Cartagena Declaration has been a lifeline in Latin America and the Caribbean, Türk says

40th Anniversary of the Cartagena Declaration on Refugees

Towards a New Declaration and a Ten-Year Plan of Action for Protection and Solutions (2024-2034):

A Latin American and Caribbean Contribution to the Global Refugee Forum

Excellencies,
Colleagues,
Friends,

I am delighted to be here with you.

The Cartagena Declaration – and the action it has inspired – has been a lifeline for millions of people throughout the Latin American and Caribbean region in search of safety.

Demonstrating, with such clarity, the power of solidarity. Between countries. And with refugees.

Solidarity – that recognition of our common humanity, our intertwined fates – lies at the heart of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights whose 75th anniversary we mark this week.

Born out of the horrors of global war, the Holocaust, the atomic threat and economic ruin, the Declaration laid out a new collective pathway towards a world more peaceful, equal and just.

Drawing on shared values across cultures and eras, the Declaration set out our inherent rights, grounded in our equal worth.

Including the right to asylum.

The influence of the Declaration in the decades since has been remarkable, playing a unique role in advances on women’s equality; progress on education and health; in independence movements, and so much more. It also seeded the rich tapestry of international human rights treaties, laws, instruments and mechanisms we have today.

But we mark the Declaration’s anniversary at an extremely difficult moment, with vicious conflicts raging, deepening geopolitical tension, escalating inequalities and technology that advances largely ungoverned. Alongside the truly existential threat of the triple planetary crisis.

There should be no doubt – the pathway set out by the Declaration is needed more than ever.

Human rights offer us a route to shaping credible, inclusive and effective solutions for even the most intractable of the issues we face. And for those emerging and yet to emerge.

This includes the complexities of displacement as it presents today in every region. Challenges I know all too well from my previous life with UNHCR.

Each situation of forced displacement is the result of a tragic failure of rights protection.

Rights hold the key to remedying this.

Complementing international refugee law and international humanitarian law, human rights principles form an essential pillar of the comprehensive legal framework for responding to the vulnerable situation of refugees and others in need of international protection.

Including the ever more visible reality of climate change and disaster-related displacement.

This holistic framework is a testament to the principled and pragmatic approach of the Cartagena + process; repeatedly recognized in, for example, the 1994 San Jose Declaration on Refugees and Displaced Persons and the 2014 Brazil Declaration and Plan of Action, in which I was personally involved.

As you move forward with the Cartagena + process and celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Cartagena Declaration, I welcome the continuation of this long tradition of protecting the human rights of refugees and other displaced people in Latin America and the Caribbean.

This progressive approach, built around partnerships and innovation, is a tremendously positive example to the rest of the world.

I wish you productive discussions as you embark on this next chapter.

And invite you, in the spirit of the Universal Declaration, to ensure that human rights remain at the center of your efforts to craft effective strategies to support all those in need of international protection.

This is a moment when we all must re-dedicate ourselves to the vision and the values of the Universal Declaration.

So that our “human family” can turn decisively away from the road to increasing instability and division. And instead, embracing solidarity, shape a better future for all.

Thank you.