DEPUTY SECRETARY-GENERAL, AT MEETING OF WOMEN JUSTICE MINISTERS, STRESSES CONNECTION BETWEEN RULE OF LAW AND LASTING PEACE

Press Release
DSG/SM/78

DEPUTY SECRETARY-GENERAL, AT MEETING OF WOMEN JUSTICE MINISTERS, STRESSES CONNECTION BETWEEN RULE OF LAW AND LASTING PEACE

Following are the remarks of Deputy Secretary-General Louise Frechette at the dinner opening the Meeting of Women Ministers of Justice, convened by the Council of Women World Leaders, in New York on 15 November:

It is a pleasure for me to join you tonight and to welcome you at this meeting organized by the Council of Women World Leaders in collaboration with the United Nations. I have talked to many important groups of people before. It is, however, an unusual treat to find myself in a room dominated not only by women, but by such accomplished women. I want to congratulate you on taking this opportunity to get together and share ideas on the role you play in your respective countries, the challenges you face and the ways you could help each other accomplish more. I hope this meeting will prove enriching for all of you.

There will be no shortage of fascinating issues to discuss. I would just like to share some thoughts with you on a few topics that are of particular importance to the United Nations.

I think I can say that the single most important interest you and the United Nations have in common is the rule of law. In its attempts to maintain, build and consolidate peace in trouble spots around the world, the United Nations has come to realize that ceasefires are not enough. Peacekeeping troops are not enough. Demilitarization is not enough. Once the guns have been silenced, another vital task begins; the building or strengthening of sound and democratic public institutions, including a legal system.

In Kosovo and East Timor, the United Nations has been entrusted with the task of administering territories that have just emerged from bloody conflicts and are on their way to autonomy or independence. A large part of our efforts there are directed into building an institutional base for the establishment of the rule of law. This is because time and again, we have seen that without the rule of law, there can be no justice. Without justice, there can be no respect for human rights. And without respect for human rights, a lasting peace is very unlikely.

Furthermore, a State that does not respect the rule of law within its borders is very unlikely to respect it at the international level. I am sure this is something the drafters of the United Nations Charter understood when

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they wrote that they were determined to establish conditions under which justice and respect for obligations arising from treaties and other sources of international law can be maintained.

One aspect that was largely and conspicuously missing from the international rule of law, until recently, was international criminal justice. With the establishment of the two Tribunals for Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia, unprecedented progress has been made in this area. By bringing the individual authors of atrocities to justice, these institutions can help the victims and their families deal with the senseless horror; they can remove an unjust taint and collective guilt from whole communities, and so play an important role in the process of healing and peace-building. They can also serve as warnings to would-be criminals that the international community is not going to let them get away with massive violations of human rights. For the world as a whole, they represent a major advance in the fight against impunity, one of the greatest obstacles to the rule of law.

But, of course, we all look forward to the day -- I hope not too far off -- when ad hoc tribunals will no longer be necessary, because there will be a permanent International Criminal Court to deal with crimes against humanity. The adoption of the Court's Statute last July was rightly hailed by the Secretary-General as a giant step forward in the march towards universal human rights and the rule of law. I do not have to tell you, however, that while 60 countries must ratify the Statute before it can enter into force, only four have done so to date. Of the countries represented here, Trinidad and Tobago is the only one. I want to take this opportunity to congratulate its Minister of Legal Affairs, Kamla Persad-Bissessar.

Along with impunity, corruption is a pernicious enemy of the rule of law. At the national level, its effects range from engulfing foreign aid and slowing investment, which undermines development, to discouraging people's participation in political processes, which weakens democracy. There are many measures societies can take to strike at the heart of corruption, and justice ministers can play a crucial role in this in their respective countries. But, because it is often linked to international trade and finance, and also to transnational organized crime, the fight against corruption is an area where international cooperation can make a big difference. I am happy to see that this will be one of your main topics of discussion.

In this connection, I would like to call your attention to a new treaty on transnational organized crime, now being negotiated, which will include measures against corruption. I am sure you will follow the work on this instrument very closely. As governments have committed themselves to concluding their negotiations next year, this treaty may be the first of many to be adopted in the twenty-first century. Indeed, as the world becomes ever more interdependent, tighter international regulation is needed in many areas, from the environment to the transfer of small arms and certain forms of electronic commerce.

But, as we continue the important work of legislation, we must also remain focused on the impressive body of international law adopted in the last 50 years in the form of treaties and conventions. Not all those legal instruments are yet universally accepted, and few, if any of them, are fully implemented. This is the real challenge still ahead of us.

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Among the most important of those instruments are those that give legally binding form to the principles set out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. From the Genocide Convention of 1948 to the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child, these instruments deal with the most basic rights of individuals, such as the rights to life, to food, to shelter, to health care and to an education. Since its inception, the United Nations has never deviated from the principle that the respect of those rights, based on the inherent dignity and equality of all people, is the only foundation on which world peace can be built.

One of those instruments that is of particular interest to all of us here is, of course, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. I am happy to say that, unlike some others, this one has been very widely ratified since its adoption 20 years ago. Yes, it is still far from being fully implemented. But there may be progress in sight. A new Optional Protocol to be opened for signature on 10 December 1999 -- the last Human Rights Day of this century -- will represent a new step forward in making discrimination against women a thing of the past.

This Protocol will allow women from States which have ratified it to bring violations of the Convention before the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women. In other words, when they have exhausted national remedies, women whose rights have been violated will be able to seek redress from an international body. This is extremely important, for two reasons. First, it places the Convention on the same footing as other human rights treaties. Second, by putting pressure on States parties to fulfil their legal obligations under the Convention, the Optional Protocol will promote wider implementation, helping the world move closer to its stated ideal: equality of all human beings.

Women's issues, however, cannot be addressed in isolation. They are part of a broader picture including human rights, justice, development, peace and security. That's how we see them and try to deal with them at the United Nations. As women justice ministers, you also have a special perspective and, thus, a special contribution to make. Once again, I thank you for taking the opportunity to do so and I wish you a very fruitful meeting.

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