The time had come to move beyond the arguments for or against globalisation, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said yesterday.
Mrs Mary Robinson addressed students at two venues, the Michael Smurfit Graduate School of Business and the Third World Society inaugural meeting at UCD, Belfield, where she was cheered by students.
At the business school Mrs Robinson said protests against globalisation had been intense, and some commentators argued that the events of September 11th were the latest and most extreme manifestation of a growing "backlash against globalisation" that would continue if the world remained on its present course.
"My message today is this: the time has come to move beyond the arguments for or against globalisation. Our task is to ensure that the promise globalisation holds for fostering higher standards of living and more open and inclusive societies are realised for all people," she told students.
All parts of society had both a vested interest and a shared responsibility in working together to shape the ethical foundations of a new globalisation that ensured respect for the human rights of all people, the Commissioner said.
"I truly believe that this is the only way we can move forward, through dialogue, a greater recognition of our shared responsibility and a commitment to working together to develop a new principled globalisation," she said.
At Belfield she said the implementation of human rights norms and standards now depended on ordinary people working together to make the difference.
The society had almost 900 members, and this was an indication that young people were not going to accept the world as it was, she said.
Mrs Robinson said she had learned about the human rights system as it had developed over the last 50 years.
"How can we make it real? Now that we have the norms and standards, it's all about implementation and the only way to implement them is by having forces of civil societies, NGOs, the eyes and ears, to make the difference," she said.
In other words the implementation depended on ordinary people and on Third World societies in universities. "If you don't do your part, it won't be implemented," she told students.
People had told her that human rights had become very politicised. The UN had to try to restore the integrity of what was meant by human rights.