“La véritable apologie de Socrate”

Ambassador Qerimaj
Ambassador Kaklikis
Distinguished Ambassadors
Ladies and Gentlemen:

It is my pleasure to welcome you to this special performance. First, I would like to express my sincere appreciation to the Permanent Missions of Albania and Greece for the truly collaborative organization of this event. The performance itself is formed from this same collaboration, with an Albanian actor working from a Greek text. It is this spirit of cooperation, and of cross-cultural exchange that forms the backbone of our work here at the United Nations Office at Geneva and I am pleased to be able to showcase it here tonight.

It is fitting that we now find ourselves in the Human Rights and Alliance of Civilizations Room. As you probably know, this room is home to the Human Rights Council - an important mechanism of the United Nations which protects and promotes human rights around the world. The freedom of opinion and expression, enshrined in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, is defended by the UN and its human rights machinery. This right is one for which Socrates himself was persecuted and provides the context for his speech which we will hear tonight. He was defending himself against corruption, blasphemy and defamation, that are so often encountered in today’s political life.

Just as freedom of expression, opinion and assembly were issues of the day in 399 B.C., we see that the discussion over these rights again has come to the fore, following recent violent reactions to a greatly insensitive act. As the Secretary-General said in his address to world leaders last week at the UN General Assembly, “freedom of speech and assembly are fundamental. But neither of these freedoms is a license to incite or commit violence.”

As we watch the performance this evening, let us reflect on these rights and their continuing permanence and relevance. And let us commend the hard work of many entities, including the one that is based in this room, to protect and promote these rights around the world.

Thank you very much and I hope you enjoy the performance.