Latest / Gunther Fehlinger Podcast / Austrian MP Gudrun Kugler: From Vienna to Washington-Human Rights, War & Europe’s Future
Transcript
- 0:02We are so happy at the Gunther Failing, a broadcaster to
- 0:05welcome again Gudrun Kugler, the Member of the Austrian
- 0:08Parliament and the spokesperson for Human rights, on this very
- 0:11special day on the 10th of December.
- 0:13You were willing to speak to us and to our audience.
- 0:16Thank you very much, Gudrun, because why?
- 0:18What's the meaning of the 10th of December, the UN Day for
- 0:21Human Rights, for you? Thank you Gunther for having me
- 0:25and good to see everybody again. At least on the through a
- 0:29podcast. Look, December 10th is in a way
- 0:33you could see a symbolic date. The the the rights of human
- 0:39rights really happened after World War 2.
- 0:41And it's as a good reason that in 1948 the Universal
- 0:44Declaration of Human Rights was agreed on.
- 0:48Everybody was still very much in the under the impression of the
- 0:52incredible atrocities of World War 2.
- 0:54And we just needed to say, look, there are certain rules that are
- 0:57always true no matter where you are, who you are, in what states
- 1:02status you are personally, but things that are always true and
- 1:05rights that you always have. And and these rights go beyond
- 1:09the capacity of the state to say, well, but we don't care,
- 1:12right? So there's an international
- 1:14order. And today we speak about the
- 1:15rules based international order and this is innovative core of
- 1:19it. And it has had been a very
- 1:22intense development. Things have changed.
- 1:24There were enlargements of the idea of human rights and so on.
- 1:27But it came I think for me all the way to a culmination in the
- 1:30year 2000 when the ICC was founded in a national Criminal
- 1:34Court and the Rome Statute was agreed on in the year 2000.
- 1:39And the Rome Statute of the ICC says if somebody acts in
- 1:44according with their national law and and or on the on the
- 1:51order of his or her superiors and thereby commits crimes
- 1:55against humanity and war crimes, then this person is still guilty
- 2:01and can still be imprisoned. So your national law cannot be
- 2:04stronger than the these basic understanding of the rights of
- 2:09the human person. And, and here you have for the
- 2:12first time in international law, the, the international law
- 2:15actually legislates all the way through to the individual, which
- 2:18normally that's, that's not what it does.
- 2:20It binds states. But also you say even if your
- 2:26legislative order, your laws say that's OK, it is not OK.
- 2:30So this and today is the day where this becomes apparent.
- 2:35And this is so powerful and so meaningful, and basically this
- 2:38is the Western world order. This is our values, this is our
- 2:41system. But today, unfortunately, it's
- 2:44under attack on many fronts. Where do you see the biggest
- 2:48attacks on human rights globally today on the 10th of December
- 2:522025? You know, it is a trap when one
- 2:57speaks about human rights only to think of, you know,
- 3:00developing countries or countries in transition or
- 3:03countries within war because we need to look at human rights in
- 3:08every society. We also need to look at human
- 3:11rights in Western Europe. And but it's very fast.
- 3:15People say, oh, let's talk about, you know, some fire away
- 3:17place. But I understand that we talk
- 3:21about fire away places also. But I just would like to say let
- 3:23us always look at our countries as well.
- 3:25And we could talk more about this later if you want.
- 3:27So looking at other places in the world, obviously every war
- 3:33and every conflict situation, violent conflict situation
- 3:36becomes a violation of human rights, many of them, right,
- 3:42virtually almost everyone, every right gets violated in a war
- 3:46situation. So and, and you know better than
- 3:50anybody else where these places are and what we need to see.
- 3:53And then there are also frozen conflicts in the world that are
- 3:57constant human rights violations and or places where we have
- 4:03political oppression, but not of war, right.
- 4:08So maybe in this case, I would like to mention the the, the
- 4:13issues that we see in Georgia. You have a governing party that
- 4:19imprisons political opponents, that uses chemicals against
- 4:24people protesting and these and, and we do speak about it, but it
- 4:30always almost seems we do not speak enough about it because I
- 4:33count toward to the European context.
- 4:35And if these things are happening so close to us, but
- 4:39Speaking of close to us, Belarus, you have an entire
- 4:42suppression system where virtually hardly any political
- 4:47and human freedoms and rights are being respected.
- 4:50Then obviously in Ukraine, we have a war that's it's own
- 4:54category. But look at the occupied
- 4:55territories and we always terrible and we, we forget about
- 5:01the people who live in occupied territories because in a way we
- 5:06are like, what can we do? And yes, it's very sad, but, but
- 5:09we have to keep speaking in their favour and and on their
- 5:14behalf because they cannot right, They cannot speak, also
- 5:17have no political freedoms. There's a lot of talk about
- 5:20changing land borders and so, but it always comes with
- 5:23millions of people and their conditions should be also
- 5:26considered. I am totally with you.
- 5:29You know, I mean, we have to establish peace somehow, and it
- 5:35looks like that it will include the movement of borders.
- 5:39And this is very sad. But this is also a reality that
- 5:42we have to accept. I'm not happy about it.
- 5:45And I know that the prices people pay is absolutely
- 5:48outrageous, but we have to find a solution that this does not
- 5:52escalate further and that the dying will stop and it will
- 5:56unfortunately include, it seems, a a moving of borders.
- 6:02And another very sad thing is that the aggressor gets
- 6:07something right. So it looks like the aggressor
- 6:10gets his way and then other aggressors will say, oh, it
- 6:12actually works. But then also with regard to
- 6:14human rights, what if there was an amnesty for war criminals,
- 6:19atrocities committed on Ukrainian soil by Russian
- 6:23soldiers? And I am very worried that if we
- 6:27let these people go free, then a new world order is established
- 6:31of saying, oh, actually, you know, we just have to be strong
- 6:34enough and we can do whatever we want.
- 6:35So this is this is just a few examples of where we have to be
- 6:40very watchful and worrisome, while at the same time this is
- 6:44real life. Like we have to find solutions
- 6:46and these solutions have to be based somehow in the realities
- 6:49that we have. And we cannot choose our
- 6:52neighbors and we cannot decide who is the one we talk to.
- 6:56We have to talk with the people that we have to talk to.
- 7:00Good on you. Also as a member of the Austrian
- 7:02parliament, one of the few personalities in Austria with
- 7:05really good access to the United States leadership.
- 7:08You're also the coordinator of the National Prayer breakfast in
- 7:10the Austrian parliament. You are have been just last week
- 7:13in the United States. Yeah.
- 7:15How do you see the situation? Because we're all a bit worried
- 7:18that the Americans are not longer so on this world order as
- 7:22we know it since 45, when the Americans basically won the
- 7:26World War and they have made this world order.
- 7:29But now they you seem somehow no longer so proud of it or don't
- 7:33want to keep it up. And please, what's your
- 7:35perspective after your visit in Washington, DC last week?
- 7:39Look, there is a lot of debate about the geopolitical changes
- 7:45that are also caused by the Americans.
- 7:47And one, of course, is that they say, well, Europe, you know,
- 7:50defend yourself. Why should we do it?
- 7:52And we should not wonder why the Americans are doing this after
- 7:55we have treated them terribly for years.
- 7:58That's also something, you know, the words that are being used to
- 8:01the transatlantic community is, I mean, I understand that they
- 8:07are upset. So now the issue of the security
- 8:10document and this document, it's called the US National Security
- 8:15Strategy 2025 and this and, and it came out a few days ago and
- 8:23there's a lot of anger about it within the European hierarchy.
- 8:28I understand it, but there's one thing I can learn from this is
- 8:32if you know, the bird gets thrown out of the nest, the bird
- 8:36just has to fly. And so yes, we're not happy to
- 8:39be thrown out of the nest, but now we need to fly.
- 8:41And instead of being angry at America, we should think about
- 8:44how flying looks and how we do it.
- 8:47And 1 of this is defence. And look, we need to work
- 8:50towards very fast towards interoperational ability.
- 8:53Sorry, I said the word in English.
- 8:55Interoperational ability of our armies, right?
- 8:59So that's what language do we use?
- 9:01How do we share information? How do we understand codes?
- 9:07What's the ammunition that we use?
- 9:09Can also somebody else use it? How can we cooperate?
- 9:12So we need to be strong in order to be safe.
- 9:15In the Austrian National Library, there is a statue of
- 9:18Charles the 6th, father of Mother Teresa of, of Maria
- 9:23Teresia, Charles the 6th. So he stands there and he points
- 9:29towards the, the, the, the, the beautiful arts and but then he
- 9:34shows that he has a sword here to the other side, right?
- 9:39So he says, look, we are here because life is beautiful and we
- 9:42are happy to live together as friends and neighbors.
- 9:45But for us, you know, for you to respect this, I will show you
- 9:48that I have a very sharp sword on this side.
- 9:50So this is where we need to get so bird thrown out of the nest,
- 9:55but learn how to fly. And if we don't do it, we will
- 9:57be in serious trouble. That's the one thing.
- 10:00The other thing is everybody gets angry at the messenger of
- 10:02bad news. So again, people get angry at
- 10:05the United States. And maybe the language to use in
- 10:08this document is a little bit harsh, but let us just see if
- 10:12there's something in there that might inspire us that maybe lays
- 10:17a finger into a wound that we need to know about.
- 10:20So it says you guys are doing bad in economics, it is true.
- 10:25Over regulation, high taxes, industry leaving us.
- 10:29If we do not fix this, we are not going to be as Europeans
- 10:34meaningful on the stage. Secondly, they speak about
- 10:38migration and demographic problems.
- 10:40We have lots of migration which changes our understanding of it,
- 10:46changed who we are, right? It's true.
- 10:49If you look into Vienna primary schools, we were always a
- 10:54traditionally Catholic country. Now there are 17% Catholics and
- 10:5841% Muslims. And I think that, you know, this
- 11:01is a change that we need to be aware of and we need to deal
- 11:05with it. The demographic crisis, we have
- 11:07a birth rate in Europe of 1.31.38 in Europe, 1.3 in
- 11:10Austria. That means in every generation
- 11:13we lose a third of our population.
- 11:15Well, we better look at this and find solutions to it, right?
- 11:18What the Americans don't see a document is that they have the
- 11:21same problem, however significantly later.
- 11:24So. And then you speak about Europe
- 11:26becoming illiberal with regard to politics and some human
- 11:30freedoms. And right, so we are back to our
- 11:32topic. They say you're not doing good
- 11:34in free speech. And you know what I say?
- 11:37Unfortunately, that's true and it's not good.
- 11:41We can we have free speech in Europe?
- 11:44You know, so there are studies that say that almost half of the
- 11:46population of Europe think it's better not to say what they
- 11:50think, right? It's better not to say it,
- 11:54right? So that's already not a good
- 11:56climate for innovation and for finding better ways.
- 12:00Then we have a number of of of court cases of people who were
- 12:07who are being tried because of of speech issues.
- 12:12Examples are always difficult, but this ranges from criticizing
- 12:15Islam right to standing in in front of an English abortion
- 12:22clinic to pray what sometimes Christians do right?
- 12:25And these people are in court and many people in between.
- 12:29And then there's cancer culture. You have you heard how often
- 12:33have interesting speakers been disinvited from their stages as
- 12:37universities? You know, so that is something
- 12:41about free speech. So if we take all of these
- 12:44criticisms that America plays out on Europe, I understand that
- 12:49we are not happy to hear them, of course.
- 12:51And I understand that they have formulated in a very harsh way.
- 12:55I mean, you speak of civilization, Eraser the.
- 12:59Last time in Vienna I went out, everything was quite proper and
- 13:02fine. The real estate prices are high,
- 13:05the situation seems quite public, orders up kept, and the
- 13:09Americans are portraying us as kind of wilderness, a jungle or
- 13:13something like this in these documents.
- 13:15Yeah. But do they, do they really,
- 13:18they say in Europe will look very different in 20 years.
- 13:21I think we know that maybe it's 30 years, but that's true.
- 13:26They say that industry is running away, but and we'll see
- 13:30that coming and the demographic crisis will hit us soon, right?
- 13:35So yes, you look at the street of Vienna and everything is
- 13:38really nice. It's a.
- 13:39Pool of tourists. And it's expensive.
- 13:42We have to think far ahead. And, and so all of you know what
- 13:50I'm saying is let us take the criticism seriously in so far as
- 13:56it we say it makes sense and think about what we can do with
- 13:59it and if we and, and, and see where we can get better.
- 14:07So that's right. Instead of getting angry at
- 14:09Americans, I think we could say let's see what we can improve.
- 14:12And yes, there are issues we need to improve, but you are
- 14:15absolutely right in saying that Europe is an incredible place to
- 14:19live. And somebody just recently said
- 14:22being born in Europe is like winning the lottery.
- 14:24And that's true. But let's make sure it stays
- 14:27like this. I know America also very well.
- 14:30I know Eastern Europe, I know all of Europe and some other
- 14:32countries in Asia, Africa, and it's actually quite nice in but
- 14:38surprised by Elon Musk and also Jade events.
- 14:41They were criticising as well that we somehow restrict the
- 14:45freedom of speech online. But for example, in Russia, they
- 14:48have forbidden all the Internet platforms of America like X
- 14:52YouTube. They have basically forbidden
- 14:54all of that and by the force of law and you get into prison if
- 14:58you promote the content of the free world there.
- 15:02So, you know, he could have also chosen a little bit of a bigger
- 15:05target and target the abuse of Russia internally and in
- 15:10Ukraine, but he chose not to. And I wonder how we get out of
- 15:15this messy situation with our allies now in 2026.
- 15:19What's your advice on this one? I think we need to work on good
- 15:25relations with everybody. And even though we might have
- 15:32hesitations and, and if we and even if we disagree, look, you
- 15:38can decide yourself who goes to your birthday party, but you
- 15:41cannot decide, you know, who sits on the table in
- 15:43international negotiations, right?
- 15:46So on the one hand, I think we need to really try to understand
- 15:51American concerns and not unnecessarily work against them.
- 15:58Then we also need to, I talk, I'm sorry to say, but we also
- 16:02need to talk to Russia. Look at the OSCE.
- 16:05Russia is still a participating country and many try to get them
- 16:09out. But Austria and about 15 other
- 16:13countries are very strong and saying no, you know, we are, we
- 16:16need to talk to them. Not because we love them or
- 16:18they're so grateful to do, of course not, but because if we do
- 16:21not talk, we will not find solutions and then it's unsafe
- 16:24for all of us. So.
- 16:27We kicked them out of the Council of Europe.
- 16:29Why? To keep them in OS City.
- 16:30What's the difference? Because OSCE was founded in the
- 16:34Cold War for East and West to talk to each other.
- 16:38It's the entire purpose. But the whole Helsinki process
- 16:42was very much about human rights in Eastern Europe.
- 16:44And to some extent many people say that the Helsinki process
- 16:48was very useful to have the Charter 77 and more human rights
- 16:52and protection for the people of Eastern Europe during communist
- 16:55meeting. But now Russia is not keeping
- 16:57any of these provisions in, even in Russia actually, but in the
- 17:02occupied territories, they are basically reintroducing a modern
- 17:05kind of slavery. And they are not keeping any of
- 17:08the things which we hoped we would do by keeping them in the
- 17:12OS today. And what's your call on that
- 17:14situation? But as you say, it was founded
- 17:18in order to strengthen human rights in Eastern Europe,
- 17:20amongst other things. Well, that's what we need to do
- 17:22again. So you hope that Russia will be
- 17:26more compliant in the future? Well, first we hope that we will
- 17:30find a form of just peace, and yes, then we will work together.
- 17:37It's good that everything else is unsafe.
- 17:40And what? That's a beautiful German.
- 17:42That is called jumping over your own shadow, right?
- 17:45It doesn't exist in English, doesn't exist in Russian.
- 17:48But in Germany we say jump over your shadow, which means leave
- 17:53behind your own pride issues and try to understand the other one.
- 17:58And just like, say, OK, I, we will, we will.
- 18:02Let's find a way. And I personally think that if
- 18:06we are not able to do this, we will be in a very dire security
- 18:12situation. Europe and I have children.
- 18:14I don't want that. Sure, Mrs. Member, I ask you a
- 18:18good one about the peace process.
- 18:20You were in Washington. I think you were also in the
- 18:23White House. Do you have any secret breaking?
- 18:25News, I feel. Optimistic that this peace
- 18:31process led by President Trump will come to a conclusion.
- 18:36Honestly, I don't know. And I also don't know what I
- 18:38want in this. It's difficult to say.
- 18:41Look, I'm in favour of a peace process and I know it's it, it
- 18:45hurts and every, you know, that it, it, it, it, it hurts the
- 18:50Europeans, it hurts the Ukrainians, it should hurt the
- 18:53Russians also. So we have to accept that it
- 18:59will be difficult for everybody. But we need peace, so that's one
- 19:02thing. The other thing is that I am
- 19:05very worried about amnesty for war criminals and about giving
- 19:09over territory that was not even occupied yet, right?
- 19:13And I'm extremely worried what it means for the people who live
- 19:16there. Soviet Union 2.0 And then
- 19:20there's another war. Maybe the biggest worry and that
- 19:23is that Putin will use this to just take a breath and then keep
- 19:29going. And who can guarantee that he
- 19:31doesn't do it since the rules based international order does
- 19:34not seem to be a very good big concern to him.
- 19:37So I have to these questions. Could I have no answer?
- 19:41I'm sorry. So some people say, yes, he will
- 19:47agree and keep the peace and and then times will change and he
- 19:50will be old and die and then we'll be safe.
- 19:52That's what some people think. I don't know.
- 19:54Other people will say if we keep fighting and he sees he's not
- 20:00making progress, we will kind of keep our us safer.
- 20:05But it means so many people that are dying and will keep dying in
- 20:11this war. And I'm also not very happy
- 20:12about this. So I, I honestly don't know if
- 20:18we, if we come to some form of an agreement, then it will be
- 20:22our task of all of us on the different levels of society and
- 20:26politics to work with the Russians in a way that we will,
- 20:32that we will bind them to our value family in a way that they
- 20:37will not think of doing this again and going any further.
- 20:41Maybe that's where I most practically would say that's
- 20:45what I hope for. Good one in 96.
- 20:49We were all very optimistic because we integrated Russia in
- 20:52the Council of Europe. I myself was in the youth
- 20:54department at that time, and we discussed before the youth
- 20:57organization to join. And it was the argument, you
- 21:00know, inside our structures there will be human rights
- 21:03protected and there will be the administration rights protected.
- 21:07And it will be much, much better than state by being inside our
- 21:12value system. And for some years it works
- 21:14relatively well. But then they have decided to do
- 21:18all these criminal activities. How can some country stay inside
- 21:23our system, like in the UN, for example?
- 21:25Now Russia is in the UN Security Council.
- 21:28They are the lawmaker while they break the law and they break the
- 21:32human rights. This is for all the people who
- 21:35love the UN as me as well, and also our system as we have it.
- 21:40It's very hard to understand that somebody who is breaking
- 21:43all the rules can be still inside the system as if nothing
- 21:48is happening. For example, now the
- 21:49international court of the in 10 hack you mentioned it the the
- 21:54ball crimes court, they accept even the Russian to be part of
- 21:57the negotiation. So the the process in some new
- 22:00verdict and so how can that be That's something I think many
- 22:04people ask themselves how can somebody who breaks the house
- 22:07and be part of the family. That's something we've.
- 22:11I, I totally hear you, but look, it might make us feel better to
- 22:17exclude them, but what's the gain?
- 22:20And just for me to feel good because I did something very
- 22:24brave today, I kicked out the Russians might have consequences
- 22:28that, you know, it might make you feel good, but it might not
- 22:32be good. And, and we cannot, as I said,
- 22:35it's not your birthday party. You cannot choose the
- 22:37participants. So they're they're, they're
- 22:40relatively big and, and drawing them in is always safer.
- 22:45But what I expect, of course, is that our colleagues who
- 22:49negotiate these things will not let corrupted laws enter our
- 22:54system. But I do believe that the the
- 22:57people are knowledgeable and they have large majorities.
- 23:00So that should not be the case. That's of course the biggest
- 23:03issue. But you mentioned also Georgia
- 23:05and other states where Belarus, you also mentioned which other
- 23:10countries in the world, because it's a global day of human
- 23:13rights. Where do you see big dangers for
- 23:16the human rights today in December 25 our.
- 23:22Last Post, last podcast was about persecution of Christians
- 23:25and we talked a lot about Nigeria and thousands of dead
- 23:29Christians. We see that some countries are
- 23:36not very open to protecting rights, for example, with for
- 23:44different religious minorities. And I know that you care, care,
- 23:48care very much about Kosovo, right?
- 23:50And there are a lot of issues that we can look at there also.
- 23:55And one thing that I never really understood, but I accept
- 24:00it as a fact, is that the Orthodox Church thinks that
- 24:03whenever they have a new border somewhere, they have to refound
- 24:06the church. So I think that churches should
- 24:10be above state waters. And in this case, we just see
- 24:17lots of problems also coming from the church being part of a
- 24:22political process. What do you see in the role of
- 24:26the Catholic Church now at the human rights state?
- 24:29Because the new Pope American is very active, for example, on the
- 24:33rights of migrants in the United States and actually also on the
- 24:37even criticized President Trump for his native statements.
- 24:40So it made me very happy. The new Pope is really a
- 24:43fantastic leader of the church. I'm so happy actually.
- 24:46But it's so interesting. Yes, you're, you're absolutely
- 24:49right. Look, I think the the the
- 24:52Catholic Church has over centuries prepared the
- 24:58understanding that we nowadays have of human rights and and
- 25:03human rights really are a western invention and Western
- 25:07civilization lies on three hills, as we already mentioned
- 25:12earlier. So Rome, Athens, Jerusalem,
- 25:16Roman law, Greek democracy and the Trudeau Christian vision of
- 25:21the human person. These three together are the
- 25:24basis and the soil of western, Western civilization and our
- 25:29human rights is totally, totally and, and, and how do you say
- 25:38runs out of, of this idea of, of the three hills?
- 25:42And interestingly, people say, Oh yeah, the Catholic Church is
- 25:46super medieval against all human rights.
- 25:48It's not true. It's it's the teaching that
- 25:51they've carried through the centuries has made our current
- 25:53understanding of human rights possible.
- 25:55And you can also see with the current Pope that he is not
- 25:59trying to lean towards governments, right?
- 26:01So he does, he says what's good and what is bad.
- 26:03And it does not look at who's to lead in if he wants to be
- 26:06friends or not. And what you said about EO and
- 26:09President Trump is actually, I think the church is being very
- 26:13brave. And it is important to think
- 26:16about the issue at stake. And this is also one of the
- 26:20symbolisms of today's day. Good, because you're a Christian
- 26:26Democrat, conservative politicians and spokesperson for
- 26:29human rights. Is there ideological difference
- 26:32between the perspective of Christian Democrats on human
- 26:34rights and the left wing perspective on human rights?
- 26:37And what how to understand the approach on on this day?
- 26:41And what perspective do you prefer on human rights?
- 26:45Very interesting. Yes, I am a little bit worried
- 26:50about the approach that I can see with the left towards human
- 26:53rights, because they on the one hand use them politically,
- 26:57instrumentalised them politically when it fits the
- 26:59purpose and on the other hand, they are very selective in which
- 27:04human rights they want to support and which they do not
- 27:06want to support, right. So I can give you examples for
- 27:10what I mean. The WE debate issues of
- 27:16children's rights and in Western countries, bioethical questions.
- 27:22For example, do we allow anonymous egg or sperm donation
- 27:26for artificial reproduction? We, and it is very clear in the
- 27:31Children's Rights Convention that a child has a right to know
- 27:35it's both biological parents. So it obviously shouldn't be
- 27:39possible to have anonymous sperm donation, right?
- 27:42But the left wants that and so they do not care.
- 27:45They just forget about the children's rights convention
- 27:48there. And it's very clear because it
- 27:50has a child has the right to know it's paralogical parents.
- 27:53Of course, if it's not possible, it's not possible.
- 27:54But we cannot organise our our artificial reproduction system
- 27:59in a way that they cannot possibly find out who are the
- 28:02biological parents. But then the left just ignores
- 28:06it. But if they want to use it, then
- 28:08they put it on all of their flakes and, and I think is that
- 28:14if we want to be truthful to human rights, we cannot use them
- 28:18selectively. It must be universally applied
- 28:22globally. And it's yes, and it's, and it's
- 28:25really not something that I can pick a truth from.
- 28:28It's like, oh, I prefer not to have that human right, right.
- 28:32So that's absolutely not OK. And, and I just can't, I can see
- 28:37that they overdo it on many issues and, and they don't look
- 28:44to the issues that might be just in front of the eyes and very
- 28:47clear. Give you another very concrete
- 28:50example. The one of the Armenian bishops
- 28:53who actually works in Vienna for the Armenian Church all over
- 28:57Europe, He said to me, you know, he said I met the human rights
- 29:03defender and he said it in a way as if he met like a terrible
- 29:07person and he has to apologised to me, right?
- 29:10But I'm like, no, yes, I'm a human rights defender.
- 29:13And and then I realised that in his view, human rights are
- 29:17something bad because he constantly gets pressured by the
- 29:22left to do things that do not correspond with his
- 29:25understanding and the reality of Armenian society.
- 29:29So he thinks human rights are just, it's just a socially
- 29:34liberal pressure group and it's and it's not right if he has it
- 29:41it that's just a total misunderstanding.
- 29:43So I, I think that if the leftover interprets and over
- 29:51emphasises things that might not be grounded in human rights, but
- 29:55called it human rights and then use it selectively and overlooks
- 29:59other things, the consequences that people turn away from human
- 30:02rights. And the same is true, I'm sorry
- 30:05to say, for the international institutions such as the
- 30:07European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.
- 30:10So the court makes it difficult for countries like Austria to
- 30:15return illegal immigrants, especially with a criminal
- 30:20record. And, and there was a letter
- 30:25undersigned by 9 prime ministers from different party families,
- 30:28including my Prime Minister Glystovschoka to the European
- 30:31Court of Human Rights saying please, you know, your decisions
- 30:36should still remember that human rights have to be practicable
- 30:41and doable and, and, and the people will otherwise turn away
- 30:48from you. And we do not want people to
- 30:51turn away from human rights because this would mean
- 30:53authoritarian, authoritarian dictatorships and then end of
- 30:57freedom. But we have to protect human
- 31:00rights by not over interpreting them or by using them
- 31:04selectively or instrumentalising them politically.
- 31:08So the left has basically done a bad service to the whole concept
- 31:11of human rights and because they have overdone things and abused
- 31:16actually the concept. Partly, right, The left has
- 31:19also, you know, laid fingers and wounds that are important and
- 31:23helped us create a free and just society, right?
- 31:27But now I can see that that things are just going very far
- 31:33and they're not helpful anymore in the dialogue.
- 31:35And if we want to protect human rights, and if we want to keep
- 31:38free and just societies, we just must not forget this on such a
- 31:41day as December 10th. Exactly, because I always saw
- 31:45myself and I see you as well as a human rights defender, because
- 31:49you're fighting for the rights of Christians everywhere in the
- 31:52world, from Syria to North Korea to Nigeria, Biafra.
- 31:57And that's very much human rights.
- 31:58Obviously, it's the rights of people to live in free
- 32:01societies, and that's very much human rights.
- 32:04So it should be our proud day and it is our proud day.
- 32:09And I want to thank you very much for this interview.
- 32:11And everybody, please, it's the global day for human rights.
- 32:15And this is a very Christian concept.
- 32:17This is a concept for freedom. This is a concept of we can all
- 32:23be very proud for the defense of individual freedom and the
- 32:26rights of humans to live secure, to have the property and the
- 32:30right to be peaceful, to live in peace.
- 32:34And that is something maybe the UN should return to, if I may
- 32:37say so, a little bit more focus again on peace and less on all
- 32:42the other issues. But the return to the Human
- 32:45Rights Day would be wonderful. Guten, maybe some closing
- 32:48remarks for you on the Human Rights Day.
- 32:50And thanks again for coming to SECOND Time to the Pot.
- 32:53And in 2026, hopefully, you will return and we will continue our
- 32:58fight for human rights and against discrimination of
- 33:01Christians and of everybody actually in the world.
- 33:05I would love to return. Thank you.
- 33:07You're so kind and so generous. I have me.
- 33:10You know, human rights are not given to us by our states in an
- 33:15act of generosity, but they are innate in us.
- 33:18We have rights because we have dignity, right?
- 33:21And well. And it is true that we can see
- 33:24things about the human person, no matter where they live, no
- 33:28matter what's their background and, and it, and these things
- 33:32are still true. And that is that if we want to
- 33:35flourish, we need freedom, right.
- 33:38Without freedom, we will suffocate.
- 33:41And human rights are not all the freedoms that we need us, but
- 33:45it's the baseline. It's what we cannot do without.
- 33:49And it's it is not up to a government to accept or not to
- 33:53accept. We have to all underline and
- 33:56support this as a broad community.
- 33:59And it's the basis of flourishing.
- 34:01And we've, we have learned a lot in the last 80 years about this,
- 34:06but our learning process is not over.
- 34:09But we can only learn by lots of great people joining minds and
- 34:12having a lot of discussion about it.
- 34:13And This is why I go to your podcast are just a great idea.
- 34:16So thank you for having me. Thanks a lot.
- 34:18This was my interview with Guten Kogler, Member of the Austrian
- 34:21Parliament, who took this half an hour out of a busy schedule
- 34:24today. It's the last plenary.
- 34:26A lot of things are important in the agenda to be voted in the
- 34:30Austrian Parliament. But thanks for taking the time
- 34:33and thanks for your lifelong effort for global human rights
- 34:37and for a better planet and for freedom in the world.
- 34:40Thanks a lot, Gurung Kugra. Appreciate it.
- 34:42All the best in 2026. And for you?
- 34:47We have the camera often that's in tank.
- 34:51This one, Bundabar, it's past.