Excerpted from an article by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in the 29 December 1999 edition of the Irish Times

Challenges Ahead in Human Rights


Never again: those words resonated around the world in the aftermath of the horrors of World War Two and the genocide of the Jewish and other communities in Europe. How many more times since then has the phrase been appropriate? What lessons have we learnt? It would be easy to be daunted by the widespread scale of gross human rights abuses in the world: the past year alone has seen atrocities in East Timor, Kosovo and the Great Lakes region. And these are just the ones that make it to the mass media - there are many abuses of which much less is heard but which have devastating effects on the lives of so many people.

There can be no doubt that the challenges that face us in the field of human rights as we enter a new century are formidable. Encouragement can be drawn from the significant progress made in the setting of internationally agreed norms and standards. But it is painfully clear that just because Governments sign up to international treaties does not mean that abuses stop occurring.

I want to help shape the debate on human rights in the next century. It is an innovative and challenging time to occupy the position of UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. Innovative because the era of standard setting is more or less over and we have to devise strategies to address the real test of whether the legislation can be made to work effectively. Challenging because the high profile has raised expectations: people are entitled to ask if the ideals behind the human rights movement will produce sustained results.

It is not just a cliche to say that the modern world is a rapidly changing place when economic, social and political changes are occurring at dizzying speed. And we can look forward to more of the same in the century ahead. Many of these changes improve our lives, for example, through medical advances and much speedier communications. But technological change is not necessarily accompanied by improvements in people’s rights. Take, for example, the plight of civilians caught up in armed conflict. Today, more than at any time before, civilians are in the front line of conflict, whether it is in Chechnya or Angola. Civilians now account for 90% of all casualties in conflict. They find themselves either the victims of indiscriminate warfare or, worse still, as deliberate targets of terror with rape, maiming and murder commonplace.

We must devise better strategies to combat such gross human rights abuses and to embed a true culture of respect for human rights in society. That requires us to understand the real nature of these abuses and the sources from which they spring. There are three areas where I would place particular emphasis:

Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

Abuses of civil and political rights are clearly recognised, understood and in large measure legislated for. Yet they continue on a daily basis. There is less appreciation of the part economic, social, cultural rights and the right to development play so the abuse is perhaps even more widespread. Deprivation of these rights can have a terrible impact on countries and societies and on the struggle to consolidate human rights generally. The statistics tell a clear story: the gap between the richest countries in the world - and Ireland is now among them- and those at the bottom of the league is ever widening. The spread of the globalised economy has brought untold prosperity to many but a huge proportion of the world’s population live in conditions of dire poverty that are hard to imagine but which remain vivid in your mind once you see them.

Many suspect that, for all of the talk by the industrialised countries about the need to open markets, the tendency towards market protection remains strong. The events at the World Trade Organisation meeting in Seattle were significant since they reflected a recognition by a growing number, especially the young, that the world’s trading system is fundamentally weighted against the poorest countries and that their economic and social rights are consistently ignored.

I encounter strong views from leaders of developing countries about the lack of attention to their economic and social rights. They say that economic lessons have been learned and that they would like to participate in the technological revolution which the world is experiencing but they lack the means to do so and their economies remain crippled by debt. Meanwhile, at a time when development assistance could be of great benefit, the rich countries are cutting aid budgets. How can we expect poor countries to have a share in our prosperity if we do not help them? And how, for that matter, can we expect human rights to take root if people do not have access to education, food or basic healthcare?

Conflict Prevention

It is time to take conflict prevention seriously. A lot has been written about it, and lip service paid to it, but the fact remains that far too little has actually been done. We have not learned the lessons we should have and innocents have suffered. We all bear a responsibility - individually and collectively.

There are countless examples where the alarm bells had been sounding of the danger of severe human rights abuses - and even genocide - but the world did not take action in time. The resources available to deflect crises and reduce tension fall far short of what is required - my Office’s meagrely-resourced activities being one example. Yet, even in cash terms, the cost of failing to act until grave human rights violations take place dwarfs the level of investment needed for preventive measures. That can be seen in the enormous expense which will be incurred in the rebuilding of the Balkans region.

What does prevention entail? It means devoting adequate resources to strengthening democracy and human rights, legal and administrative systems, education in human rights and respect for difference. It means monitoring Governments’ human rights performance and working with them to improve their record. It means having early warning systems in place so that the signs of tension and potential conflict are spotted early enough to do something about them. And it means Governments and the international community agreeing to take their responsibilities seriously and defending human rights effectively.

Racism

One important preventive area where progress could be made is to step up the fight against racism. Racism is at the forefront of my thoughts because I have been designated Secretary General of the United Nations World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance. The information campaign for the World Conference, which will be held in South Africa in 2001, has just been launched. I regard the Conference as a valuable opportunity to fight the scourge of racism and to find answers to its new manifestations such as hate messages on the Internet.

Racism and xenophobia are malign influences which can be found at the root of many of today’s conflicts. No society can claim to be free of the presence of at least some individuals who use difference - whether racial, ethnic or religious - to stir up hatred and tension between people. The importance of the World Conference lies in the opportunity it provides to shape a new vision of the fight against racism for the twenty first century.