PRESS BRIEFING BY UN HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS

Press Briefing

PRESS BRIEFING BY UN HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS

At a briefing this morning, Mary Robinson, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, pointed out that preparations are under way for a United Nations World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, to be held in South Africa from 31 August to 7 September next year.

The Office of the High Commissioner was hosting a series of expert seminars and regional conferences in preparation for the Conference, beginning with a European meeting in Strasbourg, France. Others are scheduled for Dakar, Teheran and Santiago.

The Conference would produce a plan of action, she said. As Secretary- General of the Conference, she had decided to circulate a draft “mission statement” to all countries and had been encouraged that more than 35 heads of State and government had taken the opportunity at the Millennium Summit to endorse this text. She had every expectation that the number would increase during the day and before the opportunity to sign expired at the end of the month. The "mission statement", available in all United Nations official languages, was not intended to be a formal document in any sense because there had been no negotiations on the text.

"It is simply an opportunity to give vision and leadership”, she said. “It is most encouraging that countries large and small, and from each region, had been willing at the head of State or Government level to sign the declaration." Mrs. Robinson said she had been encouraged to have the ready support of former South African President Nelson Mandela, who was a patron of the World Conference.

She said the objective of the Conference was to draw attention to the need for a positive setting of the values of tolerance and diversity. The "mission statement" addressed the fears that were at the root of so many conflicts, and acknowledged that those fears could probably not be eradicated. That was why legislation was needed, as well as adherence to international standards, such as the Convention for the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. What was also required were the remedies, the procedures and the cultural change to promote the values of tolerance and diversity, she added. "And we need constant vigilance because it's so clear that racism and xenophobia are increasing in many countries, particularly in Europe."

A number of other developments during the Millennium Summit had included the ratification of international human rights instruments, she continued. Of the two main covenants, two ratifications on civil and political rights had been carried out by Bangladesh and Ghana. Ghana had also ratified the Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. There were additional signatures to the Optional Protocols concerning child soldiers and child pornography, and the

Robinson Press Briefing - 2 - 8 September 2000

Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.

She declared: "This is very heartening and very reassuring, but it also poses a very practical and immediate problem to the Office of the High Commissioner, because it is our colleagues who support the treaty bodies and they are already straining under the pressure of the existing countries that report to the commissions under their treaty obligations." She said she had made known the need for further resources for the Office of the High Commissioner and had circulated a detailed document on the subject, which would be re-circulated to the General Assembly's Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) and Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural). She said it was time for the United Nations to be given resources to do its job.

As High Commissioner, she went on; she welcomed the Brahimi Report, which had studied all aspects of United Nations peacekeeping operations. "I believe it is a very good political and technical report on what is needed to address issues of conflict and to secure sustainable peace-building under United Nations auspices."

Despite the ongoing problems and violations of human rights, there were a number of positive steps that had been taken during the Millennium Summit, and if the political will could be sustained "then I believe there could be a new era for the United Nations", Mrs. Robinson declared.

A correspondent observed that the United Nations had not taken much interest and had not done enough to protect the rights of the Fijian population, particularly the ethnic Indians. Mrs. Robinson replied that her Office had been following the situation in Fiji very closely. It had been pleased with a workshop on national human rights commissions, with particular focus on women, which her Office had co-hosted recently. It had also been working on human rights and peace-building in Fiji, and she believed the events that occurred in Fiji were a real setback. "From a human rights point of view, we are determined to begin again and carry on with the positive capacity-building of human rights, and that's the contribution which we can essentially make. We do it as part of a broader framework of human rights for the Asian and Pacific region." Some of the key rapporteurs of the Human Rights Commission were also following the situation in Fiji, she added.

In response to a question, Mrs. Robinson told a correspondent that the human rights situation in Kashmir had been kept under "very close attention", not only by her Office but also by the relevant human rights rapporteurs. It was a difficult political situation, she said. Her Office could also do more supportive human rights work, particularly capacity-building, education in human rights, and building institutions that would help. The Brahimi report recognized that at the root of conflicts -- and at the root of some of the issues in Kashmir -- were either violations or denial of human rights. "Therefore that must be part of the way forward to put more emphasis on human rights values."

Robinson Press Briefing - 3 - 8 September 2000

Asked what her views were on the Secretary-General's "Global Compact", she said it posed a challenge to the human rights constituency, including the Office of the Human Rights Commissioner, "because we have to address the world as it is -- which is a world of globalization where there has been considerable privation of power". She said governments had less power in certain areas because they had deregulated in many areas, such as in the privatization of prisons. The international community must address this, and indeed, it has every right under human rights principles to do so, because article 29 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that we all owe duties to the community, and therefore transnational corporations and all businesses are duty- bound to support and further human rights. This was at the heart of the initiative taken by Secretary-General Kofi Annan last July.

Mrs. Robinson declared that the primary responsibility for protection and promotion of human rights and the primary accountability for violation is undoubtedly Member States and remained Member States. We must prevent complicity in human rights violations by corporations. We must increase transparency. We must work with civil society, as it will be the eyes and ears of the global compact.

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