UN High Commissioner for Human Rights addresses 47 member states of the Human Rights Council
Geneva, March 5 (MExN): The protection of human life and dignity is crucial at all times, said Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in his opening statement to the 31st Regular Session of the Human Rights Council (HRC) on February 29.
The Council met against a backdrop of “accumulating departures” from the body of institutions and laws which States built to codify their behaviour. “Gross violations of international human rights law – which clearly will lead to disastrous outcomes – are being greeted with indifference,” noted Ra’ad Al Hussein in his stirring speech.
During armed conflict or occupation, a complementary body of law – international humanitarian law – provides additional protection, to safeguard the rights of those fighting, as well as civilians, the sick and wounded, and people who have laid down their weapons. It must be applied by all parties: States – including all foreign forces, in the case of external intervention – and non-State armed groups.
“These two great bodies of law are being violated shockingly, in multiple conflicts, with complete impunity,” observed Ra’ad Al Hussein, adding that it is “extremely alarming” that so many conflicts, crises and humanitarian emergencies are currently raging, with “repeated violations” of the norms that protect people’s rights and lives.
Noting that the effects of prolonged conflicts and emergencies will be “endured for generations,” the UN High Commissioner stated that “Whether they are the result of deliberate targeting or systemic incompetence, every single attack on civilians and protected civilian objects must be fully, transparently and independently investigated.”
“Instead of taking a reasoned and cooperative approach to settling challenges – including the rise of violent extremism, the growing number of armed conflicts, and the movement of people seeking safety – many leaders are pandering to a simplistic nationalism, which mirrors the simplified and destructive ‘us’ versus ‘them’ mind-set of the extremists, and fans a rising wind of prejudice and fear. This bid to find unilateral quick fixes for issues that have broad roots is not only unprincipled, it is illusory,” he asserted.
Anti-immigrant and anti-minority rhetoric scar societies, he said. “They might offer instant political gratification in some quarters, but they result in divisions that cut deep. Racist, discriminatory and xenophobic rhetoric makes it even harder for minorities and outsiders to access equal opportunities and basic goods. And so our societies are cleaved. Communities grow further apart.”
Similarly, when Governments clamp down against grassroots activists, journalists and political opponents – or scrap the guarantees of an independent judiciary – “They are dismantling the integrity of their societies and the people’s trust and respect for fundamental institutions. Crushing human freedoms will not protect us from terrorism. It creates dangerous divisions and grievances that will lead to more violence,” the UN leader maintained.
He urged policy-makers to deploy measures which “ensure respect for human rights,” which will then “extinguish violent extremism more effectively, and more sustainably, than any crackdown. Justice and human rights are the essential foundation of loyalty,” he said.
Ra’ad Al Hussein also urged the 47 Member States, which includes India, to “rise above the crescendo of xenophobia.” “Cities and civilizations have been irrigated by diversity, and have welcomed far greater movements of people in the past,” he observed.
Structural injustice and discrimination continue to deprive millions of people of their right to development. A “shocking number” of women are denied their fundamental equality, including their reproductive rights. “Far too many” people are excluded from vital resources by prejudice and by the force of crushing inequalities.
“The inherent dignity and worth of the human person; equality between all men and women; the economic and social advancement of all peoples – these human rights principles are the basis of peace,” asserted the leader. Urging them to “rise above national self-interest and heal divisions instead of fuelling them,” he also asked the Member States to abide by and protect international humanitarian and human rights law.
“I urge you to deploy your diplomatic power to uphold peace and advance the protection of human rights for all people, in other States and within your own.”
