On Saturday 2nd September in Hull, the UK city of Culture for 2017, former United Nations Secretary Kofi Annan delivered the Wilberforce lecture entitled Freedom in the 21st Century. The title was a poignant tribute to Hull-born William Wilberforce, the 19th century parliamentarian and philanthropist who played a pivotal role in securing the abolition of slavery act, which was passed in 1833. The act gave freedom to all slaves in the British Empire.
In his speech, Mr Annan described how the fundamental human right of freedom is under threat in the modern world. He described that loss of freedom takes various forms including forced labour of adults (which he thought affected more than 20 million people) and sexual trafficking and exploitation. He also presented disturbing evidence that young children are not only coerced into working under extremely hard and dangerous conditions but, in parts of Africa, thousands have been forced to become soldiers and fight in brutal civil wars. Children fortunate to survive such conflicts are nevertheless traumatised for life.
How can we prevent such shameful and inhumane abuse and exploitation of our fellow man and woman? Mr Annan had two suggestions. First, nations should work together to ensure the right of freedom is universally respected. Second, drawing inspiration from Wilberforce and his fellow abolitionists, Mr Annan argued that change can happen when individuals take up a cause they believe in and then work collectively to bring about change. Such a movement, he believed, could transform the world.
In the open questions and answers session after his lecture, Mr Annan reiterated his view that a two-pronged attack on states that support or do not confront violation of freedom was needed. He stressed that countries must work together to impose pressure on these states and that emboldened citizens should take up the cause locally and internationally. However, such approaches have limitations. First, it assumes different countries will co-operate for the greater good. But what we have seen recently is that national interest dominates and individual states will act in their own best interest.
“America first’ is one clear example of this as is Britain’s ‘ethical foreign policy’, which was trumpeted during last year’s general election despite Britain securing arms deals with Saudi Arabia, a country in which Amnesty International has reported serious abuse of human rights. Second, in countries where freedom is suppressed, internal protestors are likely to be punished severely. Even in democracies, large group of citizens protesting against a government policy can be unsuccessful. Over 1 million people marched in London in protest against the War on Iraq, but this had no impact at all. More stringent measures are needed to counter loss of freedom than the goodwill of nations and the courage of a few individuals.
