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The Future United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights

By Colum Murphy and Curtis Doebbler

ccun.org, March 19, 2008

 
The international human rights system is at a crossroads.
 
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (HCHR) announced on 7 March that she will be stepping down on June 30. Her announcement means that the UN Secretary-General must now appoint a new HCHR by June 2008.
 
The new HCHR will be the first to be appointed since the creation of the new UN Human Rights Council. In the time this new body has begun functioning it has highlighted the various views of states on how UN human rights mechanisms should work. Without doubt there have been divisions between the views of states, but there have also been some areas of agreement.
 
A new HCHR must forge these areas of agreement and potential agreement into a functioning Office that brings unity to human rights work throughout the UN system.
 
No easy task! The new HCHR will have to have strong qualities of creativity, entrepreneurship, personal diplomacy, a sense of history, vision and the ability to listen to disparate groups with genuine empathy. These are not always the qualities sought in a HCHR. But this time around they will be indispensable.
 
The new HCHR must be not only a proven champion of human rights but one who is also a consensus builder.
 
One area where consensus might be built is intercultural and inter-religious dialogue. A renewed interest in that dialogue can unite countries from the north and countries from the south. This dialogue is a mirror of the very qualities that a HCHR himself needs. It opens minds and hearts to understand the difference of social, cultural and religious views. It is an opportunity to search amongst this diversity for common ground upon which may be paved a path toward the full achievement of human rights. It is a dialogue that requires patience. But it also requires commitment. The new HCHR should not only be committed to this dialogue, he must nurture, support and contribute to leading it.
 
It is also past time to heal those divisions of the Cold War that artificially divided civil and political rights from economic, social and cultural rights. That false schism can now be healed. Civil and political rights should now appear in many of the same sentences and action plans as economic, social and cultural rights. Historically, it is time for a new holistic approach to human rights.
 
The Universal Periodic Review (UPR) mechanism that has been created under the new Human Rights Council will not only be a test of this new body’s achievements, but also of the HCHR’s ability to bring together countries to achieve greater respect for all human rights. This will require not only defending the UPR against the criticism that will undoubtedly come from a variety of quarters, but also ensuring that the mechanism is backed by the resources needed to make its promises--and its conclusions--a success.
 
Within the Office of the HCHR there will be a need for inclusiveness, respect, high morale and commitment. The HCHR is the most senior UN official working on human rights. The HCHR currently heads an office with almost 500 staff and some 20 offices around the world. The HCHR also contributes and supports yet other staff working on human rights issues with other UN bodies. The staff of the HCHR are the soul and face of the UN human rights work to the world. They must reflect the diversity and excellence that can be found in all countries. They must be inspired to work beyond the call of duty and duly recognized for the extraordinary effort they are frequently called upon to make. The Office of the HCHR is not a place for administrative wrangling or unfairness. The HCHR must rise above this and set an example of fairness and effectiveness both for the states that provide it the bulk of its resources, and for all states that are part of the UN. Perhaps most importantly, the Office of the HCHR must be the place where the most vulnerable people in the world, in all countries, can turn to for guidance and assistance in protecting their human rights.
 
A new HCHR will also have to bridge the gaps that have led to stagnation in the further development of human rights.
 
The outgoing High Commissioner has indicated that the gap between the developed and developing countries is widening and deepening. The new High Commissioner must address this slippery slope and refortify the common ground on which human rights are built. He will need to consult all states and regional groups to understand where consensus lies. While difficult, achieving this consensus is not at all impossible. But it will take commitment and sustained effort. 
 
The High Commissioner may be the UN’s most senior official working for human rights, but the HCHR also functions within a state system. Within this international system there are many different social, cultural and religious understandings and ways of looking at the world. The HCHR cannot favour any of these social, cultural and religious understandings but must respect them all.
 
This does not mean that the High Commissioner must be all things to all people. But in deciding on which points to stand firm and on which points to be flexible, the HCHR should go to great lengths to listen to the opinion of states and non-state actors coming from every corner of the world and reflecting different social, cultural and religious understandings. Making a real effort to do this will go some distance in legitimizing even difficult stances that might need to be taken.
 
Difficult challenges lie ahead for a new HCHR. They will require steering a carefully charted middle path between the interests of a right to development internationally and within states; pulling together civil and political rights and economic, social and cultural rights; between monitoring and implementation and cooperation and assistance.
 
Finally, the new HCHR must both have a sense of history and far-sighted vision. Tragically, in the scourge of major war has not yet been banished. Were they alive today, the founders of the UN and the authors of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights would surely urge us to reach out now, again, urgently, to find new consensus between East and West and North and South. Any other approach is dangerous.
 
No HCHR can make all states happy, there will be hard choices to make. But these choices must be confronted with the courage of a leader, the creativity of an entrepreneur, the skills of a manager, the empathy of a listener, and the commitment of a seasoned negotiator who is already committed to a new world of both peace and human rights for all. This person must, imperatively, be someone who will endlessly pursue the protection and promotion of human rights, not lecturing from an ivory tower but listening with empathy to all views, considering with understanding all views, and translating with vigour those vital views—against a canvas of the highest standards—into action that will be willingly accepted by all.
 
This then is the new international human rights cross-roads. With history accelerating as the interconnected world shrinks, a wise leadership choice can set us on the right path. The road ahead is perilous. We have no choice, however, but to go forward trying to seek consensus. This vital endeavour can be an attractive and inclusive journey that welcomes the company, the camaraderie, the individualism, the contributions, and the voices of all.
 
Dr. Colum Murphy is the founder and President of the Geneva School of Diplomacy and International Relations and Dr. Curtis Doebbler is an international human rights lawyer and Professor of Law at An-Najah National University.

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