WUNRN
"She
emphasized that discrimination on the basis of gender remained a major concern.
“Such discrimination makes the Universal Declaration’s promise an empty pledge
for millions of women and girls”, she said."
UN
High Commissioner’s First Speech to the Human Rights Council
High
Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay opened the ninth Session of the Human
Rights Council this week highlighting the importance of impartiality and
adherence to the standard represented by the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights, which is “applied equally to all without political consideration.”
“I start from the
premise that the credibility of human rights work depends on its commitment to
truth, with no tolerance for double standards or selective application,” the
High Commissioner said in her first speech to the Human Rights Council.
“Sustained
by the United Nations principles of impartiality, independence and integrity,”
she said, “I am determined to follow in the footsteps of my predecessors who
envisaged and shaped their office as a springboard for the betterment and
welfare of all and a place where all are given a fair audience.”
Pillay, who
took office as High Commissioner on 1 September, noted that 2008 contains a
number of important human rights milestones – including the 60th anniversaries
of the Genocide Convention on 9 December, of the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights the following day, and the twin 10th anniversaries of the Declaration on
human rights defenders and of the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement,
as well as the 15th anniversary of the Vienna Conference.
She reminded
participants of the 9th session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva that both
the Universal Declaration and the Genocide Convention “grew out of the
Holocaust, but we have yet to learn the lesson of the Holocaust, as genocide
continues.”
Drawing on
her extensive experience as a leading member of the emerging international
justice system dealing with war crimes and crimes against humanity, the High
Commissioner made a powerful call for a stronger focus on preventing genocide,
as well as the “cycles of violence, the mobilization of fear and the political
exploitation of difference – ethnic, racial and religious difference” that lead
to it.
“Genocide is
the ultimate form of discrimination,” she said. “We must all do everything in
our power to prevent it. What I learned as a judge on the Rwanda Tribunal about
the way in which one human being can abuse another, will haunt me forever.”
Pillay, who
was herself the victim of both racial and gender discrimination in apartheid
South Africa, said that development, security, peace and justice are all
undermined “when discrimination and inequality – both in blatant and subtle
ways – are allowed to fester and to poison harmonious coexistence.”
She urged
states not to let “diverging points of view” deter them from taking part in a
key anti-racism review conference (the ‘Durban Review Conference’) scheduled
for April 2009. “I do not believe that ‘all or nothing’ is the right approach
to affirm one’s principles or to win an argument,” she said. “… The process
will certainly benefit from active participation by all states… Should
differences be allowed to become pretexts for inaction, the hopes and
aspirations of the many victims of intolerance would be dashed perhaps
irreparably.”
The High
Commissioner also noted that “rights to freedom of expression, association and
assembly, which are indispensable to the functioning of civil society, have
come under sustained attack in all regions of the world.”
She encouraged
civil society to be constantly vigilant and to make good use of the UN human
rights mechanisms to defend its rights and prerogatives.
She
emphasized that discrimination on the basis of gender remained a major concern.
“Such discrimination makes the Universal Declaration’s promise an empty pledge
for millions of women and girls”, she said.
“No effort
should be spared to persuade countries to repeal laws and practices that
continue to reduce women and girls to second-class citizens despite international
standards and despite the specific commitments that have been made to throw out
these laws and customs.”
Pillay
concluded her speech by reiterating her commitment to human rights. “As the new
High Commissioner for Human Rights, and as an individual who has in her life
faced mighty challenges,” she said, “I will spare no effort in the pursuit and
advocacy of human rights.”
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