L’Alto Commissario ONU dei Diritti Umani agli studenti: Il mondo non può permettersi un’Europa sognatrice, ma ha bisogno di un’Europa leader
3 Febbraio 2025
“Dear faculty, students, friends,
I send my warm greetings to all of you participating in this important conference.
Europe’s role on the global stage is a subject that is very dear to my heart, as a European, and as someone who has dedicated my life to global solidarity, to global issues, and to solutions.
Today, there’s no doubt, our world is at a difficult moment of crisis and conflict.
We all know about the terrible wars are raging from Sudan to Ukraine and the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Myanmar, and the list goes on, undermining global stability and feeding insecurity and division. We see what conflict and war do to people.
Civilians are targeted, hospitals are destroyed, and lifesaving aid is blocked.
Even in countries that are at peace, many people around the world face an uncertain future and are angry at being left behind.
Some 44 percent of people live in poverty while the world’s top 1 percent own more wealth than 95 percent of humanity.
Human rights are the best antidote to the inequalities, grievances and exclusion that often lie at the root of instability and conflict.
European countries, institutions and leaders have an opportunity, and a historic duty, to show leadership at home and to advance human rights around the world.
It is critical that they publicly condemn racism and discrimination, backed by robust legal action and investment in solutions.
European migration policies need to be sustainable, humane, and based on human rights.
European economies can support human rights with policies that deliver on the right to food, to a safe home, to education, to decent work, to gender equality, and to be free from discrimination.
And Europe must be at the forefront of protecting and supporting civil society, including human rights defenders.
European leadership is also vital on two challenges that will affect the rights of young people most: the climate crisis, but also artificial intelligence.
Europe must lead the transition to renewables, by meeting its climate targets, setting ambitious goals for 2040, and supporting developing countries with resources and know-how.
On AI, Europe needs to continue to create and promote guardrails for the design, the development and the use of digital technologies, building on its landmark Digital Services Act.
Dear students and friends,
This week marks the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau death and extermination camps and the end of the Holocaust – the ultimate warning of what can happen when egregious human rights violations are met with indifference and apathy.
Europeans have the historic knowledge, and the responsibility, to prevent that from ever happening again.
The world cannot afford a Europe that is a dreamer.
It needs Europe to be a leader – at the forefront of building societies based on human rights and human dignity.
Thank you, and I wish you a very successful conference.”