To a full house, Ambassador Pedro Serrano opened the event – Human Rights and the rules-based International Order: Reflections after 75 years – and welcomed the panelists including Eamon Gilmore, former EU Special Representative for Human Rights, Steve Onwuasoanya, Acting Head of Human Rights Commonwealth Secretariat and Nazila Ghanea, UN Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Religion or Belief.

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The Ambassador reflected on the “universal dimension” of Human Rights and noted that it was precisely this dimension, in terms of the scope and impact of respect for human rights, that today is more relevant than ever. Before turning to the panel, Hazel Cameron, Head of the Human Rights Department, Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office, made an introductory address.

There followed a discussion, deftly framed and moderated by Human Rights expert David Griffiths, Associate Fellow at Chatham House.

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Panelists addressed the question of how the human rights system, with the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights at its core, can be a vehicle to face up to today’s global challenges including climate change, the technological revolution, and widening global inequality.

Panellists called for relentless commitment and consistency to uphold the principles of the UDHR in policies across the board. The panel was followed by a lively Q&A session with an audience of diplomats and human rights organisation representatives and concluded by the Delegation's Political Section head Marie-Laure De Bergh

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