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The 2009 Lisbon Forum - “Creating a Culture of Human Rights through Education” Speech by Maud de Boer-Buquicchio, Deputy Secretary General of the Council of Europe Lisbon 13 November 2009 Embargo until delivery / check against delivery Your excellencies, ladies and gentlemen,
It is a great pleasure to come to this astonishingly beautiful city. History never comes with a blank sheet, it has been said. In Lisbon we can see how diversity of culture has benefited human life through the centuries. What better agora could we choose to inspire our debates on the creation of a culture of human rights? When the Council of Europe was founded in 1949, it was for one of our civilization’s most noble causes: the creation of a society which would uphold human rights, democracy and the rule of law. A society where each individual can fulfill his or her aspirations, where cultures can flourish and people respect each other, learn from each other and eventually benefit from their diversity. Today, 60 years later, the face of Europe has changed. The Berlin wall is down and there is much to be learnt from the process following the reunification of Germany. The wind of freedom blowing over the whole of the continent has helped Europe to heal some of its deepest wounds. It has not yet, however, lifted other less visible walls and removed the dust of all conflicts. Our countries are, despite the financial crises, prospering. The meaning of “prosperity” is also evolving, shifting from pure purchasing power to the notion of wellbeing which includes non material benefits, such as the increasing level of education. An ideal Europe is still under construction, but our continent is becoming a place where people build their lives instead of losing their lives. I wish we could say the same for every country in the world but the reality is that, beyond European borders, millions of people continue to live in fear, to suffer from war, hunger and oppression. Has it become impossible to reach this essential goal of universal humanity in an age of globalisation? No, but we cannot leave it to the natural forces of globalisation to bring about the kind of world we desperately need. We have to take advantage of them to spread values, to share knowledge and remove obstacles. And we have to do it together. In 1949, dialogue among the European nations became a point of departure for the European adventure. It led to the adoption of the European Convention on Human Rights. A landmark achievement which has become the flagship of our tireless efforts to create, uphold and expand a culture of human rights. In 2009, dialogue among the cultures of Europe and other continents can and should be another point of departure. Humankind is like a complex biological organism, made of billions of cells, all equal, all different. It cannot survive by ignoring neither the suffering nor the value of each human being. For the Council of Europe, the Lisbon Forum is like a heart, spreading universal values. Every beat brings the essence of humanity everywhere, including to the most remote places. We are keen on bringing to this Forum the many tools that we have tested and found efficient in our mission. Some of them have helped us in the fight against the death penalty, torture and inhuman or degrading treatment, corruption, trafficking, discrimination, or violence against children. Others have helped to guarantee freedom of expression, information and association. Legal instruments are vital tools, but far too often they are perceived as being disconnected from the needs and the reality of people. Through tools such as training, education and awareness-raising, the Council of Europe wishes to bring values to where they belong: to the heart and daily life of each and every person. Last year the Lisbon Forum decided to adopt a work programme for the coming years, focusing on the understanding, promotion and strengthening of universal human rights.
The American congressman, Edward Everett once said that Education is a better safeguard of liberty than a standing army. He had seen how the Prussian education system in 18th Century Europe had created a “Volksschule”, opening up in general a compulsory education for people from all classes of society. The “Volksschule” eventually became the backbone of the education system in the United States, as it did in so many other countries. The right to learn is not only a human right. It is also the point of departure for an effective protection of all human rights. It is only through learning and knowledge sharing that we can build a truly universal culture of human rights. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights calls upon every individual and every organ of society to strive – by teaching and education – to promote respect for human rights and freedoms. At the Council of Europe, we have taken this mandate very seriously and invested in concrete action to guarantee access to quality education for all and to develop education for democratic citizenship and human rights, including children’s rights. That is why we are here today. To exchange our expertise with that of other continents, to put at your disposal the results of our work. When doing so, we come with both pride and humility. The pride of the progress accomplished. The humility of the knowledge that we are still lacking, the conflicts that we didn’t prevent and the immense work we have ahead of us. These are my mixed feelings when I think of the 60 years behind us. We do not have lessons to give, but much to share, learn and improve. Ladies and Gentlemen,
Let me end with a quote from the “mother” of the Universal Declaration for Human Rights, Eleanor Roosevelt, who said that: “Where, after all, do universal human rights begin? In small places, close to home – so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any maps of the world. Yet they are the world of the individual person; the neighborhood he lives in, the school or college he attends, the factory, farm or office where he works. Such are the places where every man, woman and child seeks equal justice, equal opportunity, equal dignity without discrimination. Unless these rights have meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere.” Ladies and Gentlemen,
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