Europe's human rights landscape is about to change. The accession of the European Union to the European Convention of Human Rights, made possible by the Lisbon Treaty, will complete a cycle begun at the end of the second world war when human rights visionaries, such as French lawyer and Nobel prize winner Rene Cassin, drew up the world's first international texts and the Council of Europe began its work to establish democracy and the rule of law across the continent.

The EU will join a European family of 47 countries, including global players such as Russia and Turkey, in a system that brings them all under the same legal standards, to be monitored by the same court.
But we should be far from complacent. Inequity and injustice are still an everyday fact for many and dark clouds lie ahead.

The Council of Europe's Human Rights Commissioner Thomas Hammarberg has already issued a stern warning.  150 million of Europe's 800 million people are now living below the poverty line with certain groups such as the Roma excluded from society. Child poverty is growing and many elderly and disabled people live in extreme hardship.

The poor and marginalised lack influence and are ignored by political parties and the media. When they are victims of crime, they hesitate to report it, because they do not trust the police or courts.
Corruption is widespread. Poor people are forced to pay backhanders for protection and services that, according to human rights law, are free of charge.

The economic crisis only makes things worse, providing an excuse for politicians to blame the victims rather than help them, and exacerbating already tense situations.  

Basic human rights principles are forgotten as ongoing debates, such as the burqa ban and the Swiss ban on minaret building, distort the picture and create the impression that "the other is the problem".

Ignoring requests from the European Court of Human Rights and deporting asylum seekers to countries like Libya and Tunisia undermine basic European legal principles.

Rich countries act from commonplace selfishness. Norway returns refugees to Greece - hardly in a position to take additional burdens right now - whilst Sweden sends Roma to Kosovo, where the lack of infrastructure means they end up in lead-polluted camps.

In the meantime, Hungary has now said it will grant passports to Hungarian minorities in neighbouring countries –bringing the threat of ethnic confrontation back onto the European stage. Nobel Prize winner Andrei Sakharov identified hatred – and especially hatred created by government policy - as a great danger. This is why these examples worry me so much. Laws create a framework for community action, but they also shape attitudes…and at present, those attitudes are dangerously negative.

Multiculturalism is now a reality, but as Polish writer Ryszard Kapuściński pointed out, we need a well developed sense of our own identity to participate. Growing unemployment and marginalisation lead to people losing that identity and defining themselves in opposition to others. This creates a climate of xenophobia and antipathy against the most vulnerable groups, and is fertile ground for extremists to spread their message of hatred.

This is what happened before World War II. This is why we have to sound the warning now.
The first step is to set in place a new social justice agenda. I know that this cannot be achieved through traditional legal human rights treaties and texts alone. But post-war history teaches us that bi nding legal obligations can pave the way by helping to shape new attitudes.

One key test is Protocol 12 to the European Convention on Human Rights, prohibiting all forms of discrimination. This covers social rights and allows citizens to complain to the European Human Rights Court. If every country ratified this protocol it would be a welcome contribution to stopping negative trends – and a moment of great symbolism in the year when the European Convention on Human Rights celebrates its 60th anniversary.

Fascism was defeated by might – by "hard security". But the peace was won and maintained by "soft security" – building comprehensive respect for human rights in Europe. What Europe needs now is to move on and develop "deep security" – anchoring those values and creating bonds between people that acknowledge and respect the multicultural and multi religious nature of society.  It is about broadening and deepening our common values, creating structures to help us weather and withstand the new winds of unrest,  and at last realising the Europe that those early human rights visionaries foresaw. 

Thorbjørn Jagland, Secretary General of the Council of Europe