations Charter, 59 Stat. 1031, 1037, recognizes that there are rights and benefits on one side of the ledger and obligations on the other. The Members of the Organization are pledged to fulfill in good faith the ‘obligations' in order to ensure the ‘rights and benefits' resulting from membership.

Respondent's reiteration throughout its petition for a rehearing that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is not a treaty and has no bearing on the question at issue in this case is beside the point, since we did not place reliance on the Declaration in support of the conclusion reached. There is no intimation in the opinion that the Declaration is a treaty, for it is not, or that it has any binding force on the United States or any state or political subdivision thereof. Reference was made to that document, as clearly shown by the opinion, as well as to the address of the President to the Senate, as especially emphasizing the purposes and guarantees of the Charter.

There is no suggestion that sovereign rights of the Government have been surrendered or that the United Nations Organization can impose its will upon any member nation. The sovereignity of the member nations is expressly recognized in the portion of the Charter quoted in our opinion.

Since the Charter guarantees equal rights to all ‘without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion’, art. 1, § 3, and the members pledge themselves to take joint and separate action for the achievement of the purposes of the Charter, the fact that Japan is not a member of the Organization does not render its nationals ineligible to the guarantees extended to all persons without exception.

Respondent's petition for a rehearing is denied.

WILSON, Justice.

MOORE, P. J., and McCOMB, J., concur.