“On the Frontlines and in the Courtrooms: Forging Human Security” – Felicitation and Debate with the ‘Alternative Nobel’ Laureates 2015; Right Livelihood Award Foundation and the Graduate Institute.

Distinguished Laureates,
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am delighted to be here today to convey my warmest congratulations to the four laureates of the Right Livelihood Award. It is a real privilege to join the celebration of your inspiring achievements, and I would like to thank the organisers for inviting me.

First of all, allow me to use this opportunity to extend my welcome to the Right Livelihood Award Foundation, which has recently joined our International Geneva family. International Geneva includes representatives of States, UN system, civil society, think tanks, private sector, academic and research institutions. It works to promote peace, rights and well-being for all. Geneva is the operational hub of the United Nations system, and it opens up new possibilities for synergies among various actors. Nowhere else on this planet do you find such a wide array of players working on various issues that impact every human being every day. By working together, we are able to build on each other’s experiences in order to approach solutions from all directions. The work of the Right Livelihood Award Foundation promotes the crucial contributions of the laureates and highlights practical solutions that we need to see promoted globally.

As you know, the United Nations turned 70 this years. Over the last seven decades we have achieved a lot. However, the world is changing and we are facing new challenges, which transcend borders and thematic boundaries, requiring diverse expertise and input from multiple stakeholders. It is by now a widely recognized truth that there is no peace without development, no development without peace, and neither are possible without human rights. The 2030 agenda for Sustainable Development acknowledges this interconnectedness. To achieve the Sustainable Development Goals we have to make global governance work in new ways. The same goes for the outcomes of the UN Climate Change Conference, which started two days ago. Decisions taken in Paris will shape the future of our planet for the generations to come. Following the intense discussions over the last months and years, including here in Geneva, the hope is that an agreement on climate change will be adopted to limit climate change and strengthen resilience to its consequences. The global agenda that is being shaped this year by the world leaders is crucial, but even more important is going to be its implementation. Member States will not be the only actors and certainly not the only decisive actors in the future. We need fresh, practical ideas to bring our efforts to achieve peace, rights and well-being into line with today’s realities. We need to see positive change on the ground. For that, we need to strengthen cross-pollination between operational actors and academic researchers, between governments, civil society and the private sector. Geneva is the right place to have this exchange.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Being in the same room this evening with the four distinguished laureates – Minister Tony de Brum, Sheila Watt-Cloutier, Kasha Jacqueline Nabagesera, and Gino Strada - is a truly humbling and inspiring experience. Coming from different parts of the world and working on different thematic areas, they are united through their dogged determination, creativity, hard work, conviction and courage to stand up for what is right and take action against what is not.

I have been tasked to make special mention of two out of the four laureates today – Ms. Sheila Watt-Cloutier and Dr. Gino Strada. And I do so with great pleasure.

Ms. Sheila Watt-Cloutier is an outstanding advocate for the economic, social and cultural rights of the Inuit communities of the Arctic. She has been recognised as a champion for indigenous rights and climate change in the Arctic, including as the International Chair of the Inuit Circumpolar Council. For her, the UN Climate Change Conference has a particular significance. Indigenous peoples of the north are among those most affected by the impact of climate change, because of their dependence upon and close relationship with the environment and its resources. The effects of global warming and pollution are nowhere more obvious than in the Arctic region.
Indigenous communities from the region are at the front lines of the response, relying on creativity and drawing on traditional knowledge and experiences.

At the negotiation on the Stockholm Convention banning or restricting the manufacture and use of persistent organic pollutants, Ms. Watt-Cloutier’s interventions saw Inuit traditional knowledge being accepted as evidence that those substances pollute the Arctic food chain and accumulate in the bodies of the Inuit. Through her advocacy, she has shifted the discourse around climate change by establishing how unchecked greenhouse gas emissions violate the human rights of the Inuit. She helped in establishing the link between climate change and human rights within the global discourse. The list of Ms. Watt-Cloutier’s achievements is long, and so is the list of honours for her lifetime of work. A well-recognized actor and active participant at the international level, she plans to return to the Arctic to develop the leadership potential of the Inuit youth so that they may use ancient Inuit life skills and wisdom that will be meaningful in the globalized world. This is an admirable intention, and exactly the push we need to drive forward the implementation process of the COP21 outcome.

Doctor Gino Strada, has personally carried out over 30,000 surgeries in conflict zones around the world. This is an extraordinary number. The NGO EMERGENCY, which he founded with his wife, now runs over 60 hospitals, clinics and first aid points worldwide. At those centres, EMERGENCY provides high quality treatment free of charge, to anyone in need of assistance, especially victims of war and poverty. Working often in collaboration with local governments, EMERGENCY transfers medical knowledge and expertise to local health service professionals. Today, EMERGENCY works in Afghanistan, the Central African Republic, Iraq, Italy, Sierra Leone and Sudan providing an effective response to recent global tragedies. Doctor Strada and EMERGENCY also campaigned against the root causes of war and human suffering, and played a major role in ensuring the ban on the production and use of antipersonnel landmines by Italy in 1997.

Wars, conflicts and violence have forced millions of people to flee their homes and seek refuge and safety elsewhere, with an unprecedented number of refugees now arriving daily to European shores. Since 2014, EMERGENCY has been working to address the Syrian refugee and IDP crises in northern Iraq. In Italy, with the help of professional unpaid volunteers, EMERGENCY has set up mobile units to areas with the largest influx of refugees. Recognising the right to health care as a basic and inalienable right for everyone without discrimination, these units provide critical health services to new arrivals and to those in distress. Doctor Strada and EMERGENCY give us all an example of what great humanity, combined with skills, can do to assist those in need and address the world’s challenges.

As a group of four diverse experts in climate change and indigenous issues, disarmament, human rights and humanitarian action, the laureates have done and continue doing what is right for their communities and for the planet. Their strong commitment, leadership and vision gives us all hope that it is possible to make the world a better place.

Today we celebrate you and your achievements. I congratulate you warmly with the Right Livelihood Award, and I look forward to a fruitful and interesting debate later on this evening.

Thank you.