"The child is father to the man" - This expression, rendered famous by Gerard Manley Hopkins' homonymous poem, is in reality a statement of a commonplace observation: what you are, what you feel, what you think, what you believe as a child creates a path that will take you into adulthood. Yet millions of children are denied the basic needs which many of us take for granted: food, safe drinking water, good health, education, the safety of a family, a healthy and safe environment. All these are in reality very basic human rights. When these rights are denied to children, how can we expect them to embark upon a path to responsible adulthood?

Courts in countries which uphold the rule of law also uphold and enforce human rights as defined in the various international documents. All these rights boil down to a fundamental concept which, unfortunately, is often forgotten at individual, at national and even at international level: that the human dignity of every person, from conception to death, must be respected at all costs, and that there can be no derogation for whatever reason to this fundamental concept.

Terrorism and environmental degradation are two symptoms of this lack of respect for the basic dignity of every human person. Fostered by religious or political intolerance on the one hand and by greed on the other, these two phenomena risk sending mankind rolling back to the Dark Ages. It is only by fostering respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms that we can effectively combat the root cause of these two phenomena.

Courts and judges should be at the forefront of these efforts. Educators also have a great and grave responsibility to instil in children from a very young age a reasoned respect for these rights and freedoms. This 8th International Conference of Chief Justices of the World brings together judges and educators, the latter represented by the dedicated staff of the City Montessori School of Lucknow. It presents us with a unique opportunity to see how, through the process of education, educators and judges can work their way up to the highest international institutions to ensure constant and better respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms in the interest of the world's children and of future generations. In the words of a sixteenth century Spanish Jesuit and educator, Juan de Bonifacio: puerilis institutio est mundi renovatio - the education of youth is the renewal of the world.