It is a great honour to open this seminar on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. I would like to say how much it means to have His Royal Highness the Crown Prince with us today. As Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Development Programme, you have been a steadfast supporter of Norway’s and the international community’s efforts to promote peace and development.
Your Royal Highness, Excellencies, Distinguished guests, Ladies and gentlemen,
I would like to start by quoting Winston Churchill: “There are a terrible lot of lies going about the world, and the worst of it is that half of them are true.” Churchill was taking an ironic look at his age, but his observation continues to be valid beyond his time. The 20th century was full of what ought to have been lies, but sadly turned out to be truths: two world wars, endless civil wars, assassinations of brave men and women, and many, many more barbarous killings in brutal conflicts all over the world. Add to that all the countless infringements of citizens’ rights in illiberal regimes world-wide, I think we can safely conclude that the 20th century was a one of disregard and contempt for humanity.
Elie Wiesel, who personally experienced the ultimate horror of that century – the Nazi concentration camps – but survived and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize 22 years ago, described it as a “century of indifference”.
As we commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, I think we should start with that concept. Indifference makes the human being inhuman. That’s the core of Wiesel’s thinking.
One crucial response to indifference was the development of the United Nations and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It is a commitment to ensuring that all men and women are able to take their place in an international community anchored in fundamental human rights. It is a commitment to human dignity.
However, the reality is that although some 188 nations had endorsed the Declaration by the end of 20th century, the brutality has continued.
Looking back over the last few years, it seems that this century started off in the same way. Countless numbers of people around the world continue to suffer from the indifference of others. Many human rights defenders experience how difficult it can be to become involved in other people’s pain and despair.
Dag Hammerskjold once said that the UN wasn’t created to take humanity to heaven, but to save it from hell.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights sets out the moral basis for how we should relate to one another. It does not take us to heaven, but it is a basis for making societies more human and civilised.
Looking at Europe today, it seems clear to me that Europe did not invent human rights. It is the other way around. Human rights, as enshrined also in the European Convention on Human rights, invented the Europe we know today. Europe has become a place where people can build meaningful lives, rather than losing them.
The true legacy of the Universal Declaration is, in my view, that it provides a fundamental moral point of reference for human relations and for how to build a society. Therefore, the test is not whether we achieve perfection. The true test of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is whether we are able to recognise our failures and then take action to overcome the challenges of an imperfect world.
Your Royal Highness, Distinguished guests,
What is the dominant force of the 21st century? Taking a positive view, we could, until recently, have said the global economy, or we could say information technology, or the scientific revolution, or the advance of democracy and diversity. Taking a darker view, we could say climate change, poverty, or the various conflicts all over the world caused by racial and religious tensions.
These are all important factors that we need to consider in order to understand the new century we have entered. But one thing is clear: the 21st century will, more than anything, be characterised by an unprecedented degree of interdependence among nations.
Globalisation means more trade, more travel, more communication, and more exchange than ever before. People are experiencing more benefits than ever before in history. But at the same time we have become more vulnerable. Look at the financial crisis: within only weeks the meltdown of investment banks in the US has had a serious impact on our own economy. And with regard to security, the free flow of people, information and goods across borders and waters means that threats too can be spread much more easily than before.
Kofi Annan has said: “Today, no walls can separate humanitarian or human rights crises in one part of the world from national security crises in another. What begins with the failure to uphold the dignity of one life all too often ends with a calamity for entire nations.”
At the same time, globalisation is leading to the rise of new major powers. New state actors are changing the rules of the game, and none of the serious challenges of our time will be resolved without their participation and commitment. Therefore, we have to reform the global institutions.
When the United Nations Security Council was established in 1946, the permanent members were selected to reflect the world then. Today, the Security Council no longer corresponds to the political realities of our time. The permanent members seem to act according to their national interests, forgetting the mandate they were given in 1946: to act on behalf of all of us.
If we are to recognise our failures, and take action to overcome the challenges of the world today, we first of all have to realise the extent to which the world has changed, the extent of our interdependence. Only then will we be able to reform the world organisations and equip them to meet our real needs. Only then will we succeed in transforming our interdependence into something genuinely positive for most people. And only then will we be able to advance human rights and global responsibility.
Declarations have formed the world. They have formed our thinking. And they have formed our actions.
The American Declaration of Independence and the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen fundamentally redefined civic identity. All men are born free and have equal rights. Yes indeed, this was a revolution. But the achievements of the French and American revolutions must be weighed against the excesses of nationalism that accompanied them.
For an unintended consequence was that the new concept of the state belonging to the citizens rather than the rulers, changed the nature of war. And this change in ideology occurred just as technological innovations were beginning to make mass destruction possible.
This is why the two great declarations of the 18th century needed to be followed be a third: the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It represented a revolution not towards nationalism, but away from it: to internationalism. This revolution unfolded slowly. During the years of the Cold War, the potential for destruction made global leaders aware that factors other than national claims had to be taken into account.
Since then, war and the threat of war have only increased the urgency of sublimating the need for state sovereignty to higher ideals.
Today, the threat of ecological disaster and the problems that can be caused by a totally unregulated market are making it increasingly clear that we have to build stronger global institutions and transfer national sovereignty to them. The years 1776, 1789, and 1948 marked leaps forward in the human project. Ideals of justice and equality were advanced. New political structures were invented. Human hearts had the courage to accomplish what had been once been regarded as impossible.
It is just such a leap forward that we need today: a commitment to an interdependent world and to putting an end to all that divides human beings.
We must pave the way for a new civic identity. Identify with the plight of other people. Make use of our freedom to make other people free. Prevent war, combat global warming and regulate markets in a sensible way.
“If I have seen further, it is because I have been standing on the shoulders of giants,” said Isaac Newton. The Declaration of Independence, the Declaration of Freedom and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights have all been such giants. They have made it possible for us to see further.
“All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood,” states Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
This fundamental imperative has been steadily spreading around the globe. This is also globalisation. As the writer James Baldwin once put it, “The people who once walked in darkness are no longer prepared to do so.” We must understand this. Oppression and indifference will lead to new conflicts and new wars. That is why we must use our freedom to make other people free. Why we must make full use of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
We must not accept indifference. We must tirelessly promote human rights.