Welcome to BASE21

By Lee Seung-Hyoon
Director of Pax Romana in Geneva

"Stay outside of the system". This is a piece of advice that Kofi Annan, UN Secretary General, gave to Mary Robinson, the then President of Ireland, when he nominated her as UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in 1997.
Working for the UN for 4 and half years now, Mary Robinson has stood watching and screening the UN and its members with an eye for protecting human rights. The High Commissioner will finish her tenure in September and will be out of the UN for a while.

Who will take over her role? The list of candidates recommended or volunteered, both within and outside of the UN, and with a variety of interests, has a lot of draw attention.
Candidates include, Eri Dinskbir, former Czech Minister of Foreign Affairs of Czech; Mikail Gerema, Polands former Minister of Foreign Affairs; former Minister of Foreign Affairs in Thailand, Sulin Pitsuwan; Han Seung Soo, present Chairman of UN General Assembly and was former Minister of Foreign Affairs in China; and Serjio Biera De Melo, the Brazilian UN East Timor Administrative Officer.

But the reaction of human rights related NGOs are straightforward about those mentioned.
One human rights specialist from Geneva says, "Of course, it is a matter of capability of each candidate first. But considering their background as minister, he would probably have too many barriers to handle global human right issues efficiently .
"To keep political independence and continue protecting and the growth of human rights in the world full of political pressure and all sort of lobby groups, the High Commissioner needs to be at least of former president level", he added.

High Commissioner Robinson announced in March that she will not pursue reappointment and said, "I would never apologize for being uncompromising and honest in my opinions".
Although she accepted Kofi Annan's earnest desire to continue her post for another year, she has actively expressed her opinions on major human right issues after being relieved from the appointment.

At the International Racial Discrimination Abolition Conference, held in Durban South Africa, Robinson proposed that European countries should make official apologies to past colonial countries for the slave system. She also criticized England about racial incidents involving Asian residents.

After the September 11 terrorist attacks, she denounced terrorism as, "Anti-human and criminal", but continued practical points of view that anti-terrorism action needed to be done based on protecting basic human rights.
When the US's one-sided, anti-terrorism policy violated massive human rights, she maintained a firm posture saying, "No anti-war action should be executed with the cost of human rights".
Along with the International Red Cross, she strongly urged the US to apply the Geneva Convention to Taleban and Al-Queda members detained at its Guantanamo military base in Cuba.

As a matter of fact, she has visited over 60 countries accused of human rights violations during her term and never hesitated to criticise the related country.
When the Palestine issue worsened, she submitted a report regarding Israel's excessive use of military power after visiting a Palestinian occupied area of Israel early last year, which brought strong protest from the Israeli government.
She tried to visit places related to the human rights abuses in Chechnya, but the Russian military opposed her visiting and Russian President, Vladimir Putin denied her request to interview victims.

Her provocative actions have brought repulse from many countries and tension and conflict have not stopped. People against her have gained in number. Governments in Asia, like China, India, Pakistan, Indonesia, Malaysia have said, "High Commissioner Robinson is abusing her authority and intervening in domestic issues".

An expert who is familiar with the inner workings of the UN says, "Nominating and reappointing the High Commissioner is a decision made by the UN Secretary General, with approval from permanent members of the UN Security Council .
Her abandoning reappointment is a logical conclusion as she acted without compromise, he added.

Having a UN High Commission for Human Rights is one major outcomes of the Vienna World Human Rights Convention in 1993. Jose Ayala Laso, former Minister of Foreign Affairs in Ecuador, was the first person appointed to the position in 1994, and it has been claimed hat he had a poor attitude regarding human rights.

Robinson, nominated in 1997, was measured up against him in every aspect, but due to her active work, human rights issue became a major issue and now no country can be recognised on the world stage if it denies or abuses human rights.

For all her achievements, the World Conference Against Racism, managed under her authority, has only been half a success and the area remains weak and wounded. The US and Israel withdrew their delegations, protesting against an Arab nations unilateral anti-Israel resolution.
The Conference could barely avoid the disastrous result, due to a day late comprise made by South Africa, which represented the US, EU and Africa. And the shocking events of September 11, just three days before the Conference closing day, snatched away its outcome. Mary Robinsons dream was like a broken lotus blossom left in the mud.

The fostered mood of the world wide anti-terrorism action, taken after September 11 will surely be an ordeal and challenge to Robinson or the next High Commissioner. Some countries, previously under pressure to prevent human rights violations, are now restored to major resolutions to solve the problems of terrorism, there is an phenomenon that the matters of human rights are dealed slightly as the logics of national benefits and national security prominate. Most of the big countries that tasted bitter human rights abuse allegations from Robinson would not agree to nominate a strong person like her again.