Human rights are responsibility of civil society, says UN High Commissioner

ARTWORK PRESENTATION: Mary Robinson, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, is presented with a gift of artwork by Anne Bayevsky, director of the Centre for Refugee Studies at York. The centre organized the open forum on human rights which featured Robinson as the guest speaker.
Story by by Don Evans. Photo by John Dawson.

YORK EVENT IS MARY ROBINSON'S FIRST OFFICIAL VISIT TO CANADA

"We are marking - not celebrating - the 50th anniversary of the United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights [this year]," Mary Robinson, the UN's High Commissioner for Human Rights, informed her York University audience on Nov. 24. To celebrate the declaration would be inappropriate at a time when human rights continue to be violated in countries around the world "and people are living in terrible poverty," she said.

Robinson was speaking at an open forum on human rights, held as part of her first visit to Canada since being appointed in 1997 to her position as the UN's chief human rights advocate. Her topic was "Implementing Human Rights in the Next 50 Years."

"One person can only be a catalyst [in supporting human rights worldwide]," said Robinson of her UN role. "We are all custodians of human rights. The wider civil society has an increasing role to play, [and together we will implement human rights] at all the different levels of society."

It is imperative to protect all rights, be they civil, political, cultural or other, Robinson said. "We need innovative solutions and [must have] the strength of our convictions." She noted that 150 states are now party to the United Nations treaty on the elimination of racial discrimination.

Robinson's own specific responsibility is "to mainstream human rights" throughout the United Nations organization, she said. "The UN has been reforming itself," she confirmed. In recent times there has been a greater emphasis on the need for national human rights institutions, and Canada has been sharing its experience in this area, said Robinson.

Nowhere are there strong, regional institutions on human rights, she said. Nevertheless, two recent conferences - the second annual human rights conference involving 16 African countries and the first such meeting of 36 countries of the Asia Pacific region - give cause for optimism, said Robinson. At the African conference, as part of a discussion of shared practices, the government of South Africa reviewed its innovative study of coping with poverty, in which 10,000 poor people had participated. The delegates at the Asia Pacific conference adopted a framework for human rights and committed themselves to meeting annually.

"A kind of peer pressure" is the best way to promote human rights on the regional level, said Robinson.

Another of her goals is to promote awareness of the work of the Human Rights Commission, Robinson said. Perhaps owing to greater publicity about the Commission and its mandate, the number of complaints to the Committee Against Torture rose to more than 50 last year.

"We must improve the effectiveness of the [various UN bodies concerned with human rights] by moving towards universal ratification of the covenants and treaties," said Robinson. She noted that the academic review of the operation of the human rights treaty bodies is being led by Professor Anne Bayevsky, director of the Centre for Refugee Studies at York, together with a colleague based in Pretoria, South Africa.

Improving human rights worldwide becomes "a challenge to civil society," she reiterated. Noting that a "human rights community" has developed in recent years, one from which she takes "great encouragement," Robinson commented: "The more vibrant the civil society, the more effectively the system works.

"The scrutiny of [human rights in] Canada is very rigorous," she said. Such a high degree of scrutiny "must be worldwide."

In the open forum segment of the hour-long event, the High Commissioner responded to 13 questions in all. They ranged from a query as to the most effective method of causing countries to implement human rights, to another regarding the UN's plans to eliminate violence in Indonesia, to an expression of concern by the sister of a Canadian who is being held hostage by guerillas in Colombia.

"The truth is that 'blaming and shaming' is the most effective method," Robinson said, in reply to a question about how best to enforce human rights. Critiques by non-governmental organizations also play a valuable part, she said.

Calling it "very regrettable" that the United States is not a party to the main international treaties, Robinson noted that the US and Somalia are the only two countries not to have signed most of the human rights covenants, though the US has ratified the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. It is important to remember that all countries have human rights problems of various kinds, she said.

She is "deeply concerned" about the complaints of the ethnic Chinese population about extreme violence in Indonesia, Robinson stated. Noting that millions of children have dropped out of school in Indonesia and that the country has "tremendous economic issues," she said that all such issues affect issues of human rights.

There is an interface between humanitarian work and those who are concerned with the protection of human rights, said Robinson. Many conflicts are more complex than they first appear, she said, notably those contained within countries, and it is imperative to urge the importance of human rights in conflict situations.

Responding to Celeste Reinhart's question about how the United Nations might assist in obtaining the release of her brother, Norbert, by Colombian guerillas, Robinson said the United Nations office in Bogata is working with the Colombian government on a daily basis to address human rights issues. "They have a great problem with impunity," she said. Indications are of "97 per cent impunity with acts of killing."

In her report to the UN General Assembly released in October, Robinson stated that the UN must sharpen its preventative tools and provide adequate resources if it is to be able to respond to human rights challenges such as the persistent and systematic human rights violations in Colombia, the ongoing conflict in Kosovo and the growing gap between rich and poor countries worldwide.