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11. desember 2019 Guðlaugur Þór Þórðarson

Ávarp á hátíðarfundi í tilefni alþjóðamannréttindadagsins

Hátíðarfundur í tilefni alþjóðamannréttindadagsins
Háskóla Íslands, 10. desember 2019
Ávarp utanríkisráðherra,
Guðlaugs Þórs Þórðarsonar


Ágæta samkoma!

Í dag fögnum við alþjóðlegum degi mannréttinda. Dagsetningin, 10. desember, tengist því vafalítið að það var á þessum degi fyrir sjötíu og einu ári síðan sem allsherjarþing  Sameinuðu þjóðanna samþykkti mannréttindayfirlýsinguna, eitt af grundvallarskjölum í gjörvallri sögu samtakanna.

Á næsta ári fögnum við sjötíu og fimm ára afmæli Sameinuðu þjóðanna. Þeirra tímamóta verður minnst með ýmsum hætti og vafalítið verður starf Sameinuðu þjóðanna í þágu mannréttinda í stóru hlutverki.

Þar höfum við Íslendingar góða sögu að segja. Staða mannréttinda á Íslandi er góð í samanburði við önnur lönd þótt lengi megi gott bæta. Mannréttindi hafa líka verið leiðarljós í utanríkisstefnu landsins og íslensk stjórnvöld hafa lagt sig fram um að vera hvarvetna málsvarar mannréttinda. Það á ekki síst við undanfarna átján mánuði sem Ísland hefur átt sæti í mannréttindaráði Sameinuðu þjóðanna.

Ágætu gestir – distinguished guests!

Iceland will end its eighteen-month term on the Human Rights Council in only three weeks’ time.

It has been a privilege for us to serve on this body – the primary global forum for discussing human rights. 

It has also proven to be a challenge – but a challenge we feel we have embraced, fulfilling most of the goals we set ourselves in the beginning.

In particular, we promised to prioritize gender equality and women’s human rights, LGBTI-rights and the rights of the child. We also raised certain country situations that we felt had been neglected. We continued to lead on the issue of human rights in the Philippines, with a resolution on that topic passing in the Council in July.

We furthermore took the lead on human rights in Saudi Arabia when we delivered, in March of this year, on behalf of 36 states, the first Joint Statement in the Council on Saudi Arabia. 

The Joint Statement raised the issue of the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi and more broadly addressed the lack of respect for women´s rights in Saudi Arabia. 

The Joint Statement mentioned specifically ten human rights defenders – nine women and one man – who were in prison at the time of the Joint Statement.

It is a great privilege for me, in this context, to note that with us here today, as our main speaker, is Lina al-Hathloul. Her sister is one of the ten mentioned in the Joint Statement in the Human Rights Council in March. 

Loujain Al-Hathloul became world famous a few years ago when she – a woman – dared to drive a car in Saudi Arabia, something that was until last year strictly forbidden by the Saudi authorities.

Lina will be telling us more about her sister´s case and her own battle on behalf of her sister, Loujain. I just want to say that I applaud Loujain´s courage, and Lina´s own courage.We all hope sincerely that Loujain will soon be released from prison as well as all other human rights defenders like her.

Hearing Lina´s story does help us appreciate how far we have come here in Iceland. We have work to do at home in the field of human rights but we must also sometimes remind ourselves that we are privileged in so many ways. And that we – and others – must speak out on behalf of those whose human rights are violated. Iceland may not be the most populous member state of the United Nations but we have a voice – and we should use it.

Ladies and gentlemen, 

One of the things we wanted to do here today was to invite a few distinguished guests to discuss the current global situation in terms of human rights and to discuss what small states like Iceland can reasonably be expected to accomplish when they are elected to the Human Rights Council. 

One question that immediately comes to mind, and which I am sometimes asked, is whether it makes any difference when a number of states join forces to criticize or raise concerns over the human rights situation in a particular country.

The pessimist is likely to say NO. That addressing matters in multilateral fora such as the Human Rights Council makes no difference at all – that it is all just talk. 

Others have argued that by keeping a particular situation on the agenda of bodies such as the Human Rights Council one is making sure things do not deteriorate even further at worst. And at best, one is helping put pressure on governments to improve conditions, to change their policies and approach. 

On the Philippines I have heard the latter argument from people such as Maria Ressa, the respected journalist from the Philippines who was here in Iceland recently. She thanked us for our leadership on that issue and argued that otherwise people such as herself would have been fighting alone, and would be more exposed to various threats than they already are.

On Saudi Arabia, it is a fact that authorities there have in recent months appeared to be making moves to changing their approach. They have announced that some of Saudi Arabia’s most restrictive guardianship rules – that stipulate for instance that a woman cannot travel without the approval of a male relative – will be abolished. They have also recently made it possible for women to drive vehicles, under certain guidelines.

These are positive developments, even if these seem to us like small steps. 

What we should remember is that it is by no means certain that these changes would be taking place if the global community wasn´t watching the situation in Saudi Arabia closely. Maintaining pressure is so important, trying to convince the government it is both right and just, as well as beneficial for their society, to guarantee human rights for women. In that effort Iceland´s voice can sound as loud as any other.

What we also need to remember is that Loujain al-Hathloul is still in prison, and so are many others like her. Although Saudi authorities seem to be moving in the right direction much more needs to happen – and we should help that change take place.

Ladies and gentlemen. I want to thank you all, in particular our foreign participants, for being with us here today. I hope and trust the discussion will be both interesting and enlightening. Last but not least I want to say: Happy Human Rights Day!

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