Let this Human Rights Day be the Turning Point we Need

"Amid all the troubles and deep concerns facing Europe and the wider world, it is important that on this Human Rights Day we remember that the future is ours to decide - and that the time to act is now.

Over recent years, we have seen a concerted effort to undermine the human rights standards that have brought so much safety, security, and dignity to so many on our continent.

Intimidating the media, squeezing civil society, and shutting down legal and legitimate protest are choices, and they are wrong both morally and legally. Instead, governments should champion freedom of expression, and freedom of assembly and association - and all our human rights. This is in the interests of every single individual and the modern civilisations that we have built.

When this fails, there is violence. Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine shows us all what this looks like at its extreme. I was in Ukraine just days ago and I visited Yahidne and the sites of other Russian crimes that have caused suffering and cost lives. This suffering must stop.

Respecting fundamental rights is a means to a peaceful society, at one with itself.

So, on this Human Rights Day - during which the world marks the anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights - I ask all 46 governments of our member states to respond to the slide in human rights protection. They should do this by redoubling their commitment to the legal standards to which they have freely committed, starting with the European Convention on Human Rights, and the execution of the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights.

Governments should not only focus on implementing human rights at the national level but work together in harmony to support one another in achieving the highest standards across the continent. They can do this by ratifying and implementing specific conventions designed to tackle long-term issues, but also the evolving human rights challenges that no government can solve alone.

These include everything from stopping human trafficking, and protecting our environment, to ensuring that the rise of AI upholds our human rights and does not undermine them - the very purpose of our Framework Convention on Artificial Intelligence and Human Rights, Democracy, and the Rule of Law, which was opened for signature just a few months ago.

Certainly, our continent faces deep challenges and some countries in Europe and its neighbourhood may be at a tipping point. But we should not be fooled into fatalism. Individuals must use their voices, civil society must remain engaged, and governments must respect international law."

Alain Berset, Secretary General of the Council of Europe

Alain Berset is the 15th Secretary General of the Council of Europe, elected in June 2024: Biography