State Department Announces New Council on Unalienable Rights

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is joined by commission chair Harvard Professor Mary Ann Glendon while announcing the formation of a commission to redefine human rights, based on “natural law and natural rights”, during a news conference at the Department of State, on July 8, 2019 in Washington. Mark Wilson/Getty Images

WASHINGTON—U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced on July 8 the creation of a commission on unalienable rights to advise him on how to best interpret human rights, based on the Constitution and the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

“Every once in a while, we need to step back and reflect seriously on where we are, where we’ve been, and whether we’re headed in the right direction,” he said. “I hope that the commission will revisit the most basic of questions: What does it mean to say or claim that something is, in fact, a human right?”