A/HRC/23/29 16. Mr. Gatilov stated that the strengthening of international cooperation in human rights was a key factor for the realization of the aims of the United Nations, and the reason why the Russian Federation was one of the countries which supported the idea of this panel discussion. He recalled that the significance of the Vienna documents for the development of human rights concepts could not be overestimated as for the first time in history, all categories of human rights were declared equal, there was true recognition of the principle of the universality of human rights and that it was the duty of all States to respect and implement them. He stated that it was important to bring into action the ethical and moral component of human rights standards and norms, and recalled that human rights belonged to each and everyone of us as they derived from human dignity and worth. 17. Mr. Gatilov concluded by expressing the hope that the twentieth anniversary of the Vienna Conference would give a new impetus for the more active implementation by States of the provisions of the VDPA. He stated that the important principles of the VDPA were that of cooperation, constructive work and mutual cooperation as an incentive for States to develop interaction with human rights control mechanisms, and that joint work by all States was the most effective method to protect human rights worldwide. He also stated that dialogue and exchange of good practices needed to be used to enhance the potential of the Council to be a forum for such dialogue. E. EU Special Representative for Human Rights 18. The EU Special Representative for Human Rights, Mr. Stavros Lambrinidis, recalled that the basic power of human rights resided in their universal nature, and that the VDPA underlined that the promotion and protection of human rights was a legitimate concern of the international community. He gave Europe as the example of a continent where two world conflicts originated and where the world’s largest genocide was perpetrated. He reaffirmed the clear notion that the universality of human rights starts at home though a candid acknowledgment of every State’s human rights challenges and willingness to tackle them through a wealth of mechanisms at the national level such as national human rights institutions and equality bodies, internal scrutiny by the European Commission through the Charter of Fundamental Rights, external scrutiny by the Council of Europe and the Court of Human Rights, and by United Nations mechanisms such as the universal periodic review and treaty bodies. 19. Mr. Lambrinidis acknowledged the pivotal role of civil society in the monitoring and implementation of human rights, and the major commitments of the EU to protect civil society, as their role was to push Governments into the better protection of human rights. Whilst he recognized that Vienna stated with clarity that cultural, religious, and other differences needed to be taken into account, this should not water down the universal human rights agreed upon by all. He stated that human rights were the universal language of the powerless against the cultural relativism of the powerful. 20. In concluding, Mr. Lambrinidis reaffirmed the conviction that the universality of human rights as an obligation flowed from the human dignity of every individual, and gave assurances that the EU would work hand-in-hand with everyone to promote the universality of human rights for a better world. 6