Overview
- Felipe VI, who spoke Thursday at Madrid’s Complutense University to law students, said a lasting peace rests only on the rule of law.
- He placed Spain and the European Union at the center of human-rights defense and pointed to Spain’s seat on the UN Human Rights Council for 2025–2027 with priorities on disability, gender equality and digital rights.
- He tied that stance to today’s conflicts, referencing a Gulf cease-fire involving Iran that reporters say is not being observed, along with wars, terrorism and humanitarian crises.
- He urged fresh work on emerging threats, naming environmental risks and the ethics of artificial intelligence, and asked academia to help adapt the covenants to new realities.
- The event marked 60 years since the 1966 UN covenants that turned the Universal Declaration’s ideals into binding law, with Spanish coverage noting Franco’s signature brought no real change until 1977.