The speech put an emphasis on the necessity for Governments and international organisations to adopt effective measures to bridge the gap between declarations and implementation. The Commissioner pointed out that, while international mechanisms have to "be impartial and beyond suspicion" in carrying out their functions, Governments should listen carefully to independent monitors, underlining that "a true human rights policy must have an element of self-criticism".
Thomas Hammarberg also deeply criticised the lack of a clear stand of European governments against the serious human rights violations caused by the US "war on terror" and called for "a more principled and unified European position in global human rights efforts".
