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SECRETARY GENERAL OF THE COUNCIL OF EUROPE: REGARDING HUMAN RIGHTS “THE KEY IS WHAT WE DO, NOT WHAT WE PREACH”

The Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Terry Davis, said on Wednesday that for Human Rights to reach a dimension truly universal all countries, including well established democracies, need to accept the rules of the game and abide them.

“The key is what we do, not what we preach”, said Davis in his speech at the Thirty Fourth Lecture Series of the Americas, which took place in the Hall of the Americas at the Headquarters of the Organization of American States (OAS) in Washington DC.

Davis, 71, a former British MP, admitted that should older democracies acknowledge their problems regarding Human Rights, it would help legitimize their message towards other governments.

“I believe that the cause of human rights would be greatly helped if older democracies would be more self-critical and more open to outside comment and advice,” he said. “There is nothing more damaging to the cause of human rights than its most vocal advocates acting with inconsistency, double standards, hidden agendas and hypocrisy.”

“If we want the principle of universality to prevail, we must unconditionally accept its most essential dimension – that the rules must be the same – for everyone and at all times.”

Although acknowledging problems in well settled democracies, Davis said that most criticism from countries with more recent democracies are “nothing but cynical attempts to justify or hide blatant violations of human rights.”

“We must acknowledge that the campaign for the universal recognition of the principle of universality is not yet won. There are still some individuals and some governments who reject some aspects or even the whole concept of human rights as an instrument of Western cultural and political imperialism.”

Davis strongly rejected as “nonsense” that Europe “is soft on terrorism” and highlighted that Europeans have a different approach towards the problem because they learned that “the objective should not be to fight terrorists but to defeat them.”

”At the end of the day, the only effective anti-terrorist policy is one which stops more terrorists than it helps to recruit,” he said.

“That is why in Europe we insist on respect for human rights and the rule of law”, he added. “In Europe, we reject the bogus choice between security and freedom, and we are delighted that the new US administration has embraced this approach.”

Davis was introduced by OAS Assistant Secretary General, Ambassador Albert Ramdin, who draw a parallel between the two organizations as “a force for peace and co-operation in Human Rights and democracy.”

Ramdin highlighted that the Americas face several important challenges regarding Human Rights. Among those, he stressed three: the need for all member States ratify the regional Human Rights treaties, the need for compliance with the decisions of the Inter-American Court and effective follow-up on the decisions of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and the need for adequate financial support for the activities of both organs.

Founded in 1949, the Council of Europe seeks to develop throughout Europe common and democratic principles based on the European Convention on Human Rights and other reference texts on the protection of individuals. It has 47 Member States and 5 observer countries: the Holy See, the United States, Canada, Japan and Mexico.

The Lecture Series of the Americas represent an effort by the OAS member states to enrich the hemispheric debate on key issues on the Inter-American agenda by hosting monthly conferences where prominent intellectuals from throughout the world share their experiences and expertise with the public at-large.

Reference: E-082/09