Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Switzerland Summer BBQ
Grand Resort Bad Ragaz, June 20, 2026
Ladies and Gentlemen, dear friends,
It is wonderful to welcome you here today in Bad Ragaz, in this beautiful setting, and in such good company.
A summer gathering like this gives us something very precious: time to meet, to speak with each other, to reconnect, and to remind ourselves why we are part of this community. The work of Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Switzerland is built not only on programs, events, and projects, but on people — on friendships, trust, shared convictions, and the belief that each of us can contribute to a more humane world.
Today, I would like to share a few thoughts on a subject that feels especially important at this moment: the importance of transatlantic relations for peace-building and peace-preserving.
When we gather here in Switzerland, in peace and freedom, it is easy to forget how fragile peace really is. Peace can feel natural when we live inside it. It can feel permanent when we have inherited it. But history teaches us something different. Peace is never automatic. Peace is never self-sustaining. Peace is built — and then it must be protected, renewed, and passed on.
This is why the relationship between Europe and the United States matters so deeply. It is not only a diplomatic relationship. It is one of the great peace projects of modern history.
After the devastation of the Second World War, Europe was wounded, divided, and exhausted. Millions had died. Cities had been destroyed. Trust between nations had collapsed. And yet, out of this tragedy came one of the most remarkable acts of political imagination: Europe and North America decided not only to rebuild economies, but to rebuild trust.
The transatlantic relationship became more than an alliance. It became a bridge — a bridge between continents, between democracies, between societies that understood that peace requires more than the absence of war. Peace requires institutions. It requires dialogue. It requires shared values. It requires the belief that freedom, human dignity, democracy, and the rule of law are worth defending together.
This relationship helped secure Western Europe during the Cold War. It supported democratic reconstruction. It helped turn former enemies into partners. It created a framework in which disagreement was possible without destruction, and competition was possible without war.
And that is perhaps one of the most important lessons for our time: peace is not the same as harmony.
Europe and the United States have not always agreed. They have disagreed on trade, on foreign policy, on wars, on technology, on climate, on strategy, and on many other issues. But the deeper achievement of the transatlantic relationship has been that disagreement could take place within a framework of trust.
That is what peace-building means. Not a world without conflict. But a world in which conflict is managed through institutions, through law, through diplomacy, through respect, and through the recognition of our shared humanity.
Today, this relationship is again being tested. War has returned to Europe. Democracies are under pressure. Public debate has become harsher. Social media often rewards division over understanding. Authoritarian powers are watching closely to see whether free societies still have the patience, discipline, and courage to stand together.
In such a moment, transatlantic relations are not a luxury. They are a necessity.
But there is one point that I believe is especially important. The value of the transatlantic relationship cannot depend only on who happens to hold office at a particular moment.
Governments change. Presidents change. Majorities change. Political styles change. At times, we may agree with political leaders on either side of the Atlantic. At other times, we may be disappointed, worried, or deeply critical. That is part of democracy.
But democracy also requires maturity. It requires us to distinguish between a government and a people, between a political moment and a historical relationship, between disagreement and disrespect.
The friendship between Europe and the United States is far greater than any individual office holder. It is a relationship between peoples, between cultures, between institutions, between universities, between businesses, between families, and between citizens who continue to believe in freedom, dignity, law, and peace.
That is why tolerance matters. Respect matters. The ability to listen matters. We must resist the temptation to reduce entire nations to one election, one leader, one controversy, or one headline. If peace is to endure, we must preserve the human bridge beneath the political bridge.
We may disagree about politics. We may be frustrated by leaders. But we must never lose respect for each other as people, as societies, and as partners in the long work of peace.
This is also why the transatlantic relationship cannot simply live from the memory of what it once achieved. It must be renewed by every generation. It must be made meaningful again — especially for young people who did not experience the Second World War, the Cold War, or the fall of the Berlin Wall.
For them, peace cannot be just a chapter in a history book. It must become a responsibility.
And this is where our work at Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Switzerland becomes deeply relevant.
Human rights education is peace education.
When we teach young people about dignity, courage, justice, democracy, and human rights, we are not only teaching ideals. We are helping to build the habits that peace requires: listening, critical thinking, empathy, responsibility, tolerance, respect, and the courage to speak truth to power.
Robert F. Kennedy once reminded us that each time a person stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, they send forth a tiny ripple of hope.
That image is very powerful in this context. Transatlantic relations were not built by governments alone. They were built by countless ripples of hope — by students, diplomats, teachers, soldiers, entrepreneurs, artists, activists, and citizens who believed that the Atlantic should not divide us, but connect us.
So perhaps the message today is simple.
The Atlantic is not only an ocean between Europe and America. It is a space of responsibility. A space of memory. A space of friendship. And a space of shared democratic promise.
If we want peace to endure, we must invest in the relationships that make peace possible: between nations, between institutions, between communities, and above all, between people.
That is also why I am so grateful that you are here today. Your support, your friendship, and your belief in our mission help us continue this work — especially with the next generation.
Peace begins with values. It is preserved through relationships. And it is renewed by people who are willing to care, to listen, to speak up, and to act.
Thank you all very much.
C. Karlo