Malte - Participation de Mme Aurore Bergé, Ministre déléguée chargée de l’égalité et de la lutte contre les discriminations à la conférence de l’OSCE sur la lutte contre l’antisémitisme (8 et 9 avril 2024)

Adoptée en 2004, cette déclaration invite l’ensemble des Etats participants de l’OSCE à œuvrer pour un environnement sûr dans lequel le harcèlement, la violence ou la discrimination antisémite n’existent dans aucun domaine.

Dans le contexte de la hausse des actes antisémites en France comme à l’international, la ministre a présenté les actions envisagées en France dans le cadre des assises de l’antisémitisme et a échangé à ce sujet avec des représentants de l’OSCE - en particulier avec le Ministre maltais des Affaires étrangères Ian Borg dont le pays assure la présidence de l’OSCE en 2024), du Royaume-Uni, d’Allemagne, et des États-Unis.

La ministre Aurore Bergé avec M. Ian Borg, ministre maltais des Affaires étrangères

La ministre entourée des 3 représentants spéciaux de la présidence de l’OSCE en exercice - le Rabbi Andrew Baker, l’Ambassadrice Evren Dagdelen Akgün et le Dr. Regina Polak - de Mme Constance Le Grip, députée, de M. Robert Ejnes, président exécutif du CRIF et de Mme Fatène Benhabylès-Foeth, représentante permanente de la France auprès de l’OSCE.

Mme Aurore Bergé a rappelé l’engagement français en faveur de la lutte contre toutes les discriminations et notre attachement à cette cause universelle. Enfin, elle a souligné en particulier l’importance de la mobilisation des médias et des réseaux sociaux pour la lutte contre la haine en ligne, et s’est entretenue à ce sujet avec la représentante de l’OSCE pour la liberté des médias, Mme Teresa Ribeiro.

Rencontre de la ministre déléguée avec Mme Teresa Ribeiro, représentante de l’OSCE pour la liberté des médias, accompagnée des ambassadrices Mme Agnès von der Mühll et Mme Fatène Benhabylès-Foeth ainsi que de Mme Constance Le Grip, députée.

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Tribune de la ministre parue dans le quotidien Times Malta le 7 avril 2024 :

https://timesofmalta.com/article/standing-law-justice-peace.1090514#cta_comments

Standing up for law, justice, peace
Human rights are universal because they are at the very foundation of all humanity

Malta is preparing to celebrate the 60th anniversary of its independence and the 20th anniversary of its membership of the European Union.

Thirty-five years after the end of the Cold War was signed in Malta by US President George Bush and Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, the geopolitical landscape has changed dramatically, and Russia’s unprovoked and illegal war of aggression against Ukraine is shaking the foundations of the international and European order that prevailed just two years ago.

In this fractured world, with the return of war to our continent, Europe is showing its unity and resolve to support Ukraine, for as long and as intensively as necessary.

Malta is asserting itself as an active State on the diplomatic scene, at the UN Security Council, where it was elected, until the end of 2024, in the Council of Europe, where it will take over the presidency next year, and, this year, as chair of the OSCE.

In this capacity, on Monday and Tuesday, it will host the conference on combating anti-Semitism. I will have the honour of leading the French delegation to reiterate our determination to “take action against separatists, against all those who promote hatred and give in to anti-Semitism”, in the words of the French President of the Republic, “because anti-Semitism is a fight against the universalism of the Republic”. It is this universalism which, in Europe, enables us to stand up for law, justice and peace wherever these treasures of civilisation are abused.

It is the same universalism that, in the Middle East, demands that we stand firm on our principles, that we condemn terrorism, as we have done in the clearest terms, that we condemn particularly sexual violence committed by Hamas, not forgetting the hostages whose release we are demanding, while, at the same time, calling on us to protect the civilians currently under bombardment in Gaza and to chart a course for peace that recognises the humanity in the face of the other.

This universalism lies at the heart of the principles that inspired the drafters of the Declaration of Human Rights, whose 75th anniversary we celebrated on December 10. These principles are not cultural, they are not Western, they are not dated or geographically circumscribed. Human rights are universal because they are at the very foundation of all humanity ; they are the foundation of the equal human dignity of all men and women, everywhere in the world, in Europe as well as in Iran, Sudan or Afghanistan.

Human rights also mean women’s rights : women everywhere must be able to assert their rights, to be treated on an equal footing with men, to have access to public and private decision-making processes, to live and work, to be protected against sexual and gender-based violence, to have full and free control over their bodies and, therefore, to have access to health and sexual and reproductive rights. In this spirit, France is proud to be the first country to have enshrined the right to abortion in its constitution.

President Emmanuel Macron has made gender equality the major cause of his two quinquennia in office, a fundamental axis of our policy that I am proud to carry forward, both in France and abroad, as part of the feminist diplomacy we are pursuing.

All too often, women are still the main victims of injustice, discrimination and violence. We witnessed this with the Hamas terrorist attacks of October 7. These barbaric acts from another age, these rapes and mutilations, have been clearly established. Why is it that, in the 21st century, rape is still used as a tactic of war, in Ukraine, Sudan, Yemen, Somalia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Central African Republic and Iraq, where Yezidi women have been the victims of atrocities committed by Daesh ?

This is a battle that must mobilise our two countries, in the Security Council, in the OSCE and in all the relevant international fora, as part of the ‘Women, Peace and Security’ agenda to which we are committed.

I know that our opinions sometimes diverge. All the more reason to continue our discussions, with mutual respect and reciprocal willingness to listen.

I look forward to a confident and demanding dialogue with the Maltese authorities and NGOs on all these issues.