Saturday 31 October 2015 – 15:30 pm

Mr. Secretary-General,
Maestro Barenboim,
Mr. Director-General,
Mr. High Commissioner ,
Mr. High Representative,
Mr. Moratinos,
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

On behalf of the Presidency of the Human Rights Council, it is an honor to also warmly welcome you all tonight to this wonderful event in our Human Rights Council chamber.

The President of the Human Rights Council, Ambassador Joachim Ruecker of Germany, would have very much loved to be here today but had to honour a prior commitment.

On behalf of Ambassador Ruecker, I also wish to extend our gratitude to all of those who lent their support to make tonight possible, and in particular to the ONUART Foundation and its President, His Excellency, Mr. Miguel Angel Moratinos.   

Very special thanks from the Presidency go as well to Maestro Daniel Barenboim and to the musicians of the West-Eastern Divan orchestra for being with us and for joining our Council’s efforts in promoting and protecting human rights.

Needless to say, the message of unity, understanding and reconciliation which the orchestra symbolizes resonates well within this Chamber. Music transcends what divides us; it transcends countries, language and race. Music is a bit like human rights, universal and individual at the same time.

The very artwork of this room was made to represent the diversity in perceptions that may exist around the world. Much like points of view, the colours of the ceiling look different depending on where you stand. But it also represents unity; unity in our efforts to sit together in this very room and negotiate a better world, free of human rights violations, with the promise of dignity and fulfilment for every individual.

We are not quite there yet.

But today’s concert sends a powerful signal from the Human Rights Council in Geneva that through human rights we can transcend our divides, work collectively and focus on what unites us – like music and like tonight’s concert.

With these words, let this wonderful music inspire us to be faithful to the aspiration of the Council’s founding fathers, and to the vision with which the Human Rights Council was created.

Thank you