Remarks by High Commissioner for Human Rights yourHRC.org project launch (Norwegian PM and Universal Rights Group)

Tuesday, 15 December 2015

Greetings, and a particularly warm welcome to HRC President-elect Amb Choi Kyong-lim of RoK

From time to time, it is important for us to take stock of our actions and, with our desired goals in mind, to reflect on the progress we have made and on our shortcomings; to note what has worked well and what has not worked so well; and where we should focus more, or perhaps less, of our energy.

This is a crucial exercise to help shape our decisions, determine our next moves and, ideally, build on our successes. It also helps us to respond in a principled manner to warning signs of potential crises on the horizon. 

As we have just heard, a lot has indeed been achieved recently on the human rights front, giving us good cause to applaud. These achievements are the culmination of determined and dedicated efforts by many stakeholders.

The “yourHRC” project being launched today provides us with irrefutable evidence, literally at our fingertips, of the many achievements of the Human Rights Council.

I take this opportunity to extend my gratitude to Ambassador Ruecker for guiding the Human Rights Council so skilfully throughout this year. Thanks to his efforts, the Council has demonstrated great flexibility in addressing pressing human rights matters in new innovative ways. The Corsier, Glion and Berlin dialogues have helped energize discussions in a dynamic and creative manner. And we were pleased as an Office to contribute and follow up to them as appropriate.

The sheer number of discussions, resolutions, debates, panels, reports, and wide range of issues addressed by the Council this year alone is striking. While this does generate a massive increase in workload for my Office, it certainly bodes well for all those who share our common goals to achieve human rights worldwide. We know too well that human rights violations are often the first indicators of instability. If it were not for the sharpened focus in the Human Rights Council on human rights and the violation of human rights, we would have minimal chances of preventing abuses and violations from occurring or becoming widespread.

However, juxtaposed to our many achievements are the gross injustices which persist in far too many parts of the world. It is certainly worth reflecting on why these injustices exist, despite our determined commitments to right these wrongs. It is also worth considering whether we are addressing these ills correctly. Do we have the right energy, focus or resolve?

Inequalities and discrimination continue to destroy the lives of millions of people, paving the way for instability, social unrest and conflict. The faces of desperate refugees and migrants fleeing atrocities, bitter poverty, places absent of even basic services, and where the rule of law is all but absent, fill the news pages every day. Some 2,000 children under the age of five die every day as a result of diseases linked to water, sanitation and hygiene. And over one billion adults are unable to read or write, while millions of children are deprived of basic education. Defenders in many parts of the world continue to be victims of assassination, disappearance, arbitrary detention, torture, death threats and various forms of harassment. Climate change continues to adversely affect the human rights of people all over the world, especially those living on the margins of society.

Set against this are the monstrous plagues of terrorism and other extremist acts, which have sadly become routine headlines and commonly feature in household conversations and social commentary. These vile acts have been generating fear and hysteria – as well as deeply troubling rhetoric that blindly apportions blame to innocent people simply because they look or behave in a certain way or follow a certain religion or belief. It is a sad testament to the state of political leadership when public officials capitalise on people’s anxieties, deepening already existing fears and breeding more shameful stereotyping.

These are daunting challenges for all of us in the international community and remain a priority for my Office to tackle.

The Human Rights Council has indeed proven itself as a body poised well to respond to human rights crises. This was proven time and time again in the wake of the Arab Spring, and yet again with the call for the special session you will hold this week on Burundi. The Council does indeed provide a vital stage to hear views, often those which would otherwise be drowned out.

But I believe the Human Rights Council can go even further. While discussions and debates are good starting points, in order to prevent and stamp out violations, we need to continue to work collectively in a variety of ways.

In my view, it is essential that the Council be as flexible as possible when addressing human rights situations, applying new methods in discussing matters important to us all. The enhanced dialogues and informal briefings held are, in my view, a step in the right direction. We have seen how human rights have increasingly been infused into Security Council discussions. Those encounters in New York serve as good examples of how States can react quickly to crises and could thus inspire our discussions here in Geneva. The discussions that you will need to have to further consolidate the good work of the UPR are of tremendous importance and require your focused attention. We cannot afford to see this incredibly helpful mechanism losing strength, disconnecting itself from the field, and becoming entangled in bureaucratic web.

We have all seen how the Council’s activities have intensified. With its packed agenda there is a real risk that the very messages you wish to convey become overshadowed. Ways to de-clutter overflowing programmes must be sought. More meetings could be held outside regular sessions, particularly panel discussions which risk losing visibility.  This might help sharpen our focus on the issues we want to highlight, giving them the proper attention they deserve.

Human rights cannot be realised unless these words, numbers and statistics, are translated into tangible results. Hence the importance of rendering the work of the Office and that of the Council and its mechanisms, particularly the UPR, the Special Procedures and its Treaty Bodies into concrete results on the ground.

It is challenging task for us to be able to make visible the success stories when we do manage to achieve tangible results. This yourHRC project helps provide the framework for this narrative. With imagination, reflection, commitment and political will we can and must transform this data into something meaningful for those we aim to serve.

Thank you.