12 December
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Fellow Members of the Seimas,
Today we celebrate a milestone event in the world history 60 years ago, the General Assembly of the United Nations proclaimed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It was a common ideal that has been and is to be pursued by all nations and all states. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was the response of humanity to the atrocities of the Second World War. Thus the world, which was seeking for a common language and common values, collected the very best ideas generated throughout history. Therefore, having gathered here in our shrine of democracy today we must be grateful for the ideals, which bring to the collapse of the most powerful empires of evil. Ideals and values are the explosive device that sooner or later liberates the souls from the prison of darkness.
The people of Lithuania and of many other countries, unfortunately, were unable to enjoy the values of human liberty outright. However, now we are the architects of our own fortune. Let us not forget that modern democracy is not merely the majority rule. More than the will of the majority, we must respect the rights and freedoms of every individual, even the most ordinary one. It is the alpha and omega of our liberal democracy that is the ideological foundation of our politics.
All human beings are born free and equal. Everyone has the right to take part in the government of his country. The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government. Recalling these provisions of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights makes me want to add, Let us return the state to the people. Let us restore peoples faith in the state and the government. Let us work together to make the noblest ideals of humanity change our homeland, our only homeland Lithuania, so that we can take pride in our state, which is a free country of free people.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is not a mere historical fact. It is the declaration that has changed and is still changing the world. It is the declaration that makes us change ourselves and change our society. So let us change ourselves and let us change for the better. I thank you for your engagement in the spreading of noble ideas. Thank you.
