Pillay faces a political minefield
Thalif Deen
Mary Robinson, a former United Nations High Commissioner for Human
Rights (HCHR), who faulted countries such as the United States, China
and Israel for transgressions of humanitarian law and civil liberties,
was forced to retire because of intense lobbying against an extended
tenure for her.
A former president of Ireland, Robinson was an outspoken critic of
human rights abuses and challenged Western nations on the legality of
the 1999 bombing of former Yugoslavia by Nato which resulted in civilian
casualties.
She was succeeded by Louise Arbour, a jurist from Canada, who was an
equally vociferous defender of human rights and was refused entry into
both North Korea and Burma.
The government of Sri Lanka rejected Arbour’s request for a human
rights field office in the capital, Colombo. When she visited Sri Lanka
early this year Arbour was asked why she wasn’t visiting Guantanamo Bay,
the now-infamous US detention centre for suspected terrorists.
And when she met US congressional leaders, they turned the question
around: why is she not visiting Burma, which has been roundly criticised
by the UN for human rights abuses? And why is she singling out the US?
Navanethem Pillay of South Africa, whose nomination as the new High
Commissioner for Human Rights was endorsed by the 192-member general
assembly on Monday, is walking into a political minefield — at a time
when human rights are being integrated into all activities in the UN
system, including socio-economic activities.
She also takes office as the UN commemorates the 60th anniversary of
the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the security council is
deadlocked over human rights issues in Sudan, Zimbabwe, Burma and
Israeli-occupied territories.
Pillay (67) will hold office for four years. She will be based in
Geneva, oversee a staff of more than 1 000, spread across 50 countries,
and work with an annual budget of more than $150-million.
Since 2003 Pillay has served as a judge on the International Criminal
Court in The Hague and in 1999 was elected Judge President of the
Inter-national Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, where she served for eight
years.
Palitha Kohona, a former chief of the UN Treaty Section, said the
position of high commissioner is one of the most important appointments
at the UN.
“We are confident that [Pillay] will introduce the necessary balance
to ensure that human rights are strengthened and advanced in a practical
and effective manner across the globe,” he told IPS.
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