To Davos, with a programme of solutions

- Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Hundreds of leaders from politics, business and the media are heading to Davos this week to debate how to find “a shared future for a fractured word”. They will discuss their — and our — shared interests in peaceful, healthy, sustainable and fair societies, against a backdrop of rising nationalism and its repugnant shadows — racism and xenophobia; rising inequalities and their corollary — preventable suffering; terrorism, conflict-related killings, massacres based on ethnicity or religion — and, in several regions, a rising threat of even broader warfare.

Denials of human rights are both a cause and a consequence of these multiple, inter-related fractures that are breaking down our societies. And upholding human rights would solve virtually all the issues we confront.

Humanity has done this before. Our forbears in the past century faced similar challenges, and far worse ones — and they left us a road-map to their solutions. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights has helped to reshape many societies destroyed by war, terrible violence and colonial exploitation. Today, in this 70th anniversary year of its adoption, it is just as relevant, as urgently useful, as it was at the close of World War II.

We can take measures to bridge the divisions within societies, by upholding dignity, justice and fairness. With global cooperation, we can establish development that brings equal social protections and access to services to everyone, without discrimination.

Measures to uphold human rights, and ensure justice and fundamental freedoms, should be the goal of every world leader. As I head to Davos to make this case, I hope to persuade every kind of actor — from business to the judiciary, politics to civil society, international institutions to national governments and city mayors — that if we come together, we can prevent human suffering and ensure a good and safe life for our fellow human beings.

#StandUp4HumanRights: Visit our campaign website for the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights -> http://standup4humanrights.org