Venice, September 23, 2024
The Prime Minister of the Republic of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, participated yesterday in the graduation ceremony of the European master’s program for Human Rights and Democratization (EMA), where he was invited as a keynote speaker. The ceremony in which 82 students from 32 countries graduated was held at the historic Scuola Grande San Giovanni Evangelista building in Venice, Italy.
Students of the (EMA) program have been visiting Kosovo for 20 years at the end of their first semester to witness firsthand the reality of fieldwork in human rights and the diverse actors involved in rebuilding post-war society. Throughout these study visits, the program’s students were warmly received for a meeting and discussion by Prime Minister Kurti.
He expressed his honor in his address with the invitation to be part of the graduation ceremony of the 27th generation of the program. He said that this academic year coincides with two important and interconnected anniversaries. First, December 2023 marked the 75th anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which constitutes the foundational document of human rights, and secondly, this year marked the 20th student visit of the EMA program in Kosovo to learn first-hand about the promotion of human rights and the democratization of society in practical terms.
“The Republic of Kosovo today, just like the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, represents an extraordinary journey from the depths of repression, apartheid, and genocide to what we have become now: a beacon of democracy and human rights in the Western Balkans and beyond,” said the Prime Minister.
He added that Human Rights are the greatest invention of the 20th century and our loyalty to human rights will determine the destiny of the 21st century, and that through them we become who we are, human beings.
Finally, he urged the newly graduated to keep asking questions, to be curious, and to constantly engage in making the world a better place for everyone.
Prime Minister Kurti was accompanied by the Ambassador of the Republic of Kosovo to Italy, Ms. Nita Shala, at this ceremony.
Dear Professor Manfred Nowak,
Dear Professor Marijana Grandits,
Esteemed members of the European Master’s Programme in Human Rights and Democratisation (EMA),
Distinguished graduates,
It is a great honor and an enormous pleasure to be with you today, in the wondrous city of Venice, and to deliver this keynote address, on the occasion of your graduation.
A commencement ceremony is always a special event for graduates and their families — an opportunity to celebrate all that you’ve achieved, as well as a moment of anticipation of the bright futures that lie ahead of you, and all those whom you will serve and collaborate with.
As you know, this academic year, we have an even greater reason to celebrate. There are two milestones that have been reached. First, on December 10, last year, we marked the 75th anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the landmark document that launched the modern human rights movement. And second, this year was also the 20th time that students from the EMA program embarked on a field trip to Kosova — the country I lead — to learn first hand about what it means to promote human rights and democratization in a real-world setting. I have had the pleasure of welcoming them to Kosova every year.
These two milestones are not entirely unrelated. After World War II and the Holocaust brutally exposed the evil that human beings were capable of inflicting
on one another, the Declaration symbolized the final triumph of the human spirit. The Universal Declaration codified a list of specific rights: a detailed description of what all of us are owed, simply in virtue of being human. In setting out these rights, the framers of the Declaration handed to posterity a set of noble aspirations which all countries must strive to achieve, however imperfectly. In this way, the Universal Declaration simultaneously laid out both a minimum of human treatment, and a maximum of human aspiration.
And therein lies the special value of the EMA Program’s annual field trips to Kosova. For the Republic of Kosova today, just like the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, represents a remarkable journey from the depths of repression, apartheid, and genocide to what we have now become: a beacon of democracy and human rights in the Western Balkans and beyond.
When the EMA program was taking shape in the mind of the late Professor Antonio Papisca, gross human rights violations were being perpetrated all across Kosova. In 1997, the year of the establishment of this institution, I was myself a human rights activist, one among many other Albanian students protesting for the right to return to our university premises, from which we were forcibly expelled by the Milosevic regime. As Professor Papisca and others were seeking to establish a master’s program in human rights, my compatriots and I were putting our lives on the line to defend human rights in practice — those same rights that were enshrined 75 years ago in the Universal Declaration, including the right to education, article 26.
I was not lucky enough to know Professor Papisca personally. But from what I have read about him, I would be surprised if he hadn’t been concerned with what was going on in Kosova in the late 1990s. I’d like to think that such concerns were in the back of his mind as he was conceiving the idea of a European Master in Human Rights and Democratization. Perhaps this is a question that Professor Papisca’s biographers can help us answer in the future.
Those of you who have had the great fortune of visiting Kosova know that, while no country is perfect, we have made great strides — especially over the past few years — in advancing the related causes of human rights, democracy, and rule of law. By the measures of many international organizations, we are progressing rapidly on all of these fronts. For example, in the past three years we’ve improved 21 places in Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index. We’re first in the Western Balkans in the V-Dem Institute’s Electoral Democracy Index. In 2022, the World Justice Project ranked us second in the world for the greatest improvement in rule of law. And Freedom House rated Kosova number one in Western Balkans, second in Europe and third worldwide for advancement in political rights and civil liberties.
We have also made significant advances in achieving the United Nations’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals, ranging from poverty reduction to quality education. We’ve done this, for example, by introducing, and then doubling, child-care subsidies; making public higher education free of charge for bachelor’s and master’s students; constructing and repairing new homes for ethnic minority communities; increasing pensions for persons with disabilities; and much more. In other words, we’ve shown in Kosova that democratic progress and economic growth go hand-in-hand.
The UN SDGs are intricately linked with human rights. As I’ve already noted, the Universal Declaration shows us that human rights represent not just the bare minimum of what we owe to one another as human beings; they are also a collection of lofty ideals that set the agenda for more radical action. And this is something we’ve taken to heart in Kosova.
For example, Article 23 of the Declaration begins with the words: “Everyone has the right to work” — a fairly simple idea, but one with far-reaching practical implications. If we take seriously, the idea that work is a human right, we must fundamentally reorient the way we look at the economic phenomenon of unemployment. We must then be open to the idea that those who want to work but are unable to find a job are not simply unworthy or unlucky: rather, it is society as a whole and the state that has a duty to help create opportunities for them to exercise their labor — not as a matter of mere charity, but as a matter of right and justice. It is precisely for this reason that we have made job-creation a centerpiece of our government program, including the introduction of private-sector incentives for the employment of women, youth, and those coming from households with no employed members.
To take another example, Article 27 of the Declaration posits that “Everyone has the right to freely participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits.” Once again, this provision has radical implications for how we look at government funding of the arts and sciences, and of education and culture. When we established the Kosova National Opera in 2021, or when we provide scholarships targeted to women and girls pursuing studies in STEM fields, we are doing so because equal access to arts, culture, and the sheer joy of scientific advancement is what our people are owed, simply in virtue of being human.
Looking beyond Kosova to the rest of Europe, the outlook for human rights can seem darker and more troubling. In democratic societies across the continent, the rise of far-right extremism threatens to turn back our hard-fought and hard-earned progress. And today, Europe is witnessing yet another horrific war — one in which the ideals of human rights and democracy are very much at stake, and one that recalls Kosova’s similar struggle in the late 1990s. Ukraine is in the midst of a heroic struggle to repel a brutal and illegal Russian aggression, not only against its people and territory, but also against its aspirations to remain a free and democratic country. The democratic world’s decisive humanitarian intervention in Kosova in 1999 might have been late, but luckily for us, it wasn’t too late. All of us who stand for human rights and democracy have to ask ourselves whether we are doing enough to help the Ukrainian people in these trying times.
Despite these challenges, I am always filled with hope when I speak with young people like yourselves — hope that even in the face of seemingly irresolvable difficulties, a solution can yet be found. Indeed, as the examples of both the Universal Declaration and the Republic of Kosova have shown us, the bright light of human aspiration and endeavor always finds a way of emerging from the darkest of times.
Human rights through its UN adopted declaration got the happy marriage certificate of equality and universality, whose social outcomes are peace and dignity. There are activist and politicians all over the world who started early on with human rights, but at different degrees, in different stages of life, got disillusioned. I, myself, believe in human rights ever more, nowadays more than ever. I consider human rights to be the greatest invention of the 20th century and our fidelity to human rights with determine the fate of the 21st century. By the means of human rights, we become what we are – human beings.
A small piece of advice for all you no-more-students: keep studying and embrace experimentation. It is through experimentation that you will discover who you are, what drives you, and how to express your true, creative self. This brings to mind one of the most powerful ideals within the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: the vision of a community where the free and full development of the human personality is possible. Staying true to this ideal means continuously exploring how we can promote human rights and, in doing so, contribute to a world where everyone can thrive. Therefore, do experiment, always within human rights, and never experiment on or with human rights. Keep asking questions, remain curious, and never stop seeking ways to make the world a better place for all. The future is yours to shape, so shape it with purpose and compassion.
Thank you, and congratulations.
Last modified: September 24, 2024