Opening remarks by Ms.Flavia Pansieri, Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights at the Panel on the role of prevention in the promotion and protection of human rights

18 September 2014

Excellencies,
Ladies and gentlemen,

I am delighted to have this opportunity to open our panel on the vital topic of prevention. It reminds me of something that the French jurist René Cassin said when he received his Nobel Peace Prize in 1968 for his work in drafting the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: “There is no task of safeguarding human rights more urgent than that of foreseeing such outrages and preventing them.”

Almost half a century later, that statement remains just as vivid and just as true. As a matter of sound policy and moral conscience, we must all urgently strive to prevent violations of human rights before they escalate into mass atrocities or conflict.

The duty of States to take legislative, administrative and other appropriate measures to prevent human rights violations is well established in law. The Human Rights Committee has repeatedly held that States Parties have an essential obligation, in responding to human rights violations, to take preventive actions to avoid recurrence. The toolbox of potential preventive measures which they can take is extremely wide-ranging, spanning virtually the entire human rights agenda.

Risk factors that may lead to serious violations of human rights include serious discriminatory practices. The construction of identities in terms of “us” and “them”, and depiction of a targeted group as dangerous, disloyal, inferior or a security or economic threat are factors that characterise a range of human rights violations. Mr. Renato Zerbini Ribeiro Leão will tell us more about risk factors related to significant disparities in socio-economic indicators and about the work of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in this regard.

The Special Rapporteur on Minority Issues Ms. Rita Izsák is also participating in this panel. As she has often emphasized, while there is much discussion about the importance of prevention of mass atrocity crimes, such as ethnic cleansing and genocide, Governments, civil society and the international community must be alert to warning signs much earlier - when the very first words of hate speech are uttered, or when media start to promote negative stereotypes.

Mechanisms for early warning of human rights violations are already in place. They include the in-depth expertise of our 52 Special Procedures, who every year conduct some 80 country visits and send over 500 communications on both urgent and chronic human rights situations and cases, as well as the systematic scrutiny of Treaty Bodies and the Universal Periodic Review. This Council also has a mandate to contribute, through dialogue and cooperation, towards the prevention of human rights violations. NGOs also play an indispensable role in early warning, for example by collecting and processing local data. During this panel we will hear more about the indispensable role of NGOs in torture prevention from Mr Mark Thomson.

But are we using these mechanisms sufficiently for prevention? The Secretary-General has given top priority to prevention in his five-year action agenda for 2012-2017. His ground-breaking Rights Up Front plan of action is grounded in a commitment to more deliberate, thoughtful and coordinated use of the full range of UN resources, mandates and skills, in order to strengthen the UN system’s ability to effectively prevent and respond to serious human rights violations and complex crises.

Rights Up Front recognises that patterns in human rights violations provide clear warning signs of looming crisis, and includes a strong commitment to pool and analyse all available information from actors within the UN, activating high-level engagement and leadership at headquarters . Here, we aim to become more effective at ensuring that the information gathered by the human rights mechanisms is brought to the attention of important actors – and that their recommendations are followed-up and implemented. This effort must engage not only the States in question and the entities of the UN family, but also regional actors and the wider international community.

The Post-2015 process also provides an opportunity to ensure policy coherence in terms of governance and justice, and to encourage the realisation of human rights related to personal security, public participation and access to effective justice systems. A number of the Sustainable Development Goals currently under discussion have strong potential for preventing human rights violations

Preventing human rights violations is, of course, at the core of OHCHR’s mandate and activities. The measures at our disposal include public advocacy, education and awareness raising campaigns, quiet diplomacy and good offices; but also the very practical, hands-on work of capacity-building and technical assistance which we undertake through our field presences in 67 countries. We advise States on the design and implementation of laws, policies, thematic strategies and action plans, and have developed a variety of specific practical tools, including training materials, guidance notes and comprehensive databases.

However, at the end of the day, it is States themselves that are primarily responsible for preventing human rights violations. And here, we know what works: Effective and broadly accessible justice systems, backed by effective, human rights-compliant laws and institutions.

National human rights institutions can play a particularly vital role and Ms. Sima Samar will tell us more about the work of the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission. Currently it is mostly in the area of torture prevention that national human rights institutions have a specific preventive mandate, being designated as national preventive mechanisms under the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture, but this could very usefully be extended to other areas, such as violence against women.

Meanwhile, many regional organizations are also strengthening the preventive dimensions of their human rights activities. This is a very welcome move - robust national protection systems with a strong emphasis on preventive measures often need back up via preventive approaches by regional and international organs. We will hear more on this from Mr. Benyam Dawit Mezmur who will speak about the work of the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child.

Excellencies,

Prevention is not easy. But we know that it works and pays off. All of us know of situations where violations of human rights were recognized, acknowledged and resolved at an early stage; and where mass atrocities and conflicts therefore were averted. I welcome your thoughts on how we can become even better at preventing violations and look forward to your discussions.

Thank you.