The Future Directions of Human Rights Field Presences, Address by Bertrand Ramcharan, Acting High Commissioner at the Opening of the Annual Meeting of OHCHR Field Presences Monday 17 November, 2003

17 November 2003


Dear Colleagues,

This year has been a dramatic one for the UN and for our Office in particular and I would like to pay tribute first and foremost to our late High Commissioner for Human Rights, Sergio Vieira de Mello, who was tragically a victim of his strong commitment to the field. In his letter to you last December, Sergio outlined a number of important steps meant to realize the vision of the SG for the creation of strong human rights protection systems at country level and made specific commitments that we would take as an Office to enhance the role and centrality of field work within OHCHR. I intend to review with you our progress in that direction later this morning.

In the past 10 years, OHCHR has developed an operational capacity and established field presences in over 40 countries and territories worldwide in order to sustain Governments’ efforts to realize human rights in concrete terms. At the present time, our office supports:

a) Human rights components of UN peace missions, which have been set up by the Security Council or the General Assembly;
b) Stand-alone OHCHR missions, based on MOUs signed with the Governments concerned or in keeping with CHR decisions/resolutions,
c) Technical cooperation presences, mostly in partnership with UNCTs, undertaken at the request of member states,
d) Regional offices, mostly based within UN Economic and Social Commissions, and
e) Human rights Advisers in UNCTs, set up in order to support human rights efforts, including peace efforts in the country, at the request of UN Resident Coordinators.

Our operational activities are quite recent and started in the early 90s in Cambodia and in the Balkans. It should be noted, however, that no new OHCHR stand-alone mission has been established since 1997, i.e. since the first SG reform program, when human rights were more effectively integrated within the action of the UN as a whole and OHCHR began to work in closer cooperation with DPKO and DPA. Implementation of the second reform program, especially under Action 2, will allow us to enhance yet further the role of UNCTs in creating strong human rights protection systems at country level and the catalytic role of OHCHR to that end.

Indeed, I see the Joint Action Plan we agreed upon with UNDG and ECHA to implement the 2nd SG reform program and the Global Review of our technical cooperation program as opportunities to provide new direction and stronger foundations to our field activities worldwide. Generally, what the SG is asking us to do is actually to enhance the links between international standards, the international machinery and the activities undertaken at country level and to make those activities more in line with the priorities as identified by the independent UN human rights experts (especially in follow up to the recommendations made by UN Treaty Bodies and the mechanisms of the CHR).
Yet, since we are a small office and intend to remain so, we have more and more to focus our energies in enhancing the capacities of our partners. In order to be successful in realizing the vision of the SG, the success of your work will be measured against your ability to implement promotional and capacity building activities, progressively, with others and through others, especially the members of UNCTs, or national human rights institutions or NGOs. This is for us a significant shift from the recent past i.e. when direct delivery of services characterized most field work, to increasingly creating and developing the capacities of UN and non-UN partners to undertake human rights work on their own.

In the broad area of promotion and capacity building, out technical cooperation activities will continue to focus on realizing international human rights standards in practical ways and at strengthening national protection systems at the country level – of course at the request of member states. Entry points for action by OHCHR will be: ratification of international HR treaties, launching of national human rights action plans, establishment of national human rights institutions, programs for human rights education, or the implementation of specific recommendations made by human rights TBs or the extra-conventional mechanisms of the CHR. Yet the implementation of the related activities and the use of standard OHCHR methodologies will no longer automatically fall on us: on the contrary, we will consider doing only what no one else in the UNCTs can do or is willing to do. Clearly, the protection function that derives from mandates established by the competent legislative
organs of the UN or is the result of agreements with the governments concerned, such as in Colombia,
or that is linked to our promotional activities, such as ensuring follow up to the recommendations of the monitoring mechanisms, will continue to be our core responsibility. I look very much forward to the discussions you will have on this important topic in the coming days and the practical recommendations you will make for future action.
As I see it, in addition to their other tasks, all heads of FPs should be expected to perform a number of functions towards UNCT so as to implement the SG’s reform program: (a) advise the Resident Coordinator on human rights issues; (b) facilitate understanding of recommendations of Treaty Bodies (TBs) and mechanisms of the CHR and ensure adequate follow up action by UNCT members – not least through the country profiles that will be made available progressively to all of you by OHCHR HQ; and (c) participate/support the CCA/UNDAF efforts and the integration of human rights elements into UNCT members planning and programming. In particular:

Heads of Human rights components of UN peace missions are being encouraged to act also as human rights advisers to RCs / HCs and UNCTs on human rights issues. This becomes even more obvious if RC/HC are Deputy SRSGs of these missions. Of course, they would continue to report to the SRSG and OHCHR as in line with our MOU with DPKO. Yet, they would also report to the RC/HC with respect to Action 2 related activities. This is very relevant, because in order to ensure the sustainability and the success of peace missions once they are terminated there have to be strong human rights foundations in the country. The process of building up the human rights infrastructures should not start when a UN peace mission ends but at the very beginning of its mandate.

Heads of OHCHR stand alone offices should continue to give priority to developing the capacities of the UNCT and to that end set up and support any thematic working group on HR that may be established within UNCTs. They should also act as advisers to the RC or HC on human rights matters, including with respect to ensuring follow up action to recommendations of treaty bodies and mechanisms of the CHR and support to the CCA/UNDAF processes.

OHCHR Program officers or chiefs of Technical cooperation projects already working within UNCTs in order to implement specific activities under a project, should invest even more time to developing the necessary capacities within the UNCT so that OHCHR may be able to exit the country, within a reasonable period of time. Their status should be enhanced by the Joint Action Plan as the function of HR adviser to the RC/HC will be recognized in a even more formal way.

OHCHR Regional Representatives are to become a resource facility for the UNCTs of the whole region/sub-region. With respect to the implementation of the SG’s reform program, they should start their efforts on establishing a thematic WG on HR in the UNCT in the country where they are based so as to facilitate understanding and follow up action by UNCTs members to relevant recommendations of UN HR experts. In so far as possible, beyond their duty station, they should establish their ability to assist UNCTs of countries in the CCA/UNDAF lists for 2004/2005 and other UNCTs in the region or sub-region for which they have responsibility.

OHCHR Human Rights Advisors within UNCTs have been established at the request of RCs in Nepal and Sri Lanka. We are now in the process of setting up one for Guyana. This is also an effective way to develop a human rights capacity in the UNCTs, which is particularly relevant in order to support the human rights elements of peace processes or in preventing the deterioration of the human rights situation.

As we professionalize our approach to field work and involve a greater number of partners, our reflection this year will have to focus also on the fact that OHCHR field presences are to be limited in time and in scope; that there has to be a beginning and an end to our presence in a given country or situation; and that the end of a mission is to be predicated upon the achievement of some concrete benchmarks. Decisions for determining at which point OHCHR field missions are accomplished depend on the realization of core exit-strategy benchmarks, such as the existence of national human rights capacities and infrastructures as well as the capacity of the UNCTs to carry out human rights work on their own. Once the above-mentioned conditions are met, transfer of responsibilities can move from OHCHR.

Yet, an exit strategy will have to be implemented in a transparent way and in close consultation with all partners over a period of time, which also depends on local conditions and other factors. In normal circumstances, however, OHCHR will plan such exit strategy and handover requirements during the lifespan of the project itself, and especially after the initial phases. In the final phase, when Field Presences budgets start to be reduced progressively, the decrease in OHCHR activities and costs is to go hand in hand with the increase of capacity and action on the part of national partners and the UNCTs. Accordingly, handover requirements are to be built into OHCHR project cycle from the pre-screening stage and properly monitored throughout the existence of the project. Residual human rights activities may be passed on to partners so as to ensure a smooth transition and a continuation of the international community focus on, and attention to, human rights issues in the country concerned. This can happen only if we have worked towards that end from the very beginning: it cannot be done at the last moment.

In keeping with this approach, a number of OHCHR field presences will be the subject of further review by OHCHR in 2004, so as to enhance the opportunities for cooperation with international, regional and national partners, especially on capacity building and technical cooperation related activities and allow OHCHR to concentrate its limited financial and human resources on new priority field missions or on its fundamental protection role.

Thus, if we look at 2004, we can expect to see a further increase in the number of UN peace missions with new human rights components established which are to be backstopped by OHCHR (in addition to UNAMI in Iraq, MINUCI in Côte d’Ivoire, UNAMIL in Liberia set up in 2003). A new OHCHR unit fully within the Resident Coordinator system has been established in mid 2003 in Angola, as a successor to UNMA and similar arrangements are being planned in 2004 with respect to MINUGUA in Guatemala, which will end in December 2004, and to UNMISET in Timor Leste, which ends in mid 2004. While human rights components of DPKO/DPA missions are funded from assessed contributions with respect to post requirements, activities have to rely on OHCHR support from extra-budgetary contributions (such as for instance in Sierra Leone and Afghanistan). It is therefore essential that also with respect to the work of human rights component of peace missions, the head of the human rights unit or the senior human rights adviser to an SRSG is at the same time conscious of his/her role to advise the UNCTs on capacity building and promotional activities. I say advise because most of the implementation of activities will be undertaken by UNCT members or OHCHR itself.

As mentioned at the beginning, Sergio in his letter of 23 December 2002 asked you to take a number of steps to realize the SG’s vision – many of which are consistent with or reflected into the Join Action Plan. He made also a number of commitments to you which I would like to recall:

· Access by field presences to OHCHR’s email system, Intranet and other internal databases: You will have a brief presentation later this morning from our IT team on how you can access the intranet and other internal data bases from anywhere in the world;

· Guidelines on mobility policy will be developed, in line with the best practices in other organisations (UNHCR, UNICEF etc) and within the overall framework of the policies of the United Nations Secretariat on mobility – You will have a presentation from Admin early this afternoon on the steps taken at HQ to facilitate career development and mobility in the field and at HQ.

· A Manual on Field Work will be developed – As I mentioned in my letter of invitation to you last month, the draft policy papers made available to you in preparation for this meeting and our discussions over the next days will allow us to finalize the Manual which will be ready early in 2004.

· Assignments of desk officers have been reviewed so as to enhance substantive support to field presences and to reduce administrative tasks: - as part of the implementation of the Action 2, desk officers will make available to you, in due course, country profiles which include recent recommendations by treaty bodies and mechanisms of the CHR, in full cooperation with other branches of the office. Activities by other branches in the field so as to implement the plan are also underway such as the training oorganized by SSB and APB in Quito or in Damascus next month.

· We have started to develop a lessons learned capacity here at Headquarters and the collection of best practices and lessons learned in terms of field work during this meeting will be an important contribution in this effort.

· Greater external relations efforts are focusing on the field including through the establishment and work of the new external relations branch. The brochure, Human Rights in Action, which details all our field work and to which you contributed last year, has been published as promised;

· Regular briefings have been organized by APB with Member States and the donor community so as to better highlight your activities in the field and corresponding financial needs;

· Planning for 2004 activities has started as promised in May 2003 and has for the first time, involved not only APB staff and the field but all branches in OHCHR in connection with action at the regional and national level. This approach will continue yet further in connection with the Annual Appeal for 2005 so as to strengthen the ability of this office to present activities at country level in a more comprehensive way.

Dear Colleagues,

Field work is crucial in translating international human rights norms and standards into reality at the country level and all of you are essential to the efforts of our Office to ensure the success of the vision of the SG, as expressed in his second reform program. Human rights are no longer relevant to our work alone: it is part and parcel of the success of the mission of the United Nations Organization. The SG has called upon all UNCTs to become more involved in creating national HR protection systems: we must heed that call and assist him in making thousands of our UN colleagues in the UNCTs more able to contribute, to the extent they can, to the success of his efforts at peace and sustainable economic and social development. Indeed, let’s us not forget that human rights remains the solid foundation upon which those efforts have to rest.

As we start our deliberations today, may I wish to all of you a warm welcome to Geneva, and to the House of Human Rights here in Palais Wilson. I cannot stress sufficiently the importance for us all, field and HQ colleagues, of actively participating in the working groups and plenary discussions. I trust we will be making the best use of the time available this week and gather as much as possible lessons learned and best practices developed thanks to you and your own experience on the ground. On Friday, I am sure, we will come back to some of these issues having clarified a number of important policy questions and approaches and having found a common path forward for enhancing the effectiveness of our field work and for sharpening the focus of our field strategy.

Thank you