Mr President, Sweden has celebrated the anniversary of the Universal Declaration throughout the year. Activities have involved large parts of our society, culminating with a solemn ceremony in the Swedish Parliament two days ago.That session, like this, was an occasion to recall that vote, on 10 December 1948, at the Palais de Chaillot in Paris, when the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted the Declaration.Few then, at the time, accorded that document any great significance. States were not legally bound by the text, and violations of its principles were so commonplace that it was difficult to believe that a few words on a piece of paper could bring about change. To most people, the ceremony in Paris passed largely unnoticed.Today, when we celebrate its 60th anniversary, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is the world's most translated text, and its principles are expected to be respected by every state.Mr President,The Declaration is about the rights and freedoms of the individual and the state's obligation to respect and protect these rights and freedoms. It is about freedom from oppression and the right to a private sphere, it is about protection of physical and mental integrity and about the right to participate in the governing of one's country. The Declaration affirms the freedom of thought and expression, the right to receive and disseminate information. And it sets limits to the power of the state over the individual.The Declaration is one part of a long process to create a better and freer society. Sadly, this process is far from over. People are still being imprisoned for their beliefs. People are still being tortured, still being put to death. People are still being denied freedom of expression, thought and belief. People are still being discriminated against.Yet the world and the individual are far freer today than sixty years ago. The majority of UN Member States are democracies. The rule of law is the norm for state building around the world.Freedom and integrity of the individual, democracy and the rule of law are no longer just words and ideals. They have become a tangible reality for hundreds of millions of people over the past six decades. The Declaration came into being after decades when freedom and democracy had to fight to the utmost for survival. Until 1945 it was by no means certain that the world could escape being enslaved by totalitarian regimes. Democracy and freedom were exceptions - dictatorship and oppression the rule.But the ideals stood the test, and the world has taken a new direction. The idea of an open society, which the Declaration on Human Rights is ultimately grounded in, has gained an increasingly stronger foothold in more and more countries. Mr President,My government pays tribute to this great moment in the history of international cooperation. Thank you Mr President.