International Human Rights Day on 10 December

Statement by Terry Davis, Council of Europe Secretary General of the Council of Europe

Strasbourg, 10.12.2008 - “In principle, human rights are universal and indivisible. In practice, we still have a long way to go. We are still far from ensuring that the same rights apply to all the people everywhere in the world. The idea of universal human rights is challenged by habitual offenders and hypocritical guardians alike. There are few things more detrimental to human rights than the “do as I say not as I do” approach by some their most vocal and powerful advocates.

We could also do much better when it comes to the indivisible nature of political, civil, social and economic as well as cultural rights. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights recognised that economic, social and cultural rights are indispensable for human dignity. The current global economic crisis should not be allowed to erode our hard won achievements. If European governments support the ideals of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and are serious about the standards of the European Convention on Human Rights and the European Social Charter, they should not, and they must not let people down”.