Monday, November 18, 2013

Autumn 2013: UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in Tallinn: human rights should be taken seriously by every government


PhotoUN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon hold a speech at Tallinn University on November 16, 2013 during his two-day visit to Estonia, stressing that dignity for all should be our main principle and highlighting many important problems in his speech to hundreds of students, diplomats and officials. After taking a chance after his presentation to deliver welcome wishes to UN Secretary General also from the staff of United Nations mission to Estonia in 90s, including myself as UN Information and Coordination Officer at the Office of UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative I also noted to Ban Ki-moon that when you step out for human righths in Estonia you are simply smashed down by the current government, but you learn this and how corrupted that system really is only when you find itself in situation like that. I would have wished a lot that UN Secretary General would have had a chance to meet also leaders of Estonian Patient´s Advocacy Association to get the more honest picture about what the struggle for human rights, including in health care really means in todays Estonia and how vast is the corrupted ring of officials up to Chief Prosecutor Norman Aas, Justice Minister Hanno Pevkur and many more who do their best to cover up even the most severe abuse cases in Estonian hospitals. Read also Human rights report 2012 about torture and abuse in Estonian hospitals.