PRESS BRIEFING BY HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS

Press Briefing

PRESS BRIEFING BY HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS

At her first press conference at Headquarters, the new High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, told correspondents Tuesday morning that she would be taking a bottom-up approach to the promotion of human rights, which would reflect the first words of the Charter -- "We the Peoples" -- since "human rights are about people on the ground and their rights". She would be taking a broad approach to human rights, inclusive of civil and political rights, economic, social and cultural rights, the right to development, as well as women's rights.

Explaining her approach, Mrs. Robinson responded to two quotations in Newsweek about how she would handle the post of High Commissioner, which read as follows: "How can she convince the rest of the international community that Western human rights is what is best for everybody?"; and "If she gets perceived as the West's darling, out to get the Third World, she's dead before she starts". Mrs. Robinson said that was not what she intended to do "in any shape or form".

The approach was stated in the mandate that established the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in 1994 and had been further endorsed and extended in the Secretary-General's reform proposals, she said. Those measures asked that human rights be "mainstreamed throughout the United Nations system and be a crosscutting issue" on the four executive committees created by the Secretary-General.

Mrs. Robinson said the bottom-up approach would address a broad agenda of human rights by creating alliances and linkages. Her Office would take a leadership role in the debate on human rights, which would be expanded next year during the commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the fifth anniversary of the 1993 Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action. She intended to exercise leadership that was fair and impartial and that was perceived as such. She also intended to be honest and open to the media, which had a very important role to play in the debate on human rights.

Stressing the significance of her nationality in guiding the promotion of human rights, she said "I am quite determined -- being Irish -- I do not propose to create an empire. The Irish struggled against empire for a very long time". Therefore, the Office of High Commissioner would remain small, but it would become increasingly efficient and be a catalyst for furthering a broad human rights agenda.

She said she has experienced "a sharp learning curve" since taking up her job just two weeks ago, by her meetings with a number of foreign ministers and regional groups. At the same time, she had been dealing with a number of

substantive issues. In addition, she would be meeting non-governmental organizations.

She stressed that one issue of immediate concern was "the difficult situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo" -- with the role of the United Nations investigative team and the overall human rights situation there. She said President Laurent Kabila had been quoted as saying: "I am requesting Kofi Annan to vacate immediately his team from my country. His people are sending false reports from hotel rooms and have failed to go to the places where massacres are alleged to have taken place."

Although Mrs. Robinson said that the statement had not been confirmed, she said it was urgent to determine its accuracy. If it was accurate, the position of the investigative team would be untenable, because its terms of reference had been fully agreed to by the Government. The situation had a very serious human rights dimension and was one that she would continue to follow very closely. Apart from the work of the investigative team, the situation of human rights in the Democratic Republic of the Congo was still of concern and was still on the agenda of the Commission on Human Rights in Geneva.

A correspondent asked about the role of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in trying to get the investigation off the ground. Could her Office take a sympathetic position regarding the concerns expressed by the new Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo about the United Nations role in the country in the 1960s? Mrs. Robinson said she was aware of some of the complexities of the situation in that part of the world. In that connection, she said that in her four visits to Rwanda, she had seen the need to break the cycle of impunity and lack of accountability for gross acts of violence. That region had seen a great deal of violence over a period of time, and the international community had not cared enough at certain periods and had not offered assistance at earlier stages. Therefore, it could not now become involved with a "we'll begin here approach".

There had to be an account of what had happened in the past, as well as the regional consequences of human right abuses, she continued. The investigative team was an important way of approaching the issue of breaking the cycle of impunity, but it had to be balanced by a concern for the broader economic and social rights -- the right to development -- of the people of the Congo, as well as the awareness of the fragility of the new Government. Both the political and the human rights issues had to be addressed. The small human rights field operation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo could not focus on the work for the moment. A breakthrough with the team's investigation would allow the pursuit of a much broader approach to the promotion of human rights in the country.

Mrs. Robinson went on to say: "The international community had a responsibility to break the cycle of impunity, which has so affected the

High Commissioner Briefing - 3 - 30 September 1997

countries and peoples in the Great Lakes area. We must take a stand on that and at the same time, we have to do it with credibility for that region by caring enough about the human rights of the vast majority of the people there, being seen to do that, and doing it in a broad-based way. I am not sure we have sufficiently given attention to that."

A correspondent asked at what level she intended to focus on the issue of impunity. Would it be at the level of people who were actually killing in central Africa or would it focus on those who were providing arms, finance and military training in the region? Mrs. Robinson said the increase in arms was very worrying. It was a human rights issue and a political issue. She was prepared to approach it in appropriate ways.

A correspondent asked, given her views, why Mrs. Robinson had not gone to the Democratic Republic of the Congo and explained her thinking to President Kabila. Mrs. Robinson said it would be immodest of her to think that "one person could rush in and cure everything". However, she had set in train an assessment of the field operation in Rwanda, which would take place next month. The operation was under the direct responsibility of her Office. After that, she might pay a visit to the area. However, she was very aware that her Office would have to work through difficult, slow procedures, patiently.

A correspondent asked if she would draw on the experience of Ireland's support and co-sponsorship of human rights resolutions in the recent past, and if she was invited to a specific country that had a Special Rapporteur, whether she would consider travelling with that official. The High Commissioner said that Ireland had played an active role in the field of human rights and was currently a member of the Human Rights Commission. She said: "I would certainly use my Irishness to try to be a bridge in relation to perceptions of human rights."

Referring to the experience of the famine in Ireland during the last century as a humiliating period, she said Irish history was a history of the South. Now that Ireland was a member of the European Union, it was considered a country of the North. She was therefore from the South and from the North and would not use "Irish resolution reference points" in her role as High Commissioner. She stressed the importance of listening and taking on board what was being said by another -- which was what she would do in her new job.

Responding to the second question, she said she intended to use the work of the Rapporteurs as a resource. The role of the Rapporteur was a very important reference point. She also intended to be open to the non- governmental organization community, which had played a very important role in observing human right situations. However, she would take full responsibility for her agenda.

High Commissioner Briefing - 4 - 30 September 1997

When asked if she considered the situation in Algeria as an internal affair, she said human rights had no borders when such violations occurred. When the situation was as bad as it was in Algeria, "I cannot and do not consider that to be an internal situation". Although the Algerian Government had a different view, as High Commissioner for Human Rights, she was very concerned about the level of violence. The international community had a responsibility to help end such violence. She had had useful discussions with the Algerian Foreign Minister. She called those discussions the beginning of a dialogue as a means to promote human rights. However, she thought the Foreign Minister had a different view of the role of the international community.

A correspondent asked what issues Mrs. Robinson had raised when she met with the Chinese delegation, in view of the Chinese interpretation of human rights. She said that the bilateral discussions had been useful as a means of opening up a dialogue that would be helpful in a different context, at a later stage. The broad approach to human rights addressed some of the issues that were of concern to China.

She said that China had been making very significant progress, as the country with the world's largest population, in areas such as the right to shelter and access to food and education. But, at the same time, she stressed that she had a certain responsibility for human rights which she would exercise fairly and impartially with any government, especially when there was need to speak out on issues for which the international community had a proper concern.

A correspondent asked how open the Chinese delegation had been to suggestions that Mrs. Robinson had raised. The High Commissioner said they had been receptive to "a High Commissioner for Human Rights with an explicitly broad approach to the agenda of human rights". She had also made it clear to all delegations she had met that she would take stances that would be unpopular with any government, when appropriate. As an example of her impartiality she had raised the issue of the current work of a Rapporteur on arbitrary detention and death penalty issues in China.

Asked about the human rights situation in Colombia, the conclusions of her meeting with the Colombian officials and how she intended to assist that country in the promotion of human rights, Mrs. Robinson said she had a meeting with both the Colombian President and Foreign Minister. Her Office had a field operation in Bogota and both officials had emphasized the importance of its work. It was important that it had been recognized as an integral part of sustaining human rights. However, the preliminary meeting had been useful and the issues would be taken up further on her return to her Office in Geneva.

A correspondent asked for her thoughts on the violation of right to life, as evident in terrorist attacks. Mrs. Robinson said the question was difficult to answer in an abstract way. However, she condemned terrorism

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which resulted in the loss of lives. She was interested in the root causes of such activity but wanted to consider it in a broader human rights context. To a follow-up question about the terrorist activity of independent groups within certain countries, she reiterated her position -- recalling the past and more recent developments in Northern Ireland which she described as a difficult process, but which was not the worst in the global context. She understood much more of that situation -- both the violence and the approaches to dealing with it -- than she could hope to of other similar situations. Nonetheless, she would try to have a broader understanding of similar situations.

Did she not think that States that were fighting against terrorism deserved the sympathy of the international community and that they should not be blamed for violating human rights? a correspondent asked. Mrs. Robinson said she would try to have a fair and balanced approach when such issues arose.

A correspondent asked if in any of her meetings concern had been expressed on human rights issues in the Caribbean region. Mrs. Robinson said that they had not been. However, she would be meeting the five regional groups and perhaps they would be addressed at that time.

Asked what she could add to the debate on Asian values and Western notions of human rights, Mrs. Robinson said she was aware that Asian countries had a sense of suspicion, of questioning and of allegations of selectivity by the West on human rights issues. The Foreign Ministers from that part of the world that she had met had expressed those concerns. However, there was an opportunity during the commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration to look for a more honest debate that would actually touch on those issues. The viewpoint on all sides should be adjusted and should be part of a more honest and considered debate on the entire framework of human rights as an agenda that all Member States could work on together. Such discussion could also deepen the divide. It would be part of her leadership role to ensure that such issues as lack of trust were confronted.

When asked how she would be different from her predecessor, Jose Ayala Lasso, Mrs. Robinson said she benefited from the initiatives taken by the first High Commissioner for Human Rights which had created a more unified team in his Office and from his work in the area of education for human rights. Her style would be different because she had a real sense of a balanced and broad approach and the need for a High Commissioner to be firm while being fair and impartial.

A correspondent asked what she would do to persuade the Taliban to address the issue of abuse of women and would she be talking to the leaders of the group. Mrs. Robinson said that was a very serious, difficult issue but she had not yet had a direct opportunity for contact with the Taliban. She would welcome an early opportunity.

High Commissioner Briefing - 6 - 30 September 1997

She went on to say that the real difficulty was the extreme interpretation of Islamic law that was manifested in the Taliban's approach. It had to be addressed with an expertise of a more moderate interpretation, which many countries had adopted, while respecting the religious ethos and values that were compatible with the human rights of women. It would not be easy because of the roots of the Taliban's approach. It was a situation in which young men were trained in a very militant interpretation of Islamic law. The situation, therefore, had to be addressed if there was going to be a real change that would affect women's rights.

A correspondent informed her that a representative from the Taliban would speak to the correspondents today and he asked what would be her message to him. She said she would look into the possibility of meeting with him.

Another correspondent asked if she would visit Bosnia and Herzegovina in the near future. Mrs. Robinson said she was concerned about Bosnia as well as about the situation in Kosovo. There was a worrying potential problem in Bosnia which was very high on her personal agenda.

Asked about the high number of women candidates in the Irish presidential elections, Mrs. Robinson said that she welcomed women candidates for high positions. They needed to take responsibility for change by "a way of doing". In her role as High Commissioner, "I would want to network and to link -- not create an empire". She would emphasize relationships -- an approach taken by women -- though not confined to them. It was a way of doing which the United Nations community and the non-governmental organizations community understood.

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