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Speech by Maud de Boer-Buquicchio,
Your Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, dear friends, As ever, it is a great pleasure for me to be here in this beautiful city, meeting old friends and new. I thank the Portuguese authorities for their warm hospitality and unfailing support to the North-South Centre. The Council of Europe celebrated a few weeks ago the sixtieth anniversary of the European Convention on Human Rights.
The issues which we are addressing at this Forum are an example of this complexity. They lie at the heart of what our Secretary General has called deep security – the stability of European societies today. And they are by no means solely academic questions for learned discussions by lawyers and professors: they touch the daily lives and everyday experiences of people everywhere. In our multicultural world, questions of identity, whether individual or collective, are taking on ever greater significance. Religion, for many people, is a core aspect of their identity. It gives existential meaning and purpose to their lives. It helps them to feel close to those who share their faith, and is frequently a solid foundation for mutual respect and understanding of the other. However, religious identity can also give rise to incomprehension, or even at times resentment against those who have other religious convictions, or who have none at all. History – all too recently - has shown the extremes to which religious faith can lead people when it degenerates into fanaticism. Freedom of conscience, which encompasses freedom of religion, is a fundamental human right. It denotes an individual’s choice of values or principles which will shape their existence, and often also that of those close to them. It is codified in almost identical terms in Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and in Article 9 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, adopted two years later by the Council of Europe. It includes the right not to believe in a god, and also the freedom to change religion or belief, along with the freedom to manifest one’s religion or belief, alone or with others, both in public and in private, through education, practices, worship and the performance of rituals. Freedom of expression is another fundamental right, which is also recognised by the Universal Declaration (Article 19) and the European Convention on Human Rights (Article 10). It goes hand in hand with freedom of information and more specifically, freedom of the press. It is a fundamental pillar of democracy, but the exercise of this freedom cannot be unlimited: the limits include libel, defamation and incitement to hatred or murder. Anyone who goes beyond those limits must answer to the courts.
Ladies and Gentlemen, Our societies can be more cohesive only if respect for difference is based on the shared exercise of human rights. For this reason, the Council of Europe has emphasised the concept of “democratic governance of cultural diversity” in the White Paper on Intercultural Dialogue, “Living together as equals in dignity”, launched by the Committee of Ministers in 2008. For the first time in the history of our Organisation, specific activities have been put in place in order to promote the religious dimension of intercultural dialogue. Since the adoption of the White Paper, the Council of Europe has incorporated into its programme of activities the holding of an annual Exchange on the religious dimension of intercultural dialogue. These Exchanges aim to foster open dialogue between the main religious and non-religious organisations and representative bodies, and to develop the concept of European secularism, dialogue and recognition, based on the principle of freedom, non-discrimination, the respective autonomy of religion and politics and the neutrality and impartiality of the public authorities. The 2010 Exchange, held in Ohrid this September, focused on “the role of the media in fostering multicultural dialogue, tolerance and mutual understanding: freedom of expression in the media and respect for cultural and religious diversity”. This is indeed a key question in our contemporary societies. The media have a crucial role to play, for better or for worse, in the formation of opinions and in the democratic debate and we must do more to foster a responsible and balanced approach. The Council of Europe’s campaign “Speak out against discrimination” is specifically designed to raise awareness and educate media professionals regarding the reality of our multicultural societies and their responsibilities in this connection. The campaign will come to a close at the end of this year, but I urge all the relevant players to be involved in its follow-up and to use the tools which have emerged from the three years of the campaign. In particular, the North-South Centre could extend the experience and lessons learned beyond Europe, as the challenges facing us are not solely European but worldwide. I would like also to mention the outstanding work carried out by the European Commission for Democracy through Law – the Venice Commission – which is also represented at this Forum. In particular, the international round table on “Art and sacred beliefs: from collision to co-existence”, organised in Athens in 2008 by the Venice Commission and the Hellenic League of Human Rights, focused on reconciling the fundamental freedoms of expression and religion, and put forward examples of best practice in this field. The Venice Commission has also launched a series of intercultural workshops on democracy, the first of which will be held in Morocco in March 2011: it is essential that this dialogue, which should be ongoing in our European societies, is not confined to within the borders of our continent. This is the key role of the North-South Centre and its Lisbon Forum that we are attending today. As a Council of Europe platform for fostering dialogue, sharing experiences and expertise in the fields of human rights, democracy and intercultural dialogue, our Forum should focus on the contradictions and challenges in reconciling freedom of religion and freedom of expression, and the tension between individual freedoms and religious sensitivities, between neutrality and pride, between the discourse of exclusion and rejection and that of dialogue and peace. Above all, it should strive to go beyond mere analysis to become a force for concrete proposals and action. In this connection, I would like to stress the importance of the partnership established since 2008 with the Alliance of Civilisations and the close working relationship between the North-South Centre and the European Union, as well as our fruitful contacts with civil society, local and regional authorities and parliamentary fora. Such complementarity multiplies our chances of making a real impression and influencing future developments. As you may know, the Council of Europe has recently established a Group of Eminent Persons, on a proposal by the Turkish Government. This Group, led by Joschka Fischer, will work on the topic of living together in diversity and will report to the ministerial meeting in Istanbul next May. Your work should certainly feed into their reflection. Ladies and Gentlemen, André Malraux was wrongly quoted as saying that “The 21st century will be religious or it will not come about at all”. What he said about this is more interesting still. “It is claimed I said that the 21st century will be religious or it will not come about at all. I really cannot say if that is the case, as I am not a prophet. What I do know, however, is that if in the next century no exemplary human being is to be found anywhere, things will turn out very badly.” In the 21st Century, I believe that we must meet the challenge of becoming “exemplary human beings”. We must find a way for all human beings to be able to develop their potential, exercise their rights and freedoms to the full, while at the same time respecting the difference of others. We must promote cultural and religious diversity as an opportunity - I would even say as a core value - and not as a threat. I am sure that our debates today will contribute towards this goal and wish you every success with this Forum. Thank you. |
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