Speech by Minister Sigrid Kaag at the PAX ‘Power to the People’ event

Speech | 22-09-2020

Ladies and gentlemen,

How do you change the world?

If ever there was a question worth asking, it is surely this one. Of course, it’s a question that has been asked, over and over, by generation after generation. And it has been answered, over and over, by generation after generation.

Time and again, people – mostly young people – have stood up and given their answer. They answered with determined strides, when millions of women took to the streets and demanded the right to vote. They answered with shouts on the streets of Tunis and Tehran, and on Tahrir Square, where millions of people demanded that their voices be heard. They answered with massive worldwide marches for more radical solutions to the climate crisis.

And they are answering now, in Belarus, where after years of violence and oppression people have stood up and said: ‘enough’.

When the government imprisoned male opposition leaders, three young women took over the protests. The security forces threaten them, beat them, imprison and exile them – but still they resist.

When one of those women, Maria Kolesnikova, was kidnapped and ordered to leave the country, she refused. At the Ukrainian border, instead of giving in to the enormous threat she faced, she stood firm. She stared at the armed men escorting her, took out her passport, and tore it up. This made it impossible for her to leave the country she was desperately trying to improve.

Sometimes change sounds like the ripping of paper and plastic. Sometimes freedom looks like a torn-up passport.

That same bravery and determination still inspires countless others to stay out on the streets and squares of Belarus. We have all seen the images of groups of women – both young and old – locking their arms and singing, as armed and armoured men close in to arrest them.

If you want to know how to change the world: just look at these women on the streets of Belarus, or in any other country where young women and girls take to the streets. Fearless, peaceful, and forceful in their determination. 

What they do is neither easy nor safe. Day after day, the people of Belarus go out into the streets, knowing full well that unmarked vans are waiting for them. That they may be swallowed up by the dark machinery of an oppressive state. That they may be beaten, tortured, or worse. And that their protests may not work.

The people of Syria also once hoped for a better future – but that future failed to come.

Sadly, the road to change is usually the road less travelled. That is why the decision to seek change it is such a brave one. After all, there is no guarantee that protests, marches, or elections will actually improve anything.

But people still try. They try, not in spite of the danger they face, but because of it. Because they no longer want to live in fear. If you ask people who stand up in protest why they want change, they say: look around you. As long as there is injustice, poverty, or hunger, there is a reason for change.

And so people – especially young people, young women – try to bring about that change. They speak out. Fuelled by fear and loathing, fired up by hope and perspective. Dedicated to improving the long future still ahead of them.

I understand why repressive governments are scared. It was expressed eloquently by the anthropologist Margaret Meade, who famously said, ‘Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has’.

She was right. The world changes when people stand up to be counted.

Ladies and gentlemen,

Tonight I want to give special credit and pay extra attention to the people who are doing just that. We see them on the streets of Minsk. We see them on the front lines of climate and equality protests. And increasingly, we see them in the media and politics as well: young people, and young women in particular.

They are a new generation. One that lives and breathes the words of the late Ruth Bader Ginsberg. She believed that ‘Women belong in all places where decisions are made.’ I wholeheartedly share this sentiment. I try to live this sentiment. And so do countless young and older women around the world today.

We are a generation that is done with the inequities of the past. We are better educated and more ambitious than ever. And no, we are not afraid to speak up. The times are gone when women were supposed to be seen, but not heard. We all stand ready to change the world.

And there is much that needs to be done. Women and girls are still the ones who suffer most in situations of conflict, crisis or instability.

A few statistics:

One in five women refugees has experienced sexual violence –and I believe this is an understated statistic. Women and girls together make up 72 per cent of all victims of human trafficking. In natural disasters and their aftermath, women die in far greater numbers than men.

That is why, 20 years ago, the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 1325, which calls on all actors to increase the participation of women in peace and security efforts. Twenty years on, despite local and international efforts, we still don’t see its promise translated into meaningful change.

In most situations, women still don’t have a place at the negotiating table. How can you ever conclude a meaningful peace-deal when half of the population is excluded from the negotiation?

This is not just wrong. It is stupid.

Researchers from the International Peace Institute analysed 182 peace agreements signed between 1989 and 2011, and discovered that including women just works better. When women are included in negotiating peace agreements, there is a 20 per cent greater chance that the agreement will last at least two years, and a 35 per cent greater chance that it will last at least fifteen years.

These truths are both obvious and disheartening.

Of course it makes sense to have representatives from half of the population around the negotiating table. And yet, it remains so clearly the exception, rather than the rule.

The unspoken costs and missed opportunities of this are terrible. Excluding women from peace processes means that, around the world, conflicts last longer – and peace unravels faster. Women suffer disproportionately from conflict, and are disproportionately excluded from its resolution. This is unfair, it is wasteful, and it is simply not right.

So it’s no wonder that women, and especially young women, are now standing up. Women like Alaa Shubber from Iraq, and Waha Ibrahim from Khartoum – whom we will hear from later this evening. It is young women in de midsts of crisis, who pluck up the courage to do what is right, to lead, shine, inspire and carry a heavy burden of responsibility.

Their young voices deserve our unwavering support. They have the longest future ahead of them, and they will have a big role to play in the path towards change.

So far be it from me to give them advice – they already know how to change the world. But we are all in a position to support them, and I believe this is true for all women.

Here I am reminded of what Madeleine Albright used to say: “there is a special place in hell for women who don’t help other women.”

Here I would like to share something that is close to my heart, and stems from my own experience. Something that I think is true for women, and for young people in general.

When you stand up, you are often told to shut up. If you insist on speaking, you are seen as too ambitious, too loud, too pretty, too dumb.You are told that you should be more submissive, less outspoken.

Enough already.

Because what people are really saying is that you are deviating from the norm, from what is expected, and that you should stop.

Well, to that I say: don’t stop. Stand up, and speak louder. Because the thing about norms is that they change.

If enough women stand up to be counted, the norm will change. If enough girls choose ambition over expectation, the norm will change. If enough activists, whatever their age or gender, go out and demand change – by protesting, by voting, or by standing for election – the norm will change.

So to every young person, every young woman out there who wants to make a change, I say: don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t do that. Don’t underestimate your power to effect change. If you can vote, vote. If you can run for office, run for office. And if neither of those things is possible – stand up and make your voice heard.

That is how you change the world.

Thank you.