May  5th 2011 is a very special day. Not only because it marks the inaugural CEPOS Freedom Award made possible by Mr. Bjørn Høi Jensen’s generosity and commitment to the value of freedom. Nor solely because the Freedom Award goes to as worthy a defender of human freedom as Yoani Sanchez.

At 8 o’clock a.m. on May 5th 1945, the capitulation of the occupying German army entered into effect, and Denmark could finally shed the yoke of Nazism. While it was British troops who were congratulated by jubilant crowds of grateful Danes, Denmark would not have been liberated without the heroic sacrifices made by the many American soldiers fighting the most worthy of wars far away from home. And therefore we are honored that Her Excellency Laurie Fulton, Ambassador of the United States of America is present today. I hope Madam Ambassador will convey our gratitude to the American people for the valour and sacrifices of those who fought so that we could regain our freedom on this very day 66 years ago.

Freedom can never be taken for granted. Freedom House’s 2011 report on “the freedom of the world” shows that for the fifth straight year, freedom is in decline worldwide. Those who are opposed to freedom find ever more clever ways to undermine it. Even as noble a cause as human rights has been distorted to justify the denial of fundamental freedoms.  The very regime that has refused Yoani Sanchez the right to be with us tonight, and keeps its entire population in what is essentially an open prison, is often the recipient of praise for its alleged advancement of human rights.  At the United Nation’s Human Rights Council, Cuba has been praised for “the priority given to human rights” and “its support of the legitimate rights of all peoples, especially the poor and the oppressed” by such states as North Korea and Syria.

That dictatorships and authoritarian regimes have been allowed to turn the concept of human rights into newspeak legitimizing the very repression that human rights were supposed to guard against, is only possible because we too often lose sight of the fundamental meaning of human rights as freedom. Freedom to speak our minds, to come and go as we please, to be free from torture and arbitrary arrest and to embrace or reject religious doctrines according to our own conscience and beliefs.  in other words the very principles shared by the American Declaration of Independence and the French Declaration on the Rights of Man that made human rights the yard stick against which the legitimacy of the emerging modern states was to be measured.
Being consistent and true to freedom also means pointing a finger at free societies when they fail to live up to those principles; whether in the fight against terrorism or the worrying erosion of freedom of expression that we are witnessing in Europe. It also means showing solidarity rather than suspicion toward those fighting for freedom in countries that cynics thought were unable to appreciate its value. No one can know how the revolutions in the Arab states, and the struggle for freedom in Iran, will turn out. But the very fact that people in the Middle East and North Africa have risked and sacrificed their lives for freedom and democracy shows very clearly that the longing for freedom is indeed universal, rather  than  being specific to any particular culture or society.  It is this universal urge for freedom that we want to celebrate and affirm our commitment to this evening, and I think that you will agree with me that there is no better way of doing so than by honoring the efforts of the remarkable Yoani Sanchez.

Thank you very much.