ACTIVITIES OF SECRETARY-GENERAL IN SWITZERLAND, 11 - 13 APRIL

Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who arrived in Geneva late on Thursday, 11 April, from Rome, addressed the fifty-eighth session of the Commission of Human Rights at the Palais des Nations early on Friday morning.

He first paid tribute to the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, who would depart from that post later in the year.  He said, “The poor, the oppressed and the victims of injustice in every country and everywhere in the world have reason to be grateful to her.”

He then talked at length about the struggle against terrorism, noting that security cannot be achieved by sacrificing human rights.  He warned, “To try to do so would hand the terrorists a victory beyond their wildest dreams.”  He said that we must be careful not to place whole communities under suspicion and subject them to harassment because of acts committed by some of their members.  Nor must the struggle against terrorism become a pretext for the suppression of legitimate opposition or dissent.

States, he said, have the duty to protect their citizens from terrorism, but they must also take the greatest care to ensure that counter-terrorism does not become “an all-embracing concept that is used to cloak, or justify, violations of human rights.”  Similarly, he added, there is a need for moral clarity in judging the actions of resistance movements, and he called suicide bombings aimed at civilians “morally repugnant.”

The United Nations, the Secretary-General asserted, cannot afford to be neutral in the face of great moral challenges, such as those confronting the world in the Middle East today.  He warned, “Wanton disregard for human rights and humanitarian law is something we cannot accept.  We must let those responsible know that they face the verdict of history.”  For the full text of his statement, see Press Release SG/SM/8196.

In a brief press encounter with reporters following his statement to the Commission on Human Rights, the Secretary-General was asked about the situation in the Middle East.  Referring to his concern about the humanitarian situation in the Palestinian refugee camps, he told reporters, “Once we get access to the camps, I think we are all going to have a lot of work to do.”  Noting the dangerous situation and the “appalling” humanitarian and human rights situation, he said, “I think the proposition that a force should be sent in there to create a secure environment, as well as provide space for diplomatic and political negotiations, can no longer be deferred.  It is urgent; it is imperative.”

At a press event later in the day, after a meeting with Swiss Foreign Minister Joseph Deiss, the Secretary-General was asked to elaborate on the concept of a force.  He said he was talking about a force that would help create a secure environment to allow assistance to reach those in need, to bring about an end to the killing and to give space for political and diplomatic negotiations.

At that press conference, the Secretary-General also thanked the people and Government of Switzerland for voting to join the United Nations, saying that Switzerland and the UN had a long history, and that is was “about time that we concretize this marriage”.

The Secretary-General also met that day with Mary Robinson and with Krzysztof Jakubowski, Chairman of the Commission on Human Rights.

The Secretary-General departed Geneva for New York on Saturday, 13 April.