In an address to the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities, the Commissioner emphasised the vital role of local and regional governments in defending human rights. Drawing on his recent work, including visits to Ukraine, Türkiye, and Georgia, he highlighted the urgent need for grassroots action, the respect for international standards, and deeper partnerships to uphold human rights, democracy, and the rule of law.
“Distinguished members of the Congress, to be honest I feel very much at home here. There's a phrase in English, bred in the bone, meaning something very close and very intimate, and for me local government is bred in the bone. I'm the son of a mayor; I'm the grandson of a mayor.
I lived and ate local government every waking day when I was a child. I saw directly through the work of my father and grandfather how essential local and regional government is for human thriving, for housing and accommodation, for decent transport, for access to health care, for basic leisure facilities. It's through that childhood experience of mine that I so easily recognise that local and regional government is a true ally for the promotion and the protection of human rights.
A few days ago, I was in the city of Lviv in Ukraine, where I saw how that city is playing such an important role in the context of the Russian aggression. A vital role in terms of identifying human need, which in itself reflects human rights, and then honouring and addressing that human need through, for example, globally groundbreaking local city initiatives to deal with the trauma following being a victim of torture. What I saw in Lviv was deeply impressive, but not surprising or new.
A couple of years earlier, still in the context of the Russian aggression, I visited Polish cities such as Lublin and Warsaw, and I saw how it was they, not national government, who were leading the humanitarian and human rights response for refugees from Ukraine. And again, this frontline critical role in standing up for human rights that I so often see in local and regional government is why I so deeply respect and I so warmly acknowledge the achievements of this Congress as a champion of human rights.
You revitalised your engagement with human rights following Reykjavik, but to be perfectly honest, you already had a worthy record, including those innovative handbooks that have been produced now for many years, aiding local and regional government to stand up for human rights.
Now, as we move forward together, you, the Congress, and me, in my mandate as Commissioner, I look forward to having an ever-intensified partnership with you. For me, that will mean at least three things.
First, I will seek the opportunity to engage with you in dialogue when you meet here in Strasbourg, so that we can mutually enrich each other's discussions and actions.
Secondly, I will continue in my travels to engage with local and regional government wherever that is possible and relevant. I've already done so systematically, for example, in the context of work I'm presently doing in standing up for the human rights of the members of the Roma communities.
And third and final, I will look for ways to support you at the level of your local and regional governments as you seek to deepen your own commitment in this area.
That will involve, for instance, working with you to get your national human rights actors more engaged at the municipal and local levels, but also in promoting the concept of the human rights city, a rich and important idea, which frankly has not yet adequately grounded itself across Europe.
Now, allow me to close my opening observations this morning by reference to four specific situations.
The first is Ukraine. As I said, I've just come back from a week in that country and I'm very focused right now on how we ensure that the pathway to peace has humans at its heart. The pathway to peace is not about minerals, it's not about nuclear stations, it's not about soil, it's about human beings. And we will ensure that that is honoured and acknowledged by putting human rights at the heart of the pathway to peace. That is the focus of my current engagement and the basis for a statement I issued just one hour ago.
Turning to Türkiye, I issued a statement yesterday. I share your concern about what's happening right now, the dismissal of Mayor İmamoğlu and of a number of his colleagues, as well as the treatment of the crowds that are protesting on the streets of that great country. And I called on the authorities, and I continue to call on them in their policing of protest to be fully respectful of the applicable international human rights standards.
On the subject of Georgia, I visited recently and I'm very concerned there as well about the policing of protest. There have been too many incidents of protesters being assaulted, violated, and having their human rights compromised without the necessary accountability of security forces. And there has been some very problematic law reform in recent times, including in the context of so-called family values and also with regard to the foreign funding of civil society.
And that brings me to the fourth and the final of my observations. I'm worried about the pressure being placed on civil society in too many of our countries. One of the manifestations of that pressure is an excessive restraint on the receipt of foreign funding by organisations that are doing essential work for the rule of law, democracy and the protection of human rights.
But let me leave it there by way of introduction and I very much look forward to our exchange this morning.
Thank you.