Taking stock on the realization of human rights globally

Advisory Board for International Human Rights Affairs (IONK) and the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland.

Taking stock on the realization of human rights globally – crises, challenges, success stories

Keynote Speech

As this year 2022 draws to a close, as we try to find our way through multiple, interlocking crises, it may be natural to be left with a feeling of gloom and despair.

The war in Ukraine. The climate emergency. Gaping inequalities. Unsustainable debt burdens.

Economic analysis has shown that COVID-19 has reversed progress made by medium and low-income countries in reducing income inequality since the global financial crisis of 2007/2009. With few countries able or willing to invest in social security or labour market interventions, COVID-19 has led to the first rise in extreme poverty in two decades. 

Raging conflicts. As we see the laws of war and international human rights law flouted around the world, in Ukraine, Syria, Ethiopia, and Yemen, with civilians always bearing the brunt of these senseless events.

In 2021, OHCHR recorded at least 11,000 civilian conflict related deaths, in 12 conflicts only. 

A soaring cost-of-living crisis.

A shrinking civic space.

And grievances about worsening standards of living or limited access to economic, social and cultural rights often dismissed or left unaddressed – only further fueling social unrest.

Growing hate speech, both online and offline.

And behind the scenes of these obvious events simmer the geopolitics, the divisions, the fragmentation, which make progress seem like a dream.

But today, I would like us to consider a few things that should also be making us feel hopeful.

Because just as much as division is part of our way of being as humans. So is unity.

Just as much as fear of the unknown may be instinctual, so is resilience.

And just as much as pessimism is part of the human condition. So is hope.

For me, human rights are the force that come in and unify us. 

It brings us back to human dignity and to what connects us all with each other.

Let’s not forget that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights emerged out of the ashes of the Second World War.  It provided the inspiration and the motivation that the world needed at that time. 

So, I think we need to go back to the basics of what this unifying force – this focus on the human being – was. 

To regain the universality and the indivisibility of the human rights regime.

This language of human rights can, I believe, overcome division and polarisation which have tragically gained the upper hand of late.

This language can make peace with nature, our planet and point the way to sustainable development for future generations.

I think we also need to look at human rights in the 21st century,

Technologies are evolving so rapidly, including for instance the use of AI in the military domain; we see challenges around cybersecurity; or how health pandemics, by definition, know no borders; and demographics changing across regions.

And of course, the growing triple planetary crisis.

These developments continue to reveal new and complex human rights challenges – for instance : how to react when hate speech runs up against freedom of expression in unchecked online environments? Some of you may have seen the letter I wrote to Twitter’s Elon Musk, for instance. Social media platforms play a very important role. We know the role Facebook played in Myanmar, for example, when the Rohingya crisis happened, in allowing disinformation and hatred to spread.

Or how can we give meaning to the right to a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment in today’s world? 

Or how can we make sure we are ready to respond to the concrete consequences of climate change – for instance its role in compelling people to move, making sure human rights are respected at borders, and enabling dignified paths for migration.

These kinds of questions have always been at the heart of policy debates on implementing human rights.

We have to make sure our respective parts of this human rights ecosystem – including Parliamentary groups on human rights, which some of you are members of, can meet these challenges.

By having the necessary strategic foresight, and by being able to adapt.

This requires creativity, innovation and a contemporary understanding of the legal framework and of concepts of justice in light of current and future challenges.

No doubt we need stronger global governance and more effective international risk mitigation efforts.

The global, interconnected challenges we are discussing cannot be prevented or solved by national governments alone.

This is a call for solidarity. More than ever.

And finally, another area I think we need to look more deeply into, is the functioning of the human rights ecosystem as a whole.

We have built a remarkable human rights infrastructure so far. But I believe we need to make it truly fit for purpose.

What is the role of the treaty bodies, of the special procedures mandate-holders, of the Human Rights Council, Universal Periodic Review process, and of my own Office too – and how do we strategically deal with different situations?

We must also make sure the different pieces at regional and national levels – the regional human rights commissions, the national human rights commissions, and also of course the Parliaments, the judiciary – that all these pieces work to ensure the centrality of human rights in governance for the future.

That we make sure that institutions and policies systematically consider the interdependence of people - and between people and the planet.

From my vantage point, the responsibilities entrusted to me and my Office as part of this ecosystem are manifold.

Importantly, they include having sometimes uncomfortable, complex, difficult conversations with each and every Member State about those issues that are a blind spot or that are on the shadow side of society.

I am duty bound to fulfil my mandate with the only purpose in mind but to serve the human rights cause for everyone everywhere.

Next year we will celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the 30th anniversary of the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action.

The Universal Declaration is a miraculous text, written and adopted as the world emerged from the ruins of World War II.

I urge each and every one of you to read it, in its entirety, and think about how it applies today. How we can rekindle its spirit and impulse and adapt it to today’s challenges.

And I hope that next year, we will take up this unique opportunity to rebuild the constituency for human rights, especially among young people.

That we will work hard, together, to assess and prepare for human rights challenges that lie ahead over the next 25 years.

And that we will commit to bolstering the human rights infrastructure.

Human rights are for all of us.

What I hear from human rights defenders around the world, and what I am deeply convinced of is that even when the challenges seem insurmountable, if the leaders in politics and society would only centre their responses on human rights, the solutions are always within sight.

Thank you.