VIENNA / HUMAN RIGHTS

Hundreds of diplomats, civil society members, academics and human rights experts have gathered in Viennafor a two-day Conference to mark 20 years since the adoption of the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action (VDPA) at the World Conference on Human Rights in 1993. OCHCR

 

• Categories: News & Features / News Stories / Unifeed
• Video Length: 00:03:00
• Production Date: 27 June 2013
• Asset Language: Original
• Corporate Name: OFFICE OF THE UNITED NATIONS HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS - OHCHR
• Subject Topical: HUMAN RIGHTS
• Geographic Subject: AUSTRIA
• MAMS Id: U130627c

Description

STORY: VIENNA / HUMAN RIGHTS
TRT: 3.00
SOURCE: OHCHR
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS

DATELINE: 27 JUNE 2013, VIENNA, AUSTRIA

Shotlist

1. Tilt down, from ceiling to audience
2. Wide shot, delegates attending
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Navi Pillay, High Commissioner for Human Rights:
“It crystallized the principle that human rights are universal, indivisible, interdependent and interrelated, and firmly entrenched the notion of universality by committing States to the promotion of all human rights for all people regardless of the political, economic, and cultural systems.”
4. Cutaway, audience listening
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Michael Spindelegger, Austrian Vice-Chancellor and Federal Minister for European and International Affairs:
“The Ottawa and Oslo processes on landmines and cluster munitions have amply proved that civil society organisations have become genuine partners of governments in the protection of human rights.”
6. Cutaway, conference podium with guests
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Navi Pillay, High Commissioner for Human Rights:
“Men of Syria cry out in pain and beg for our aid. And once again, we are failing them – as we have done in a succession of other horrific conflicts, including Afghanistan, Somalia, Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Iraq – to name just a few.”
8. Med shot, audience
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Navi Pillay, High Commissioner for Human Rights:
“Time and again, the international community has promised to protect civilians from slaughter and gross violations of rights. And yet even as I speak to you now, women are being abducted and raped, hospitals are being targeted, and indiscriminate shelling and deliberate massacres stain the earth with the blood of innocents.”
10. Cutaway, conference
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Tawakkol Karman, journalist, women’s rights activist and Nobel Peace Prize recipient:
“As a Human Rights defender I call all of you when you hear any, when you listen or you hear or you watch any people around the world who sacrifice who struggle for the values that all of us working and defending for dignity, freedom, democracy, you have to act very fast, you have to help them very fast. You have to convey their voice to your people, to the governments in your countries, to the international community.”
12. Cutaway, conference
13. SOUNDBITE (English) Jan Eliasson, Deputy Secretary-General, United Nations
“There is no peace without development, there is no development without peace and there is no lasting peace with sustainable development without respect of human rights.”
14. Med shot, Vienna + 20 animation in screen at conference

Storyline

High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pilay today (27 June) Commemorated the 1993 World Conference on Human Rights and its Declaration at the Vienna + 20 Conference.

She said “It crystallized the principle that human rights are universal, indivisible, interdependent, and interrelated, and firmly entrenched the notion of universality by committing States to the promotion of all human rights for all people “regardless of the political, economic, and cultural systems.”

Austrian Vice-Chancellor and Federal Minister for European and International Affairs, Michael Spindelegger while noting that the World Conference in 1993 was a “huge success” that had broken new ground, referred specifically to the consensus on the indivisibility of all human rights, advances in women’s rights and agreement in the international community that the principle of human rights protection is a legitimate concern.

He said that , “The Ottawa and Oslo processes on landmines and cluster munitions have amply proved that civil society organizations have become genuine partners of governments in the protection of human rights.”

She added that while the international community had made time and again promises to protect civilians from slaughter and gross violations of rights, as she spoke, “women are being abducted and raped, hospitals are being targeted, and indiscriminate shelling and deliberate massacres stain the earth with the blood of innocents.”

Also attending the event Yemeni journalist, women’s rights activist and Nobel Peace Prize recipient, Tawakkol Karman spoke passionately of the struggle for freedom of expression, and transparency as the essential preconditions for democracy.

She said “As a Human Rights defender I call all of you when you hear any, when you listen or you hear or you watch any people around the world who sacrifice who struggle for the values that all of us working and defending for dignity, freedom, democracy, you have to act very fast, you have to help them very fast.”

And Jan Eliasson, Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations, acknowledged progress but he too drew attention to the conflicts in all regions saying that “There can be no lasting peace or sustainable development without respect for human rights”.

Twenty years ago in Vienna, Austria, more than 7,000 participants gathered for the World Conference on Human Rights. Despite the outbreak of war in the Balkans, the end of the Cold War had given a renewed impetus to the drive to achieve universal human rights.

The Conference participants, were able, ultimately, to put aside their considerable differences and agree on an outcome, the Vienna Declaration and Program of Action which is regarded as a landmark event in the history of the modern human rights movement.