A/HRC/38/19 had begun, the Philippines had insisted on powerful language prohibiting torture. India and Pakistan had strongly backed the rights of women. China, Costa Rica, Ghana, Jamaica, Lebanon and Liberia had championed language on justice and the dignity and worth of the human person. Those values were drawn from cultures and traditions across the world. The rights to justice, equality, freedom and dignity and the imperatives of compassion stood out as universal. The universality of all human rights bound all peoples of the world together and gave the Universal Declaration its deep resonance. No other document in history had been translated into as many languages as the Universal Declaration. 7. The Vienna Declaration had taken that fundamental notion of universality a step further: all States recognized that all human rights were indivisible, interdependent and interrelated. Civil and political rights, economic, social and cultural rights and the right to development built on each other and advanced together. Access to social protections and economic opportunities formed a powerful antidote to the spread of violent extremism. Similarly, measures to end discrimination and uphold the freedom to speak out accelerated sustainable development. The Declaration on the Right to Development emphasized the right of all individuals and peoples to free, active and meaningful participation in decisions. 8. When seeking to become members of the Human Rights Council, States pledged that they would act without selectivity. Any selectivity, whether it involved an exclusive focus on particular rights, or political action on behalf of allies, would damage the Council’s legitimacy and impact. The provision of governance and economic systems rooted in dignity was the responsibility of every Government, in all regions, at every level of development: such systems not only underpinned the legitimacy of all Governments, but were also conducive to the creation of resilient societies. 9. At the global level, respect for international law, including international human rights law, was essential to peaceful coexistence among States, particularly smaller and less-developed States. Fractures across the world were deepening and blind nationalism had led to the pursuit of narrowly defined national interests at the expense of the common good. Thus, the anniversaries of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and of the adoption of the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action should remind everyone of the disasters and the catastrophic violence that might ensue should the commitments made 70 years previously to the universal values of humanity be violated. 10. The Director of the Department for Humanitarian Cooperation and Human Rights of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation and Commissioner for Human Rights, Democracy and Rule of Law said that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights had been adopted 70 years previously, in the wake of the most tragic period in the history of the twentieth century, the Second World War, at the dawn of the United Nations and of a new world order based on international law. The process for its adoption had been characterized by intense and heated discussions. Unfortunately, attempts to arbitrarily interpret the provisions of the Universal Declaration persisted. Thus, it was important to emphasize the timeless relevance of the Universal Declaration, which constituted a universal human rights compass for the international community as a whole. 11. The 1993 World Conference on Human Rights, which had resulted in the adoption of the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, had strengthened two important tenets, namely, the interdependence and the indivisibility of all human rights. Moreover, the Conference had contributed to consolidating the positions of States in all regions of the world with regard to an agreed document. The Vienna Declaration had subsequently been quoted in practically all human rights documents. 12. The anniversaries of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, which were both pivotal documents, provided an opportunity for international organizations, States and civil society to enhance human rights in all spheres. The commemoration was an opportunity to evaluate how the United Nations could be rendered more authoritative in the promotion and protection of human rights, and to analyse achievements, highlight problems and design new strategies, in order to face new challenges. The human rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration and in the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action could only be effectively promoted if those 3