Statement by the President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella, on the occasion of the Human Rights Day

«Seventy-six years ago, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights put a simple and revolutionary principle at the very heart of the international system: every person, as such, holds inviolable rights. That is the message the international community decided to entrust to the future, drawing lessons from the moral and material ruins the world wars left in their wake. It is a message that keeps on stimulating our collective conscience.

Indeed, human rights are still under multiple attacks today.

Wars – old and new ones – once again cast their shadow over civilians, killing defenceless people and causing widespread suffering and destruction, as painfully confirmed by the news covering present-day conflicts. Violence against women and minors, discriminations, the erosion of democratic liberties often result in a general shrinking of the legal culture, distancing it from goals we thought had been achieved. Once again, we witness the resurfacing of racism, aggressions, inequalities: phenomena that history had already warned us not to repeat.

Human rights and peace are inseparably bound to one another: respect for the former crucially underpins the latter, while the absence of peace dilutes the hope of protecting rights and freedom. This manifest bond helps us realise that peace is the result of daily commitment and shared responsibility, based on the protection of the dignity of every person, and on the rejection of the logic of subjugation. In this regard, international law and multilateral institutions play a pivotal role, as instruments of real protection, both for States and for every single human being. To weaken them means exposing every individual – especially the most vulnerable – to the risk that their existence be regulated by arrogance and abuse of power.

On this day, the Italian Republic renews its staunch support to an international order based on respect for human rights. It is a pledge that derives from our history and from the values enshrined in our Constitution: the rejection of war, the promotion of justice, the affirmation of solidarity, equality and freedom. These are the very values that inspired the construction of Europe, which, over time, has become an unprecedented space of peace and rights.

Recalling the centrality of human rights does not mean indulging in the memory of pain, rather, allowing that memory to guide our actions. This is the duty we are called upon to fulfil: to prevent violence from prevailing over rules, to affirm the universality of the principles protecting human dignity, making the 1948 Declaration not just a mere statement of high ideals but a concrete code of conduct that all States choose to abide by».