Human Rights Council 34th Session

“The contribution of human rights to peacebuilding through the enhancement of dialogue and international cooperation for the promotion of human rights”

Statement by Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights

Geneva, 27 February 2017

Distinguished President of the General Assembly
Distinguished President of the Council,
Excellencies,
Colleagues and friends,

I am very glad that this annual high-level panel on human rights mainstreaming is addressing this essential topic. There is a crucial need for the UN's peacebuilding to integrate strong and forthright human rights contributions. Human rights do not only identify areas of grievance but underpin the work of resolving those grievances, thus ensuring the sustainability of all efforts to ensure peace and security. The human rights agenda is not just one entry point among others but a necessary one for prevention and peacebuilding.

Within this Council, it is widely understood that deprivation, discrimination and violations of human rights are at the root of virtually every conflict; and in such cases there can be no real hope of rebuilding and sustaining peace unless the underlying grievances are addressed.

To heal grievances requires thoughtful and principled investment, prioritising human dignity and viewing civil, cultural, economic, political, and social rights as indivisible. Broken national institutions must be pieced back together. Politics, justice, security and the provision of basic social services must be made more inclusive, so that they become better grounded in service to all the people. Effective structures must be devised to resolve disputes without violence, in ways which are adapted to the local context while also addressing the needs of communities traditionally ignored. Women, in virtually every post-conflict situation, are the actors who do most to rebuild communities devastated by war, and their inclusion in decision-making is crucial to enable the right decisions to be made.

Furthermore, accountability and transitional justice are essential to healing. When those responsible for crimes are neither investigated nor held to account, this heightens the grievances of victims and encourages perpetrators to commit more such crimes. Passed down from parents to children, these sentiments will lie in wait for the opportunity to burst forth into new cycles of violence.

My Office has worked in many countries recovering from conflict, institutional breakdown and destruction, and we know from experience that there is far greater likelihood of reconciliation when all sides are held accountable for violations that have been committed.

Using the broad human rights framework, which importantly also takes into account violations of economic, social and cultural rights, helps understand the structural violence, exclusion and inequality which breed violence. This economic inequality and insecurity must also be addressed for conflict prevention. The SDGs reflect a more balanced approach to development – not only generating economic growth for the wealthy, but also securing the right to development for those often deliberately left behind and marginalised. Mainstreaming the broad spectrum of human rights recommendations into all peacebuilding work is also essential to sustaining peace.

This Council's early warning efforts, as well as the preventive efforts of all the human rights mechanisms, operate in this interlocking area between human rights violations, escalation of crisis, and outbreak of violence; as well the opposite phenomenon – declining violence, increasing respect and inclusion, and a return to a stable, resilient and sustainable society. Switzerland's recent initiative to put human rights at the heart of conflict prevention once again emphases these links between conflict and human rights work.

But human rights and peacebuilding bodies have not always sufficiently shared their expertise, information and viewpoints. And the division of key parts of the UN into silos– peacebuilding work on the one hand; human rights on the other – has meant that our understanding of the link between justice and sustainable peace is still not always shared by all institutions and stakeholders within the international community.

There remains a degree of suspicion of the human rights agenda. We are told that human rights action interferes with efforts to restore a stable governing structure, and prevents actors from seeking more pragmatic solutions – a radical reversal of our vision of the deep positive benefits of human rights. We continue to see plans for transitional justice which are limited to security sector reform; the disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration of combatants; and broad references to healing and reconciliation which neglect the essential need for real accountability. And it is still the case that relevant officials do not always coordinate their missions and recommendations with Special Procedures mandate-holders and the treaty bodies, despite the depth and scope of their expertise.

I therefore commend the Council on its decision to hold today's in-depth discussion, which is very much in line with the Secretary-General's emphasis on greater coherence between the three pillars of the UN to make prevention not only a priority, but the priority.

I believe that stronger cooperation between this Council and both the Peacebuilding Commission and the Security Council is essential for more effective peacebuilding and prevention.

I look forward to much more regular and comprehensive human rights reporting to the Security Council in coming years. I have already suggested the possibility of the Security Council adopting a standing menu of possible responses to early warning alerts, such as rapid, flexible and resource-efficient human rights monitoring missions, limited in time and scope.

It also seems evident that the Human Rights Council and Peacebuilding Commission would both benefit extensively from a deeper understanding of each other’s' work, possibly including informal briefings by the Presidents of each body.

In general, there needs to be greater operational deployment of the recommendations and reports of human rights bodies, including reports by my Office, by Commissions of Inquiry and fact-finding missions and Special Procedures. The 2020 review of the treaty bodies may also provide an opportunity to better integrate their work into the operation of other UN entities, and to promote national ownership and inclusivity.

Thank you.