Secretary-General Calls for Acting Urgently to Protect Civil, Cultural, Economic, Political, Social Rights, in European Forum Message

Following is the text of UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ video message for the European Fundamental Rights Forum, in Vienna today:

I am pleased to address the Fundamental Rights Forum. 

Human rights are essential to our hopes for a peaceful, sustainable and equitable world.  Today, those rights are under attack.

Democracy and civic space are eroding.  Journalists and human rights defenders are under fire.  Disinformation and hate speech are being supercharged by new technologies.  Hard-won progress on women’s rights is under threat.  And the war on nature is spewing out emissions causing our climate to implode; poisoning land, sea and air with pollution, and decimating biodiversity, causing ecosystems to collapse.

We must act urgently to protect all human rights — civil, cultural, economic, political and social.  The Universal Declaration of Human Rights shows the way.

Leaders have a responsibility to uphold the rights of all individuals and every community.

To guarantee freedom of media and expression.

To root out racism and prejudice — including antisemitism, anti-Muslim bigotry and all forms of discrimination based on origin, ethnicity and sexual orientation.

To respect international refugee law and to recognize the human rights of migrants.

To foster meaningful participation of women, human rights defenders, young people, and marginalized people at all levels of decision-making.

To tackle online abuse and engage with all partners, public and private, towards an open, secure and accessible digital public space.

And to work towards environmental and climate justice, at home and abroad — supporting every person’s right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment.

Together, let us embrace human rights — for Europe’s future and for the world.  Thank you.