Statement by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid
Ra'ad Al Hussein at the opening of the Human Rights Council session in Geneva,
2 March 2015
Mr. President
Distinguished Delegates,
It is an
honour for me to address the High-Level Segment of the Human Rights Council for
the first time.
When I last
addressed this Council, I spoke at length of the cruelty and moral bankruptcy
of violent extremists. Alas, the horrors
they perpetrate continue daily, and we condemn their merciless conduct
daily. And yet, if we are not careful,
if we are not completely principled and cunning in our collective attempt to
defang them, we will, unwittingly and inexcusably, be advancing their
interests. How we define the opening
chapters of this already agitated century depends heavily on us not becoming
like them. For us, international
humanitarian law and international human rights law cannot be trifled with or
circumvented, but must be fully observed.
Therefore, and without diminishing our continuing rejection of
terrorism, I will focus in this statement on the broad conduct of Member States
regarding their obligations to uphold human rights.
It has been 70
years since the great Charter of the United Nations was drawn up, and since
then States have also written and agreed to a range of strong international
treaties, to establish in binding law the legal principles of human rights.
They are a distillation of all human experience, all the warnings and screams
of our combined human history.
In this room
today are the distinguished representatives of many States that have each made
specific and precious contributions to humanity. All, by ratifying the UN
Charter, have made a clear commitment to, I quote, “reaffirm faith in
fundamental human rights; in the dignity and worth of the human person; in the
equal rights of men and women, and of nations large and small; and to establish
conditions under which justice and respect for the obligations arising from
treaties, and other sources of international law, can be maintained; and to
promote social progress, and better standards of life in larger freedom.”
And yet, with alarming regularity, human rights are
disregarded, and violated, sometimes to a shocking degree.
States claim exceptional circumstances. They pick and choose
between rights. One Government will thoroughly support women’s human rights and
those of the LGBT communities, but will balk at any suggestion that those
rights be extended to migrants of irregular status. Another State may observe
scrupulously the right to education, but will brutally stamp out opposing
political views. A third State
comprehensively violates the political, civil, economic, social and cultural
rights of its people, while vigorously defending the ideals of human rights
before its peers.
In recent months I have been disturbed deeply by the
contempt and disregard displayed by several States towards the women and men
appointed by you as this Council's independent experts – and also by the
reprisals and smear campaigns that are all too frequently exercised against
representatives of civil society, including those who engage with the Council
and its bodies. I appeal to all of you,
once again, to focus on the substance of the complaint, rather than lash out at
the critic – whether that person is mandated by States, is a member of my
Office, or is a human rights defender.
Mr. President,
The
overwhelming majority of victims of human rights abuses around the world share
two characteristics: Deprivation, and discrimination – whether it is based on
race or ethnicity, gender, beliefs, sexual orientation, caste or class. From
hunger to massacres, sexual violence and slavery, human rights violations are
rooted in these hidden, and sometimes not so hidden, factors.
They are not
spontaneously generated. Most violations of human rights result from policy
choices, which limit freedom and participation, and create obstacles to the
fair sharing of resources and opportunities.
Mr. President,
The most powerful instrument in the arsenal we have against
poverty and conflict is the weapon of massive instruction. Respect for the
human rights of all, justice, education, equality – these are the strongly
interlocking elements that will build fair, confident and resilient societies;
true development; and a permanent peace.
Our discussions during this session will only be of some
worth if every State represented here will take the recommendations of the
Council, its Universal Periodic Review, and its expert mechanisms out of this
room, and give them real impact where it matters – in your countries.
As a former
diplomat myself, I am well aware of the preoccupation with protocol which makes
the representatives of States jostle for places on Councils, or for prominent
speaking slots in key summits, with the view that these are important markers of
the world's respect for their nation. But this agitation alone is simply
meaningless, because everybody knows when people are silenced, when they fear
arbitrary arrest or worse.
Everybody
knows when police use torture, and when tweets are brutally suppressed. Everybody knows when discrimination means
poverty, while corrupt elites gorge on public goods, supported by a corrupt
judiciary. Everybody knows when women are
treated like property, and children go hungry, and unschooled, in squalid neighbourhoods.
Some of the
evidence may be hidden. But the reality, in far too many countries, of
massacres and sexual violence; crushing poverty; the exclusive bestowal of
health-care and other vital resources to the wealthy and well-connected; the
torture of powerless detainees; the denial of human dignity – these things are
known. And Excellencies, they are what truly make up a State's reputation;
together with the real steps – if any – taken by the State to prevent abuses
and address social inequalities, and whether it honours the dignity of its
people.
The only real measure of a Government’s worth is not its
place in the solemn ballet of grand diplomacy. It is the extent to which it is
sensitive to the needs – and protects the rights – of its nationals and other
people who fall under its jurisdiction, or over whom it has physical control.
Some policy-makers persuade themselves that their
circumstances are exceptional, creating a wholly new reality unforeseen by the
law. This logic is abundant around the world today: I arrest arbitrarily and torture because a
new type of war justifies it. I spy on my citizens because the fight against
terrorism requires it. I don’t want new immigrants, or I discriminate against
minorities, because our communal identity is being threatened now as never
before. I kill without any form of due
process, because if I do not, others will kill me. And so it goes, on and on,
as we spiral into aggregating crises.
I must remind you of the enduring and universal validity of
the international human rights treaties that your States wrote and ratified. In
reality, neither terrorism, nor globalisation, nor migration are qualitatively
new threats that can justify overturning the legal foundations of life on
Earth. They are not new.
I believe our work
together in this Human Rights Council is vital. And I urge you, and the States
you represent, to align your actions with the recommendations of the Council
and its mechanisms – to truly take this work out of this august Chamber, and
bring it to the streets and households of your countries.
Mr President,
I am highly conscious of the increasing demands and
responsibilities placed on my Office, and the need to ensure that we can more
effectively serve the peoples of the world – most particularly, the victims of
human rights violations.
On Thursday, I will introduce a significant reorganization
of my Office, based on the outcomes of an extensive functional review. There
will be some reshuffling at Headquarters, but the essential movement will be to
boost our presence in regional and field offices, in order to assist you, the
Member States, more directly, and to make our work on your behalf as effective
as possible.
Finally, I would like to pay tribute to all OHCHR staff
members, particularly those who work in situations of grave and daily danger.
These women and men often risk death to both uphold our principles and to
provide us with vital information. I am dismayed to learn that because of lack
of will by Member States, the United Nations is not in a position to make
adequate provision for support to staff who are injured in high-risk missions,
or to the families of staff-members who have been killed in such
circumstances. Frankly, this is appalling
and I appeal to all of you to change it.
Mr President,
At a time of
intensifying global anxiety, I believe the people of the world are crying out
for profound and inspiring leadership equal to the challenges we face. We must therefore renew, by the strongest
action, our dedication to the reality of inalienable and universal human
rights, to end discrimination, deprivation, and the seemingly inexhaustible
litany of conflicts and crises that generate such terrible, and needless,
suffering.
What will
become of us, of our world, if we ignore our treaties and principles? Can we be
so stupid as to repeat scenes from the twentieth century, punctured as it was
by such awful inhumanity? You must not
make it so. This is principally your
burden, and ours. Together, if we
succeed in turning the corner, in improving our global condition, we can then
say the screams of history and of the millions upon millions of victims, have
been heard, finally. Let us make it so.
Thank
you
ENDS
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cpouilly@ohchr.org )
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