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Human Rights

After Mary Robinson's inspiring visit to Canada, what more is there to say? Quite a lot. While 1998 was a year for celebration, the fiftieth anniversary of the Human Rights Declaration, it was also a year of new and renewed human tragedy. The ideals of human rights are now fully elaborated in a remarkable set of covenants and treaties drawn from the 1948 Declaration: they map the road we must travel, they shed their light on our brutalities, they command us to do better. Let us have a look at where we are in the U.N. and in the world.

The Secretary-General has followed through on his "reform" commitment to mainstream human rights in everything the U.N. does. In-house at the U.N., Human Rights (the High Commissioner) participates in all four of the functional groups that manage U.N. work. U.N. Human Rights being based in Geneva, its New York office has been upgraded with the appointment of Bacre N'Daiye, a veteran of human rights in and out of the U.N. He is the day-to-day actor at U.N. Headquarters. In Geneva, too, Mrs. Robinson's hand has been strengthened with the arrival, as her deputy, of Berti Ramcharan, a top U.N. veteran, who will help her put that office in good order. Human rights are being identified and supported across the U.N. board-- in peacekeeping/peacebuilding, in UNICEF, in UNIFEM, in UNFPA, in UNDP, now even in Jim Wolfensohn's World Bank. Human rights are now a priority in the U.N. guidelines for assistance to countries (the U.N. Development Assistance Framework). On human rights, Kofi Annan's voice is clear.

Concurrent with in-house reform, the Human Rights Commission (53 governments) is having a hard look at the ways in which it works, especially its follow-through on "implementation," on the translation of norms into real life. The Commission presides over: six expert committees that oversee implementation of the main human rights treaties; as many as 17 independent experts who review global issues; and as many as 15 "special rapporteurs" looking at specific countries. Some restructuring, consolidation and clarifying of the rules of the game will make the Commission more effective in doing its complicated and sensitive work.

Mary Robinson doesn't have much U.N. money, less than 2% of the regular budget. This is supplemented a bit by extra-budgetary voluntary contributions; but this supplement is year-to-year unpredictable, and many governments think it is politically tainted (the donor North invading where not welcome). Since the U.N. budget is set by member governments, it does suggest (to be polite about it) that many are content to leave human rights in ritual proclamations far from home.

There are serious efforts to defuse the North-South polarization over rights. In fact, Third World representatives were prominent in drafting the Declaration in 1948; and in the initial adoption of the Declaration, 34 Third World States voted in favour while 12 "Western" states voted for it. Today the Third World is far from unanimous on specific rights (e.g., mutilation of female genitalia). From the start, Mary Robinson has stressed her "balanced" approach, i.e., balancing (integrating) the right to development with civil and political rights. Her 1998 visit to China was an effort in that direction. This effort is also evident in current recommendations, made by its "Bureau" (i.e., its elected officers), for better functioning of the Rights Commission. To do its job better, says the Bureau, everything possible must be done to "depoliticize" its work "to ensure that its mechanisms are established and operate on the basis of the highest standards of objectivity and professionalism, free of influence from extraneous political and other considerations." The Bureau goes on to say that "depoliticizing" could be further effected if governments would back off from portraying difficult human rights issues "through the prism of bilateral, regional or other bloc interests, or as matters of North-South conflict." In other words, this is a two-way street. (We could also say, if there were no contest there would be no need for this Commission.)

Some healing on the political front is happening through breaking out "the right to development" as basic to everything else. This ties in with the U.N. aim to eliminate poverty, defined as the conditions of extreme deprivation in which at least one billion of our human family exist (their symbolic income is $1.00 a day). In her 1998 report to the General Assembly, the High Commissioner had this to say:

In the long run, the phenomenon of widespread poverty is the most disturbing development of our time, for the lack of social justice, the exclusion of large groups and the division of countries into rich and extremely poor can only foster instability, internal conflict, political extremism and the terrorism of despair... Abandoning social justice to the blind forces of competition and globalization is also to abandon a fundamental responsibility of society and the State which, in turn, undermines the latter's claim to legitimacy.

Extending human rights in so radical a way will give more clout to the whole U.N. human rights apparatus.

Among the unsung DAYS sanctified on the G.A. calendar is 16 October, the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty. On that day in 1998, the G.A. convened a joint meeting of its Second and Third Committees, with an expert Panel on "poverty, human rights and development." At that meeting, Bacre N'Daiye said that rights and development belong together: development is not about statistics, it is about people and their rights.

In fact, there is a little-known U.N. Declaration on the Right to Development, adopted by the G.A. in 1986 (text in Annex 5). Although this Declaration is a pastiche of North-South concerns, it does say the right things about rights and development; and it is now being translated into the text of a (draft) Convention. Such a Convention would be helpful in turning generalizations into specific standards, measures, yard-sticks.

Concerning the way that human rights impact peace and security, take note that among top U.N. officials invited to address the Security Council, Mary Robinson is conspicuously absent. Apparently one visit to China was not enough. Nevertheless, the Security Council's year-end statement about the interrelating of security and peacebuilding includes specific reference to rights. But the Security Council has been weak in pursuing violations within its country interventions (e.g., in the Democratic Congo).

The outreach of the Human Rights Commission goes down two roads: thematic (global) and country (specific). Most thematic concerns-- there are around twenty "themes"-- stem from the two basic Covenants (Economic and Social, Civil and Political), but they include four (added in 1997-1998) on development, poverty, structural adjustment and debt. This puts human rights into the mainstream of the development dialogue.

The other fourteen (assigned to Rapporteurs, Experts or Working Groups) range across most every form of rights violation: women, children (sex exploitation), migrants, the displaced, enslaved, minorities, the indigenous-- also deprivations and prejudices affecting race, religion, freedom of expression, education-- and further violations manifested in mercenaries (soldiers of fortune), assaults on judges and lawyers, extrajudicial executions, disappearances, arbitrary arrests, detention and torture. The whole grisly menu.

To round out this listing of the Commission's concerns, here are the sixteen countries or territories getting special attention (Rapporteurs) just now: Afghanistan, Iraq, Myanmar (Burma), Bosnia/Croatia, Palestinian territories, Equatorial Guinea, Sudan, Democratic Congo, Burundi, Nigeria, Iran, Rwanda, Cambodia, Somalia, Haiti, Chad.

For complete and authoritative information about the U.N. and Human Rights, see the six-volume report done in 1998 by Human Rights Internet (Ottawa) along with DFAIT.

Now for a few examples of country situations, as reported to this G.A.

Cambodia. No government concern about political killings and disappearances since 1997. Culture of impunity. Widespread intimidation during election. Ethnic hatred of Vietnamese a potent danger. Khmer Rouge unpunished. Torture common. Widespread violence against women. Child abuse with poverty common: over 10,000 street children in Phnom Penh, many of them prostitutes.

Bosnia. Few displaced returning-- return obstructed in many ways. Prosecution of war criminals is essential for improvement in human rights.

Croatia. More receptive but lacks real understanding of rights and democracy. Needs long-term international presence.

Democratic Republic of the Congo. No cooperation at all with U.N. Rapporteur. Calls the Rapporteur, European Union Commissions and NGOs liars in observing the government TV promotion of ethnic cleansing against rebels.

Myanmar (Burma). The military regime continued to thwart the democratically elected party and its leader Aung San Su Kyi. Over 800 party members arrested or detained. Serious rights violations. Hundreds of thousands of non-Burmese origin displaced. ILO has found much forced labour.

On Rwanda, where U.N. Human Rights observers had been thrown out, a compromise resolution was passed enabling their return.

Do these country reports have any influence on rights violations? Hear from Roberto Garreton, distinguished Chilean human rights lawyer, in his report on Democratic Congo:

"It is true that the work of the Rapporteurs is not generally acknowledged by the governments concerned. In general, however, it does receive recognition from the victims of human rights violations, non-governmental organizations, and states that include respect for these rights in their policies and international relations. The experience of the author of this report, as both a victim and as a defender of human rights in his own country, enables him to bear witness to the importance of these procedures... in achieving greater freedoms."

Skipping along, there is an important test case in the works concerning the diplomatic immunity of Rapporteurs when performing their U.N. functions. The case is about a citizen of Malaysia serving as U.N. Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers. He was taken to court by his own government over views expressed while doing his U.N. work. The U.N. asserts that he cannot be prosecuted because he is immune while on duty. His case has been referred to the ICJ (International Court of Justice) in the Hague. It is important for all Rapporteurs.

Enfin, what came out of this Assembly?

1. Adopted the Declaration on the Rights of Defenders, 13 years in the making. The Declaration says that everyone has the right to peaceful assembly; to form, join and participate in non-governmental associations and organizations, to communicate with NGOs and intergovernmental organizations, and to advocate human rights. The international NGO Conference in Ottawa 25-26 June 1998 helped prepare the way for this important Declaration. In many places Human Rights Defenders are being harassed and killed (e.g., in Colombia just now).

2. The Vienna Declaration and Plan of Action (1993) was reaffirmed. There had been a rehash of the old North-South contention at ECOSOC in the summer; at the G.A. there was a tacit cease-fire. An international NGO gathering in Geneva 25-30 August had helped this passage.

3. Reaffirmed the right to development.

4. Decided that the review conference in the year 2000 on the Beijing Women's Conference (1995) should address "gender equality, development and peace for the twenty-first century." All should accede to the Convention banning discrimination against women; criminalize traffic in women; and stop traditional practices (e.g., genital mutilation) affecting women's health.

5. Called on all States to end sexual exploitation of children; and to stop using children under 18 years of age as soldiers.

In 1997, the G.A. decided to hold a world conference on racism in 2001; and the High Commissioner tells us that she will be preparing that. My summary of her work is far from complete both in scope and in depth. At least my summary reminds us how demanding and critical is her mandate. Bravo Mary Robinson and your team! Bravo NGOs!