Speech by Prime Minister Jean Chrétien at a Conference on Human Rights and Democracy - an international agenda

I am pleased to be able to officially welcome you to Ottawa. And I am proud that Canada has been selected to host this historic meeting.

And it truly is historic, to bring together for the first time the large international groupings of the world's conservative, liberal and social democratic parties.

I want to salute Senator Robert Hill of the International Democrat Union, Sir David Steele of Liberal International, and Dr. Peter Jankowitsch of Socialist International, for leading their organizations to this important meeting. I want to thank Ed Broadbent and the International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development for organizing this conference. And I want to pay tribute to my colleague, Senator Al Graham, for his able work through the years in promoting the growth of Liberal International, and links with the other political nationals.

It is fitting that this conference is taking place in a building named after Lester Pearson. After all, our former Prime Minister won a Nobel Peace Prize for finding common ground between warring parties. And all of us from our various parties and positions in the spectrum are putting aside our own political wars, over the next three days.

We usually debate the issues that divide us, liberals from conservatives from social democrats.

At this conference, we will discuss something we all agree upon: the importance of democracy and human rights.

And we could not have chosen a better moment to come together to reaffirm that belief.

We have seen the progress democracy has made in the world in recent years. More countries have held true multi-party elections. More democratically elected governments are taking office. And most encouraging, more elected governments are being succeeded by elected governments in a fair and free fashion.

But we also know how fragile democracy and respect for rights can be. And how, for too many people in the world, they remain a distant goal.

Those of us who are in government have an obligation to promote democracy and human rights at home and abroad.

On the international stage, when governments work together, we can make a real difference.

In recent months, we proved that to the world, when governments of every political stripe worked together to restore the democratically-elected government of Haiti.

And I believe governments have an obligation to open avenues for dialogue and exchange with other countries in all but the most extreme cases. Communication, technology, travel, trade and ideas make it impossible to build walls around societies. And that makes it harder to perpetuate oppression. Just look at the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe.

But, of course, supporting democracy and human rights is more than just a foreign policy - or even a government - concern.

Those of us present today, whatever our party affiliation, all believe in pluralism. And we all know that the values of tolerance and respect for others are essential foundations to that pluralism. They are also something we cannot take for granted. Because expressions of hatred, of intolerance undermine and threaten democracy.

We see that in the political extremism that shows its face around the world. Ethnic nationalism. Religious fanaticism. Racism. And finally, their ultimate manifestation, terrorism.

These strains of politics have nothing but contempt for democracy, for human rights, and ultimately for life itself. They offer nothing but hatred and violence. And they cannot be tolerated.

They try to undermine the very fruits of democracy, freedom and respect for others, and turn them on themselves, transforming us into a closed, fearful, suspicious, violent society. Their symbol is the lifeless, battered bodies of infants we have seen pulled from the wreckage in Oklahoma in recent days. Life snuffed out before it really has a chance to live. The promise of youth smashed by the violence of extremism. Futures wiped out.

All of us are shocked and angered by these images. And others we see around the globe. Of lifelong neighbours turning on each other in blood feuds in Africa and Central Europe. Of mass murderers who masquerade as martyrs in the Middle East. Of skinheads who beat and bomb immigrants in Western Europe. Of medical doctors targeted and shot here in North America.

We have a responsibility - all of us who represent the broad spectrum of political life - to denounce this extremism.

And we have an even more pressing responsibility to fight it before it manifests itself as terrorism. To refuse to allow it in the political discourses of our countries. To expose it when we come across it.

To say loud and clear that we liberals, conservatives, social democrats do not agree on everything - that we may not even agree on much - but that we agree there is no place for hate mongering or scapegoating in the political lives of our countries. And we will stand united to prevent them from poisoning our lives.

I hope you remember this in your deliberations over the next two days. And that you send that message proudly, and clearly to the people of the world.

But even more important, let's all make the commitment to live that credo every day of our political lives.

And in a world that is filled with too many examples of violence and extremism, we should also remember the examples of those who strive to improve the lives of their fellow human beings and truly promote democracy and human rights.

Just last month, one of these bright examples, a Canadian named John Humphrey, died. He played a key role in the promotion of human rights for more than 50 years. And his efforts will live forever as one of the authors of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. As you begin your work over the next two days here in Ottawa, let me leave you with a few of the words in that Declaration. They are as vital today as when they were written in 1948:

"the inherent dignity and the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world."