A high point of the Platform occurred when Hina Jilani joined the conference by telephone from Pakistan. She addressed the meeting, not as the UN Secretary General’s Special Representative on the situation of human rights defenders, but as a human rights defender speaking to other human rights defenders at a moment when she was at risk of arrest and when many other Pakistani HRDs had been arrested and perhaps tortured. “Please send a strong message,” she declared, “to my own and other governments, that we cannot afford to allow governments to violate human rights standards or to overthrow democracy.We cannot afford more Zimbabwes, Belarusias or Burmas. The right to peaceful protest has been challenged and must be defended.”

She added that “the support of the human rights defenders gathered in Dublin is a source of great strength and encouragement for us” – echoing a sentiment that thousands of human rights defenders have expressed about her own work during her term as UN Special Representative, which ends in 2008.

2008 will therefore mark two important moments, both of which were highlighted by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights during her keynote speech which opened the conference. First, 2008 will mark the tenth anniversary of the Declaration on Human Rights Defenders. This anniversary will generate vital opportunities to deepen awareness about and respect for the Declaration. Moreover, in the same year, a new Special Representative will be named and appointed. HRDs have a vital interest in ensuring that the Representative’s mandate is protected and that the new appointment is a strong one.

Secondly, 2008 will mark the 60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights – the single most important expression of the values of human rights defenders. Here too lies a great opportunity to reaffirm and amplify the principles of respect and human relationship and dignity that human rights upholds.

There is work to do.

“We say to one another ‘We are still alive and we will continue’.”

HRD, Kyrgistan