Statement by Ms. Navanethem Pillay United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to the General Assembly Third Committee

New York, 21 October 2009

Mr. Chairperson
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

 

It is a pleasure and an honour to address the Third Committee of the General Assembly today. A year ago, as a newly appointed High Commissioner, I came to you with visions and goals. Now I would like to report to you on a year’s activities, and I look forward to this interactive dialogue with you.

 

Let me begin by drawing your attention to the year-long campaign commemorating the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which culminated on December 10, 2008. Launched by the Secretary-General and led by my Office, this campaign aimed at raising awareness of human rights and the importance of the Universal Declaration with events and activities in almost 100 countries. The anniversary is over now, but what I heard from ordinary people in the course of this campaign is that they want these rights to be translated into reality. They look to states and to the UN to do that, and the activities of my Office are all designed in different ways to bring these rights to life.

 

My first great challenge in this endeavour was the Durban Review Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance. Before I took office I was warned to stay away from this conference. But I grew up under apartheid, and there is no way I would ever stay away from a conference dedicated to combating racial discrimination. The Durban Review Conference, held in April, concluded successfully with the adoption of the Outcome Document representing the consensus of 182 States. The Outcome Document reaffirms the 2001 Durban Declaration and Programme of Action and renews the much-needed commitment of states to combat racism. Now the important task before us is the implementation of this commitment. We must take action to ensure that the Durban Review Conference makes a true difference in the lives of men and women around the world. That will be the real measure of its success.

 

To follow up on the Durban Review Conference, I have established a Task Force to strengthen OHCHR’s work on racism and intolerance. My objective is to ensure that our efforts are undertaken office-wide, and also system-wide. We want to enhance collaboration with other UN entities to mainstream the anti-racism agenda. I continue to rely on your support and look forward to the GA endorsement of the Outcome Document and allocation of the necessary resources for our follow-up programme of work.

 

Eliminating discrimination is one of the six thematic priorities that will engage my Office in the next biennium - discrimination on the grounds of sex as well as racial discrimination, discrimination on the grounds of religion and against others who are marginalized. Discrimination on the basis of sex must be addressed with the sense of urgency that it requires. Despite undeniable progress, prejudices against and marginalization of women persist. Women still do not get equal pay for equal work, or equal opportunity for employment. Girls still do not get equal access to education. In many countries, discriminatory economic policies deprive women of sustainable means of livelihood and discriminatory laws deprive women of equal rights. 

 

My Office has encouraged and informed the Human Rights Council’s deliberations on women’s rights, including the human rights dimensions of maternal mortality and on a potential future special mechanism on equality before the law. To further strengthen OHCHR’s integration of women’s rights and gender into its work, gender advisors have been or will be deployed to a number of OHCHR regional offices, as well as the New York Office. We have also commissioned an in-depth gender evaluation of OHCHR in order to further improve our work in this domain. I welcome the action of the General Assembly moving forward the establishment of a gender entity that will consolidate and strengthen the gender architecture of the United Nations. My Office will work to ensure coordination between this entity and relevant human rights mechanisms, and to promote the inclusion of a human rights perspective in system-wide efforts for the advancement of women.

 

Discrimination renders women vulnerable to violence which in turn provides the backdrop for further violations. And as violence against women is a weapon of domination in the home, violence against women is a weapon of war in armed conflict. In this context, I welcome the recent adoption by the Security Council of Resolution 1888, which aims at protecting women and girls from sexual violence in armed conflict, and Resolution 1889 on women, peace and security. Protecting human rights in situations of armed conflict, violence and insecurity is another thematic priority of my Office for the coming biennium, and our Women’s Rights and Gender Unit has devoted considerable efforts to the issue of the prosecution of sexual violence in the context of armed conflict. 

 

Protecting economic, social and cultural rights in efforts to combat inequalities and poverty is another thematic priority of my Office. Economic, social and cultural rights, like civil and political human rights, are the birthright of every human being. 

 

For this reason I was very pleased to be present here last month for the opening for signature of the Optional Protocol on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights, and I encourage Member States to promptly sign and ratify this important Protocol. This will help to correct the unsustainable imbalance that has historically drawn an artificial divide between civil and political rights on the one hand, and economic, social and cultural rights on the other. The Optional Protocol is a key component of OHCHR’s efforts on behalf of the disadvantaged whose vulnerability often stems from violations of their human rights.

 

Such vulnerability became all too apparent in the course of the global food, financial and economic crises. My Office has consistently advocated a human rights approach in response to these crises. With this perspective in mind, OHCHR has joined the Secretary-General’s High-Level Task Force on the food crisis at the request of the Human Rights Council. I also participated in the June 2009 General Assembly High Level Conference on the financial and economic crisis. My Office has actively contributed to the system-wide efforts in this area through the Chief Executives Board for Coordination.

 

Related to the issue of global development challenges is the implementation of the right to development, which we continue to promote through research and analytical work, by raising public awareness, and through expert meetings and workshops. We are making such efforts through partnerships with relevant international organizations and institutions to ensure that the right to development is integrated into their policies and strategies. 

 

To the same effect, utilizing research, publications, and interventions at a variety of forums, OHCHR advocates the inclusion of human rights in national policies aimed at alleviating poverty and at implementing the Secretary-General’s Millennium Development Goals. 

 

Let me underscore that although States bear the primary responsibility in respecting, promoting and fulfilling human rights, private actors play an important role as well. I refer here to businesses and enterprises, particularly those that operate in rights-sensitive environments. Through our participation in the UN Global Compact, an agreement that brings together business and human rights, OHCHR has contributed to the development of practical tools to enhance the private sphere’s knowledge and integration of human rights. My Office has also actively supported the work of the Secretary-General’s Special Representative on business and human rights since the beginning of his mandate in 2005, as well as other activities, such as those undertaken by the Special Rapporteurs on the Right to Health or on Toxic Wastes.

 

We have advanced the implementation of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples by carrying out a range of country specific initiatives, promoting indigenous entitlement to ancestral land and their need to be involved in decisions regarding the industrial exploitation of their natural resources.

My Office also organized a workshop to contribute to the study of the expert mechanism on the right of indigenous peoples to education, which will be submitted to the Human Rights Council. OHCHR also provided support to the first Minority Forum which was convened under the leadership of the Independent Expert on Minority Issues and which focused on minorities and the right to education, attracting the participation of almost 400 people. 

 

Another important thematic priority for my Office is ensuring the realization of human rights in the context of migration. OHCHR promotes a human rights approach to migration which places respect for human rights obligations at the center of migration policies. I have called for an end to imprisonment of irregular migrants and remind all that human rights are not suspended because a person is a refugee or a migrant. In a similar and related perspective, OHCHR advocates a rights-based approach to the issue of human trafficking placing the interests of victims at the forefront. Our advocacy efforts have been reflected in a number of initiatives, such as the interactive dialogue of the General Assembly on “Taking collective action to end human trafficking” in May 2009, and a special event I am hosting here tomorrow, with the Secretary-General, to bring the voices of trafficking victims and survivors to the UN dialogue on human trafficking.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

 

My Office has continued to provide substantive support to the Human Rights Council, which is addressing an increasingly broad range of human rights issues. In addition to its three regular sessions, the Council held four special sessions on human rights situations in several countries, as well as one thematic special session on the impact of the international economic and financial crises on the realization of human rights. 

 

The Council’s hallmark is the Universal Periodic Review (UPR), an innovative mechanism which complements the work of human rights treaty bodies and the special procedures. As the experience of the review has shown, States have conscientiously prepared their national reports through broad consultations with relevant stakeholders, including civil society. To date, 80 States have been reviewed. As result of this process, various countries under review firmly pledged to strengthen implementation of human rights standards at the national level, as well as their cooperation with human rights mechanisms. 

 

Against this background, it will be important to strengthen the UPR links with the treaty body system and the special procedures, so that the review evolves into an effective catalyst for implementation. I look forward to the review of the Council’s work in 2010-2011. This period should be employed to improve the working methods of the Council and address unresolved issues, such as the status of the Council and its relationship with the General Assembly.

 

Mr. Chairperson,

 

In reporting to you on our efforts to strengthen international human rights mechanisms and support the progressive development of international human rights law, let me note that we now benefit from the work of 39 special procedures mandate holders, including the recently appointed expert on cultural rights. Annual reports, country visits, and the almost 1,000 communications sent by special procedures each year are recognized as potential indicators of instability and early warnings of crises in the making. I have urged and will continue to call on all countries to invite and welcome the visits of mandate holders, and fully cooperate with this mechanism of the Council.

 

By the same token, States should take full advantage of the work of treaty bodies and exploit their still untapped potential. In particular, the Early Warning and Urgent Action Procedure of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination is a model that should be fully utilized and emulated. This procedure can sound an alarm bell regarding a situation of racial discrimination that may escalate into violence. Another example of preventive capacity is the field-oriented mandate of the Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture (SPT) which has just presented its public annual report to the General Assembly for the first time. I am also pleased that the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities has convened and begun its work. I note the overall success of the human rights protection system marked by the increase in the number of human rights instruments and corresponding monitoring bodies. I also welcome States’ growing compliance with their reporting obligations. Both these positive developments, however, pose greater demands on the treaty bodies and on my Office. Human rights treaty bodies have continued to work together to streamline and harmonize their working methods. States parties to human rights treaties and other stakeholders should also reflect on how to strengthen the treaty bodies and promote better coordination and coherence among these mechanisms.

 

Excellencies,

 

I would like to say a few words about the field-oriented capacities that play a critical role in OHCHR’s efforts to strengthen human rights promotion and protection at national and regional levels. To that end, we have at our disposal a variety of tools, namely national or regional offices, as well as human rights components in peace operations and human rights advisers to UN Country Teams. OHCHR is now running and supporting 55 field presences on all continents. Our field presences are an essential interface between the international human rights machinery and the needs that are expressed at the national level. In addition, the OHCHR Rapid Response Unit has been able to deploy swiftly in the aftermath of crises in a number of countries.

 

Earlier this month, the Human Rights Council requested me to present a preliminary report to the General Assembly and a comprehensive report to the 13th session of the Human Rights Council on the violations of human rights in Honduras since the coup d’état of 28 June 2009. Consequently, I deployed a fact-finding mission to Honduras on 18 October 2009. Given the timing and the sensitivity of this task, I cannot provide preliminary findings at present. I will submit a comprehensive report during the 13th session of the Human Rights Council.

 

To bolster efforts at the national level, we have supported more than 40 National Human Rights Institutions and their regional networks. We have helped forge strong partnerships among these institutions, and facilitated their interactions with UN human rights mechanisms, including the UPR. In the same vein, we have also continued to deepen our cooperation with individual countries or clusters of States and regional organizations throughout our regional offices in Africa, the Middle East, Latin America and Asia. I am pleased to announce that earlier this month we also opened our regional office for Europe.

 

Excellencies,
Mr. Chairperson,

 

In our efforts to strengthen access to justice and ensure the harmonization of domestic legislation and procedures with international human rights law, my Office has continued our engagement with, and support of, national legal systems and judiciaries, including through our in-country training and workshops. One such example is the expert consultation on indigenous justice systems in the Americas, Australia and New Zealand to address the legal aspects of traditional justice systems, and their conformity with international human rights principles and standards.

 

OHCHR has a leading role in developing methodology and guidance tools in the area of transitional justice, and carrying out capacity-building activities to this effect in collaboration with the UN system and other actors. To this end, we published the third series of transitional justice tools on the issue of amnesties.

We are also playing an active role in the Counter-Terrorism Implementation Task Force established by the Secretary-General under the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy and plan of action, and lead its working group on protecting human rights while countering terrorism. Later this month, I will address the Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee underlining the need to uphold human rights in the fight against terrorism.

At the request of the Human Rights Council, OHCHR recently completed a study on the immediate and far-reaching threats that climate change poses to the protection of human rights of people and communities around the world.

 

Ladies and Gentlemen,

 

Allow me to briefly discuss elements of our relationship with other UN entities and our efforts to mainstream human rights in the UN system. We built a strong partnership with UN development agencies under the “Action 2” interagency initiative which we led. This four-year programme supported more than 60 UN country teams in developing their capacity, including through the deployment of Human Rights Advisors, and that of national partners who had requested support in integrating human rights in their work. In turn, this strengthened national protection systems. We are leading consultations with UN partners to develop a follow-up mechanism to “Action 2,” which is aimed at further bolstering system-wide coherence, collaboration and support for human rights mainstreaming.

 

I am pleased to report that all 2008 joint stocktaking reports from the ‘Delivering as One’ pilot-countries also indicated considerable efforts made to integrate human rights.
In the area of peace and security, OHCHR maintained its focus on enhancing the integration of human rights in all peace missions. A joint review by OHCHR and the Department of Political Affairs (DPA) is currently underway to assess and further improve integration of human rights in special political missions. Internally, we have been working to ensure that human rights officers better understand their role in humanitarian action.

 

Excellencies,

 

This is just a sampling of the activities of my Office, to provide you with some sense of our ongoing work. Looking forward, my Office has identified six thematic priorities that will guide our work in the next biennium. These priorities are:

 

Strengthening international human rights mechanism and the progressive development of international human rights law.

 

 

Ladies and Gentlemen,

 

I count on your support to help us fulfill these important tasks. After one year on the job, I understand better the challenges you face in implementation of human rights standards and the challenges of mainstreaming human rights. I am also much more familiar with the tremendous potential of the United Nations to facilitate the realization of human rights in the lives of men and women around the world. As I said last year, I start from the premise that the credibility of human rights work depends on a commitment to truth, impartiality and integrity, with no tolerance for double-standards or selectivity. This principle guides me as High Commissioner and should inform all the work of my Office. I welcome this opportunity to engage in a dialogue with you and thank you for your goodwill and cooperation, which is critical to continuing progress in the field of human rights.