HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS SAYS HUMAN RIGHTS ARE INTEGRAL TO PEACE AGREEMENTS

5 April 2006

Peace and justice cannot be achieved in the absence of human rights, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour said today at a joint Swiss-Norwegian expert seminar on the role of human rights in peace negotiations.

Speaking in the Swiss capital of Bern, the High Commissioner called for a human rights understanding of peace agreements. “[T]here can scarcely be an area of human conduct more destructive of the whole range of human rights, from civil and political through to economic, social and cultural, than armed conflict”, she said. “Ending an ongoing state of such violations, as a peace agreement seeks by definition to do, is thus a human rights objective par excellence”.

Mrs. Arbour cautioned against those who argue that undue concentration on human rights jeopardizes the possibility of concluding a peace agreement. “A peace agreement procured through the bargaining away of the fundamental human rights entitlements of affected persons results in an impoverished “peace” that might better be labelled an absence of raging conflict”, she said.

Mrs. Arbour pointed out that human rights approaches come to bear at the pre-negotiation stage, the negotiation and conclusion phase and at the implementation point of peace agreements. “It is at this sharp end of the problem that there is crucial room for the involvement and influence of international organisations, including the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights”, she said.

The expert seminar was organized by the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs and the Norwegian Royal Ministry of Foreign Affairs. During the meeting the High Commissioner presented the results of a study on human rights and peace agreements prepared by the International Council on Human Rights to H.M. King Harald V of Norway, who is visiting Switzerland, and to Swiss President Moritz Leuenberger. Swiss Federal Councillor Micheline Calmy-Rey and Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støre also gave details of their countries' activities in the field of peace promotion.

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