REMARKS OF BERTRAND RAMCHARAN, ACTING HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS, AT BAGHDAD AIRPORT

22 August 2003




Friends of the United Nations, supporters of the human rights movement, dear colleagues,

I have come here to Baghdad today to take home the remains of our fallen United Nations stalwart, Sergio Vieira de Mello. I salute him today, pay tribute to him for his sterling service to the United Nations, for his leadership in human rights and humanitarian causes, and for his services to the Iraqi people.

My first thoughts are of his family and loved ones and I reach out to them in moral support at this difficult time. I have promised members of his family and those who loved him that at this moment I would make a silent prayer on their behalf and I do so now. May the peace of the universe envelop you always. Dear Sergio, you are much loved and the world extends its respects to you today.

I should also like to extend my condolences to the Brazilian Government and people, who have honoured the United Nations and our fallen colleague by sending a Presidential aircraft and senior representatives of the Government to accompany Sergio home to his native land. We are exceedingly touched and appreciative.

My colleagues in the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, through me, pay their respects to our fallen High Commissioner. We honour him and we say that the ideals of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights will never leave this land of Iraq, because a United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights died for it. Human beings die; but the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is for all times and all places. Its triumph is inevitable here and elsewhere.

My colleagues in the United Nations Secretariat also honour Sergio and all our other colleagues who perished in this abominable act of violence. Dear colleagues, throughout the United Nations system and in the world at large, we shall always cherish your memories. Our gratitude is eternal. We say to you that the United Nations shall live because of your sacrifices. We shall make it so. For the triumph of the United nations Charter is inevitable. The vision of peace grounded in justice, respect for human rights and economic and social progress is eternal.

On this occasion, as we take home our fallen Special Representative of the Secretary-General, we think of the Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, and we are in solidarity with him in his efforts to uphold the ideals of the United Nations Charter.

On this occasion, as we take our High Commissioner for Human Rights home, let me say that we in the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights are determined:

To support the people of Iraq in their quest for human rights and self-determination;
To contribute to the elaboration of a constitution anchored in universal human rights precepts;
To contribute to the modernisation of Iraqi laws, as desired by Iraqis, in conformity with international human rights norms;
To help in the establishment of Iraqi national and local human rights institutions;
To help in the development of programmes of human rights education and information-sharing;
To help in the promotion of human rights and justice for women;
To help promote the protection of the rights of minorities;
To help to protect the rights of refugees and displaced persons;
To draw inspiration from the ancient Iraqi legal codes in the quest to bring home the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and
To support the Iraqi people’s quest that justice be brought to those who are responsible for the gross violation of human rights that have been committed here in the past.


The death of a United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights must have meaning for the future of the Iraqi people. We know that the Iraqi people would want our High Commissioner’s death to give life to human rights in Iraq.

As we take our High Commissioner home, we offer to the Iraqi people the precepts of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and we shall walk the journey of human rights together with you.






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