“Human Rights Defenders on the Frontlines of Freedom” A conference in Atlanta, GA, November 10-12, 2003 Presentation by the United Nations Acting High Commissioner for Human Rights Betrand Ramcharan

Let me begin by thanking President Carter, and the staff of the Carter Centre, for bringing us all together here in Atlanta, and for this valuable opportunity to meet and discuss. I have come to Atlanta primarily to listen to you and to hear your concerns. I will, therefore, speak only very briefly: on the role of human rights defenders in the context of the UN human rights system; on the fundamental challenge facing those working for human rights, including the UN, in a fast changing international environment; and on what OHCHR is doing to try and address this challenge.

Contribution of Human Rights Defenders

As in the title chosen for this conference, human rights defenders are often described as being on the frontline of human rights. I would go further and say that you are also on the last line of defence. Once defenders are silenced there is no one left to monitor, investigate, report and bear witness.

The Charter of the United Nations places human rights at the heart of the Organisation’s work. Over the last 5 decades the United Nations has established a series of human rights standards, mechanisms and procedures. International human rights instruments provide a legal basis for the respect for human rights. United Nations Treaty Bodies (established under the core human rights treaties) monitor the implementation by States of their treaty obligations and make recommendations for improvements. The Commission on Human Rights meets annually to examine the worldwide human rights dynamic and to consider reports from its Special Procedures mandates. These thematic and country specific mechanisms have been established by the Commission to examine situations of particular human rights concern.

The United Nations human rights framework, described very briefly here, depends for its functioning on 3 actors: it requires the active participation of States; it requires the support and facilitation of the United Nations secretariat and agencies; and, I cannot over emphasise, it also requires the input and support of human rights defenders. Without your work, at the local level within communities, at the national level of Government and the legislature, and at the international level in the meetings of Treaty Bodies and the Commission on Human Rights, the United Nations human rights framework could not function effectively.

You are active in advocating for the development of stronger international human rights standards and for their subsequent adoption by your national Governments. You support States in implementing their human rights obligations, by providing human rights training, by lending your expertise in the drafting of programmes of action. You monitor State compliance and investigate possible violations, through the gathering of information around the country, through interviews with victims and witnesses. You communicate your findings to your Governments and to international mechanisms through the publication of reports and other statements. You do all this and much more than I can say in the short time available here. You work for long hours, sometimes under very difficult conditions. Many of you risk physical harm, including sometimes your lives, to carry out these activities. I will say it again, human rights defenders are essential to the fulfilment of the objectives of the United Nations human rights framework.

Challenges to human rights work

You will tell me that the work of defenders has been difficult for a long time, and I would agree. Indeed, the fact that we are here today, at the initiative and invitation of President Carter, is an acknowledgement of new and emerging difficulties confronted by defenders. I would, however, like to raise these difficulties in terms of new challenges and new opportunities. I would like also to approach these difficulties in terms of challenges to human rights as a whole, because this is what they ultimately signify. Difficulties faced by defenders are a response to their human rights work and a challenge to human rights themselves.

In identifying challenges it can be tempting to point to specific issues as the fundamental obstacles to be addressed. It is true, for example, that today’s international political environment raises complexities for human rights actors. It is similarly true that financial resources, national economies and international economic policies also have an overriding influence on the implementation of human rights. However, I believe that the real challenge is elsewhere and that if we are distracted from it then the solutions we propose will not be the correct ones. From the perspective of OHCHR, the single most important human rights challenge, and indeed the single biggest challenge facing the United Nations as a whole, remains the actual implementation of international human rights law. We have the legal standards, we have an ever increasing level of ratifications among the World’s States, we have a good array of monitoring mechanisms, and we have some capacity to provide technical cooperation assistance. What we lack is a consistently high standard of implementation. We must find a way to be more effective at the national level.

I will expand upon this by referring to human rights in the context of terrorism, which is creating challenges to human rights and defenders that were not foreseen three years ago. Terrorist acts gravely impact upon the enjoyment of fundamental human rights. States have an urgent duty to protect the human rights of their populations from terrorism, and the United Nations has a duty under the Charter to support States in this endeavor. However, counter-terrorism action raises its own human rights concerns in the context of the rights of persons accused (whether guilty or innocent) by States of supporting terrorism and in the context of innocent persons who are adversely affected by counter-terrorist action. The most common international focus is on these two issues. I attended, last Friday, a Conference in New York on this subject. One of the papers presented at the Conference began with a quotation from the Secretary General: “We must never lose sight of the fact that any sacrifice of freedom or the rule of law within States…is to hand the terrorists a victory that no act of theirs alone could possibly bring.”

As the Secretary General makes clear, respect and protection of human rights has to be a part of counter-terrorism. To take up the specific problem of counter-terrorism within the larger context of human rights implementation, I will say to you that if we wish to strengthen counter-terrorism efforts we must do more to implement existing international human rights standards. While it is essential that we look closely at what we are doing with regard to human rights in the context of terrorism and counter-terrorism, if we focus our limited attention and resources on these specific issues only, rather than on the larger context of implementation, then we will be pursuing solutions to only one part of the problem. This analogy can be applied to other examples.

What are we doing in the United Nations to support human rights action in this emerging context?

In a difficult international environment, as human rights advocates we are facing significant challenges. In this context, what is OHCHR doing now, and what are we thinking about for the near future?

Allow me, again, to phrase solutions to the challenges we are confronting in terms of a single focus: national protection systems. The existence of actors, mechanisms and procedures with a strong human rights capacity at the national level is the only way that effective and full implementation of human rights standards can be achieved. An effective national protection system would, for example, provide defacto good protection for human rights in the context of counter-terrorism.

Human rights defenders are a fundamental part of any national protection system. However, to be fully effective, and to be assured of safety in your work, you need the support of other protection system components. These include: adequate domestic legislation in conformity with international standards; independent national human rights institutions such as the Office of Ombudperson; an independent judiciary; and others. In addition, the rule of law is essential to provide an enabling environment for these mechanisms to function effectively. The Secretary General, in a report on UN reform presented to the General Assembly in September 2002 (A/57/387) said that “The emplacement or enhancement of a national protection system in each country, reflecting international human rights norms, should . . . be a principal objective of the Organization.” OHCHR is committed to strengthening national protection systems so that they are available to support human rights defenders in your work and so that they serve the cause of human rights. OHCHR is working with the Resident Coordinators at the head of the UN in each country to this end. We are providing support to the legislative and judicial branches in individual States, as well as to independent National Human Rights Commissions. We are advocating, whenever possible, for increased treaty ratification.

The work of the United Nations Treaty Bodies is an essential complement to national protection systems, and one which can provide independent analysis and ensure consistency in the application of international human rights in different countries. After several decades of mixed progress we must ask ourselves now, how can we bring the core human rights treaties and the treaty bodies closer to the ground where they are to be applied? Member States and the UN are engaged in a process of reform of the treaty body system, and are examining ways which might lighten the burden of reporting upon States while also increasing the relevance of the treaty body deliberations on each country. OHCHR is a key participant in this process. In addition, over the last few months we have been working to establish a methodology which will integrate the recommendations of treaty bodies into the work of the United Nations team within each country where there is a UN field presence. These UN Offices and agencies maintain daily contact with Government Ministries and are well placed to put forward the treaty body recommendations. For countries where there is no UN Country Team, primarily the developed States, we will have to elaborate strategies for advocacy that will work from UN headquarters.

In his reform report the Secretary General also called for a strengthening of the Special Procedures, requesting greater consistency in the high quality of their work. OHCHR is including reference to the concerns and recommendations of the Special Procedures when providing input to UN Country Teams. In addition, States are being urged to provide more systematic responses to the concerns and recommendations of the different mandate holders.

With regard to the Commission on Human Rights, the Secretary General has urged Member States “to seek ways of making it more effective”. He noted that “if they [Member States] allow elections and debates to be dictated by political considerations, or by block positions, rather than by genuine efforts to strengthen human rights throughout the world, the credibility and usefulness of the Commission will inevitably be eroded.” OHCHR is working with the Commission to examine possibilities for a reform of procedures.

In the context of terrorism, the United Nations has established a “Policy Working Group on the United Nations and Terrorism”, with a sub-group on Human Rights and Terrorism which I have had the honor to chair. One of our recommendations was for the convening of a consultation of international, regional and sub-regional organizations and NGOs on the protection of human rights in the struggle against terrorism. OHCHR recently published a “Digest of Jurisprudence of the UN and Regional Organizations on the Protection of Human Rights while Countering Terrorism”. The Digest recalls a number of fundamental principles including the concept of non-derogable rights and the principles of necessity and proportionality. The Digest helps to clarify how effective counter-terrorism strategies can be fully respectful of human rights. The General Assembly, in a 2002 resolution (57/219) on “The Protection of Human Rights while Countering Terrorism”, requested OHCHR to examine this question, make general recommendations and provide assistance to States. In this context, we are undertaking a project to consider the role of the courts in evaluating terrorist-threat assessments made by Governments. This determination can have far-reaching consequences for the rule of law and for human rights. Should threat assessment be left to the Executive alone or should there also be judicial review? We would like to develop a vision of best practices on this issue.

In terms of direct support to human rights defenders. We are privileged to be joined here at the Conference by Hina Jilani, a human rights defender herself and the holder of a Commission on Human Rights Special Procedure mandate in her capacity as Special Representative of the Secretary General on human rights defenders. I will let Hina tell you herself about her work and her concerns. From the OHCHR perspective, as with all of the Special Procedures, we try to provide her with the best substantive, logistical and other support that we can in the day to day management of her mandate. In OHCHR we are also in the process of recruiting a full time staff member to fill a new NGO liaison position. We have worked very closely with the non-governmental community for a long time, but we wish now to develop a more institutional approach and thereby strengthen the relationship further.

What more can we do of direct support to defenders? OHCHR could envisage the adoption of a policy on human rights defenders the core component of which could, for example, involve a focus on the Declaration on Human Rights Defenders. This is an excellent instrument, adopted by consensus at the General Assembly almost exactly 5 years ago. What can we do to bring its provisions alive in support for your work within your countries? How can we encourage States to do more to implement and respect the Declaration. Can we be more supportive of the recommendations made by Hina in her role as Special Representative?

I will end with one comment. Through the United Nations we have a good human rights framework. One that provides most, if not all, the tools that States and human rights defenders need to secure respect for human rights. The killing of UN staff in Baghdad on the 19th August, the difficulties faced by human rights defenders, the challenges raised by terrorism and counter-terrorism, are an urgent reminder that what we must now do is to implement the existing human rights framework.

Thank You.