Sustainability is a prerequisite for peace – tal på IPUs 138:e kongress

I think we all can agree, that sustainable development is a prerequisite, an absolute need for peace. When a society becomes unsustainable, when it can’t provide for its inhabitants, unrest follows.

In this regard we are seeing challenges piling up in front of us. As we speak great areas of land are becoming uninhabitable, and are forcing people to go on the move, to find new places where they can settle down, build a home, try to get on with their lives.

3 years ago Europe was facing a wave of immigration. There is no reason to think that this was the last time. And there is no reason to think that the way to tackle challenges like that is border-technicalities or bureaucracy, security measures or fences.

The only way to create sustainability on a lasting scale is by attacking the root causes themselves. And those are failing democracies and accelerating climate change.

On climate change there is a road map. I want to believe that there is a will. But no country should think that it is easy. It requires a road map, it demands goals, it needs action.

Building democracy again – that is more difficult. Authoritarianism wants to cling to its guns. Corrupt regimes fear openness. But the idea, that you can gain lasting prosperity by constraining the democratic process, by keeping minorities from voting, by limiting the participation of women in society goes against logic and is unsustainable.

Sustainable peace can only be achieved in inclusive societies where everybody can participate and where you embrace diversity, whether it means accepting those that are moving in or including minorities that are living by your side.

Nationalism, a narrow definition af what you are, leads to stagnation and conflict. We have seen this in Europe in recent years with the annexation of Crimea and the following war in Ukraine. We have seen it in Myanmar with the persecution of the Rohingya. The list goes on.

Sweden talked about the importance of an independent judiciary. This can’t be emphasised enough. We have lately seen some very troubling developments on our own turf, here in Europe. The eagerness for a politician to meddle in the judicial process is dangerous, and should not be tolerated. Here I call on all parliamentarians to understand their role.

There is a lot of talk about self-determination here. Self-determination is a good thing. But it is only valid if everybody is included. Self-determination by a select few, self-determination as a rhetorical means of sustaining a repressive regime, a failing democracy, is not sustainable.