Mediterranean Day : HRH the Princess of Hanover: A President Committed to Human Rights

In the presence of HSH Prince Albert II and on the occasion of the Day of the Mediterranean, HRH the Princess of Hanover has launched projects from the seminar organised by the Princely Government in partnership with the Union for the Mediterranean, on the theme of employment of young people and women within the Mediterranean Basin.

In a vibrant speech, HRH The Princess of Hanover recalled that this day should lead to a focus on the most vulnerable, foremost among whom are migrants.

“In the hope of a better life, more than two million refugees and migrants have traversed the Mediterranean over the past eight years. Between 2014 and 2021, according to the High Commission for Refugees, more than 20 000 people, including one thousand children, have lost their lives, often amid indifference.

 

Because “migrants” have this particularity of having, stuck to their foreheads, a label that makes their humanity recede into the background, they are beings destined to wander.

Migrants migrate: that is their role. Consequently, they have neither face nor history, nor even a point of departure or arrival. The migrant is beyond-soil. They are also beyond the reach of law: notions of human rights do not apply to them. With them, there are no binding obligations. The notion of ‘failure to assist a person in danger’ does not apply to them.

The emergency regime with which we have so far been presented is not worthy of this historical imperative: the respect of democratic principles, of our fundamental values and the rule of law also applies to migratory issues.”

Faced with this tragedy, HRH the Princess of Hanover recalled AMADE’s commitment in favour of unaccompanied minors, and the practical responses provided by the association to the benefit of these young people.

 

© Michel Dagnino – Musée océanographique