Today's mounting – and intersecting – challenges can be resolved with human rights

Many thanks for the invitation to be here, among so many distinguished speakers and guests, and in such a beautiful, ancient setting.

This weekend we are looking at the future, and at the global state of human rights. We face a huge set of challenges.

Threats to peace and security are tugging the world away from a shared search for solutions and back into hostile blocs. From the Russian Federation’s invasion of Ukraine to the bitter violence in Sudan, Myanmar and elsewhere, civilians are paying the price for leaders’ power grabs, and impunity is widespread.

C limate change, pollution and biodiversity loss already threaten every place on earth, with massive human rights impact. And this will only get worse.

The rights of women, of many ethnic minorities, and of LGBTIQ+ people are being called into question. Civil society and the civic space are increasingly restricted.

And our human rights and personal security are imperilled by digital challenges. Even as new technologies offer tremendous potential for humankind, artificial intelligence and deep fakes fuel polarization – and together with bioengineering, they are moving so quickly that government regulations are hard pressed to keep up.

Our trust in institutions and in each other is eroded when we no longer know what is true, or even what is real. Our capacity to come together to find global solutions is undermined when the tidal forces of social media shape sharply delineated and hostile camps – people who no longer watch the same media or reach across the divide to dialogue with each other.

All these challenges intersect and compound. And by eroding human rights, they also undermine justice, sound and inclusive development, and peace.

But while human rights may be under attack, they are also the solution, pointing the way out of today’s turmoil.

This year we mark three very important milestones — notably, of course, the 75^th anniversary of one of the most pivotal texts in modern history, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The Declaration is an inspiring document that sets out the universal human rights that every person on the planet enjoys by virtue of being born human.

I mentioned three anniversaries.

This year is the 30^th anniversary of the adoption of the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, which led to the creation of my Office.

It also addressed the notion that national or regional values might somehow clash with international human rights standards, and should override them. Universal human rights standards are universal – for everyone. They are indivisible, interdependent and interrelated: the right to adequate food is best attained where there is also freedom of expression and a broad civic and democratic space. And all these elements work together to create a much more resilient social fabric: this was another lesson confirmed at Vienna 30 years ago.

Our third anniversary: in December, we will also mark 25^th anniversary of the adoption of the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders . This, for the first time, recognized the specific right to defend human rights – and outlined the responsibilities of governments and businesses to protect people who do so.

In the face of profound challenges, these three converging anniversaries bring a measure of clarity and hope. They point to a way forward. A rights-based approach to any issue leads to more sustainable outcomes, and focuses efforts on what matters the most – the impact on people.

A good place to start is participation. The broadest possible participation in decision-making – by people who are empowered to express their own opinions – leads to more effective and more legitimate solutions, from the local to the global .

Lasting peace, for example, cannot be built only by men. We need different voices at negotiating tables. Where are women? Young people? Civil society? Societies that are based on participation, and which benefit from justice systems that have been shaped by participation, are not free from disputes. But they are able to resolve disputes. Participation helps to prevent tensions from escalating into violence and conflict.

Broad participation is also essential if we are to address environmental issues and the challenges of new technology. We need to seek out and listen to the voices of those who have taken no part in these decisions but suffer the most — indigenous peoples, people forced by poverty to live in lowlands and other highly vulnerable areas, or women who are responsible for subsistence farming.

Colleagues,

Seventy-five years ago, States committed to upholding the inherent equality of every human being, and to advancing the rights that we all share.

They were shaken and depleted by two world wars, by horrific genocide, by the nuclear threat and by the greatest recession the world had ever experienced. And yet they drafted and adopted a promise that could be seen as idealistic.

But idealism had nothing to do with it. They were intensely focused on the practical. The States that adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948 knew that by building human rights, they would be able to slow and perhaps halt the spiralling chaos that was destroying lives and any possibility of stability.

The right to live free from any form of discrimination, arbitrary detention, and torture.

The rights to education and to adequate food, healthcare, clean water, sanitation, social protection, and housing.

Freedom of expression, opinion, and the right to privacy. Freedom of association and assembly, including the right to demonstrate peacefully.

The right to fair and just conditions of work.

To fair trial and to equal protection of the law.

To participate, freely and meaningfully, in public affairs.

This is how we build peaceful and harmonious societies. It is how we build countries that can work together in multilateral fora to address shared challenges. It is how we build sustained, and sustainable, development in an environment that is safe.

I am very hopeful, for example, that climate litigation cases in national courts and international tribunals will ensure accountability for and ultimately drive solutions to the triple planetary crisis.

On challenges in the digital space, it is time to incorporate the shared language of human rights into the way we regulate, manage, design, and use new and emerging technologies. From the conception phase of technology and throughout its entire life cycle, safeguards must be in place to uphold human rights.

My Office can help by facilitating and guiding the hard discussions necessary to make progress on all these issues. We are a bridge between people and the institutions of their States; we are also a bridge between actors at the global level, helping to remove obstacles to the full realization of all human rights.

But there is absolutely no way we can do this alone.

The Universal Declaration has inspired decades of vibrant, creative, powerful activism and solidarity, empowering people to claim their rights and to engage actively in their communities and societies.

Its promises bring hope to millions of people, and the certitude that things could be different.

We need that spirit now.

The lessons of history are many, but I want to focus today on this: without justice, there cannot be enduring peace. Without inclusion, there can be no social cohesion, no sense of a shared society. Without rule of law, and a broad civic space, there can be no sound governance.

Advancing human rights is the way to combat despair, and it is the path to ensuring solutions to our challenges today, and for generations to come.

Despair is often born out of the sense that your life and lives of people you care for count for nothing; that your voice, if you raise it, will be ignored or shut down.

So as I call on States this year to revive their commitment to the powerful words of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Vienna Declaration and the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, I ask also that everyone who is able to do so stands up to demand freedom from fear. Freedom from misery and deprivation. And justice – including climate justice – for everyone.

Thank you