Day: August 25, 2022

Good morning. Thank you all for joining us today – in the room and online.

As you know, after four years as the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, my mandate ends next week, on 31 August.

The world has changed fundamentally over the course of my mandate.

I would say the profound impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the ever-increasing effects of climate change, and the reverberating shocks of the food, fuel and finance crisis resulting from the war against Ukraine have been the three major issues.

Polarization within and among States has reached extraordinary levels and multilateralism is under pressure.

Important protest movements occurred in every region of the world demanding an end to structural racism, respect for economic and social rights, and against corruption, governance deficits and abuse of power – in many instances accompanied by violence, threats and attacks against protesters and human rights defenders, and at some times against journalists. Some led to real change in the country. In other cases, rather than listening to the voices of the people, governments responded by shrinking the space for debate and dissent.

Over the past few months – once the COVID situation allowed me to resume official country visits – I have been to Burkina Faso, Niger, Afghanistan, China, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Peru and Bangladesh. I have been able to see first-hand the impact of climate change, armed conflict, the food-fuel-finance crisis, hateful rhetoric, systematic discrimination, and the human rights challenges around migration, among other issues.

The UN Human Rights Office has worked, in a myriad of ways, to help monitor, engage and advocate for the protection and promotion of human rights. As I have said before, at the UN, dialogue, engagement, cooperation, monitoring, reporting and public advocacy must all be part of our DNA. We have worked to try to help bridge the gap between government and civil society, to support national implementation of human rights obligations and advise on reforms to bring laws and policies into compliance with international standards, to expand our presences in-country so we are a in a better position to work closely with the people on the ground. We have spoken out in private and public on country-specific and broader issues. And we have seen some progress.

The recognition of the human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment by the UN General Assembly last month marked the culmination of many years of advocacy by civil society. I am proud of my Office’s support and strong backing of this movement throughout the course of my mandate. The extreme weather events of the past few months have again driven home, powerfully, the existential need for urgent action to protect our planet for current and future generations. Meeting this need is the greatest human rights challenge of this era – and all States have an obligation to work together on this, and to walk the talk, to fully implement the right to a healthy environment. The response to the triple planetary crisis of pollution, climate change and biodiversity loss must be centred in human rights, including the rights to participation, access to information and justice, and by addressing the disproportionate impact of environmental harms on the most marginalized and disadvantaged.

There has also been steady progress towards abolition of the death penalty – some 170 States have abolished or introduced a moratorium, in law or in practice, or suspended executions for more than 10 years. The Central African Republic, Chad, Kazakhstan, Sierra Leone and Papua New Guinea are among those who have taken steps to fully abolish the death penalty. Other States, including Liberia and Zambia are also actively considering abolition. Malaysia announced that it will abolish the country’s mandatory death penalty, including for drug related offences. As of today, 90 States have ratified the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the key international treaty prohibiting the use of the death penalty. Concerns remain, however, about the increased use or resumption of capital punishment in other countries, including Iran, Saudi Arabia, Myanmar and Singapore, and others like China and Viet Nam continue to classify data on its use as a State secret, limiting the possibility of scrutiny.

I have – from the beginning of my mandate – pushed for greater recognition of the indivisibility and interdependence of economic, social and cultural rights with civil and political rights. The effects of the pandemic and the war in Ukraine have brought into stark focus this interdependence.

States must draw lessons from the pandemic and the current food-fuel-finance crisis by designing long-term measures to build better and stronger universal public health and social protection systems. Social protection coverage must facilitate access to health care, protect people against poverty and ensure essential economic and social rights, including food, water, housing, health and education. I also call on States to adopt proactive measures, including food, agriculture and fuel subsidies, to mitigate the impact of the crises.

All of this needs to be designed with people as part of the solution, through investment in inclusive, safe and meaningful channels for debate and participation at all levels.

Governing is tough – I know because I have twice been President of my country, Chile. There are always many pressing demands, challenges and problems to address. But governing is about prioritizing – and human rights must always be a priority. In many situations my Office has been covering, there is a lack of political will to take the necessary steps to really tackle a situation head on. Political will is key – and where there is a will, there is a way.

States often invoke their own particular context when faced with allegations of human rights violations and when called upon to take steps to address them. Context is indeed important – but context must never be used to justify human rights violations.

In many instances, sustained advocacy on key human rights issues, grounded in international human rights laws and standards, bears fruit. In Colombia this month, the incoming administration has pledged a shift in its approach on drug policy – from a punitive to a more social and public health approach. By addressing one of the deep-rooted causes of violence in Colombia, this approach could be instrumental to better protect the rights of peasants, indigenous and Afro-Colombian communities and of people who use drugs, both in Colombia and globally. My Office has been advocating – globally – for a human rights-based approach on drug policy, and is ready to assist.

The worldwide mobilization of people for racial justice, notably in 2020, has forced a long-delayed reckoning with racial discrimination and shifted debates towards a focus on systemic racism and the institutions that perpetrate it. I call on all States to seize this moment to achieve a turning point for racial equality and justice. My Office is working on its second report to the UN Human Rights Council on this issue, to be presented next month.

I have always sought – even on the most challenging issues – to encourage dialogue, to open the door for further exchanges. This means listening as well as speaking, keeping our eyes and ears to the context, identifying entry points and roadblocks, and trying to build trust incrementally, even when it seems unlikely.

During my four years as High Commissioner, I had the privilege of speaking to so many courageous, spirited, extraordinary human rights defenders:

The brave, indomitable women human rights defenders in Afghanistan;

The determined mothers of the disappeared in Mexico;

The inspirational staff working at a health centre in Bunia in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, serving victims of sexual violence;

The wisdom and strength of indigenous peoples in Peru, who are on the frontlines of the impact of climate change, illegal mining and logging, and defend their rights in the face of serious risks;

And the empathy and generosity of communities hosting internally displaced people in Burkina Faso.

I found allies in traditional village leaders in Niger, who were working in their own ways to advance human rights in their communities; I met young people from Malaysia, Sweden, Australia, Costa Rica and elsewhere whose resourcefulness, creativity and ambition was palpable;

I shared the pain of the father in Venezuela who showed me the sports medals his teenage son had won, before he was killed during protests in 2017;

And I shared the tears of the mother I met in Srebrenica who carried hope that 27 years after her son disappeared, she will one day find his remains and lay him to rest next to his father’s grave.

Last week, I spoke with Rohingya refugees in Cox’s Bazar.

One teacher I met told me he had earned distinctions in all his classes at school in Myanmar and had dreamed of being a doctor. Instead, he has spent the past five years in a refugee camp, having had to flee his country – because he is Rohingya. “I still cry at night sometimes when I remember my dream,” he told me, adding that “my Buddhist friends are now doctors in Myanmar.”

My own experience as a refugee was much more comfortable, with the means to continue my education and with a good standard of living – but the yearning for one’s homeland, the desire of so many of the Rohingya to return home resonated deeply with me. Sadly, the conditions needed for them to be able to return to their homes in a voluntary, dignified and sustainable way are not there yet.

Today marks five years since more than 700,000 Rohingya women, children and men were forced to flee Myanmar for Bangladesh – and Myanmar’s human rights catastrophe continues to worsen, with the military (the Tatmadaw) maintaining military operations in Kayah and Kayin in the southeast; Chin state in the northwest; and Sagaing and Magway regions in the Bamar heartland. The use of air power and artillery against villages and residential areas has intensified. Recent spikes in violence in Rakhine State also seemed to indicate that the last fairly stable area of the country may not avoid a resurgence of armed conflict. Rohingya communities have frequently been caught between the Tatmadaw and Arakan Army fighters or have been targeted directly in operations. Over 14 million need humanitarian assistance.

We continue to document gross human rights violations and serious violations of international humanitarian law on a daily basis, including repression against protesters and attacks against civilians that may amount to crimes against humanity and war crimes.

I urge the international community to intensify pressure on the military to stop its campaign of violence against the people of Myanmar, to insist on prompt restoration of civilian rule, and accountability for violations committed by security forces.

Yesterday marked six months since Russia’s armed attack. Six unimaginably terrifying months for the people of Ukraine, 6.8 million of whom have had to flee their country. Millions others have been internally displaced. We have documented at least 5,587 civilians killed and 7,890 injured. Of these casualties, nearly 1,000 are children.

Six months on, the fighting continues, amid almost unthinkable risks posed to civilians and the environment as hostilities are conducted close to the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant.

I call on the Russian President to halt armed attack against Ukraine.

The Zaporizhzhia plant needs to be immediately demilitarized.

Both parties must respect, at all times and in all circumstances, international human rights law and international humanitarian law.

The international community must insist on accountability for the many serious violations documented, some of which may amount to war crimes.

I am alarmed by the resumption of hostilities in northern Ethiopia. Civilians have suffered enough – and this will only exacerbate the suffering of civilians already in desperate need. I implore the Government of Ethiopia and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front to work to de-escalate the situation and immediately cease hostilities.

I also urge a renewed focus by the international community on protracted – often forgotten – crises including the situation in Yemen, Syria, the Sahel and Haiti.

And I urge continued support for the UN Human Rights Office, the UN human rights treaty bodies, and the UN Special Procedures mechanism, all of which work tirelessly in defence of international human rights laws and standards.

The journey to defend human rights never ends – and vigilance against roll-backs of rights is vital. I honour all those who, in their own ways, are working to defend human rights. As a woman and a lifelong feminist, I want to pay particular tribute to women human rights defenders, who have been at the forefront of social movements that have benefitted all of us. They have often been the ones bringing to the table the unheard voices of the most vulnerable. I will continue to stand with you as I return home to Chile.

To end, I would like to thank you journalists, based here in Geneva and across the globe, for the indispensable work that you do. When we in the UN Human Rights Office raise the alarm, it is crucial that it rings loudly, and this is only possible when the world’s media gets the stories out there.

I thank you.

Source: United Nations Human Rights

A decade after his triumphant return to Tunisia after years in political exile, Rached Ghannouchi is keenly aware that he and his Islamist-inspired Ennahdha party may again be pushed into the political wilderness.

“Probably after a while, this meeting we’re having right now won’t be possible,” Ennahdha’s leader tells VOA in a recent interview at his Tunis office. He is flanked by two Tunisian flags. A third is pinned on his jacket.

“They might close Ennahdha’s headquarters,” Ghannouchi adds of state authorities under the tightening grip of President Kais Saied. He speaks in Arabic, but his English—sharpened from two decades of exile in Britain—is good enough to correct his translator.

Once Tunisia’s leading post-revolution force and part of every power-sharing government for a decade, Ennahdha has seen its fortunes plummet over the turbulent years since the country’s 2011 popular uprising.

Even as the party helped draft groundbreaking laws and the most progressive constitution in the Arab world—since replaced by a much-criticized new charter—Ennahdha also earned a large share of blame, fairly or unfairly, for growing economic stagnation, widespread corruption and political turmoil.

Its 81-year-old leader is particularly polarizing. Alternatively praised for putting a moderate, pragmatic stamp on political Islam, and criticized for fueling gridlock, Ghannouchi divides even his own party.

More than 100 senior members quit over Ghannouchi’s initially conciliatory response to President Saied’s power grab last year, which Ennahdha and other opposition groups call a ‘coup.’

Now, as Saied hardens his rule and rhetoric against Ennahdha in particular, the party’s fate is uncertain. Some analysts predict it could ultimately bounce back, along with Islamist movements in places like Egypt and Morocco, which briefly took wing with the Arab Spring.

But a number of observers say that resurrecting the “Renaissance” party, as Ennahdha is known in Arabic, may come at the price of its aging longtime leader.

“For the sake of Ennahdha, as well as Tunisian democracy,” Tunisian academic Haythem Guesmi wrote in Al Jazeera, “Ghannouchi should move to hand over the control of the party to someone who can connect with voters and unite them against Saied.”

Mistakes but not sins

Ghannouchi doesn’t see things that way. “It’s up to the people to decide” when he retires, he says.

But he has hardened his approach to Saied. Earlier this year, Ghannouchi joined forces with one-time rivals in the National Salvation Front coalition opposing the president’s authoritarian rule.

“The question in Tunisia is no longer whether you’re called Ennahdha, or Qalb Tounes,” says fellow member Samira Chaouachi, who heads the staunchly secular Qalb Tounes party. “The question is whether people are for or against democracy.”

Still the opposition is splintered, with some refusing to join forces with Ennahdha — reflecting a broader antipathy shared by many ordinary Tunisians.

“Everyone is responsible” for Tunisia’s problems, says 74-year-old leftist activist Hamda Moammar, who joined a recent anti-Saied demonstration. “But especially Ennahdha. It’s always wanted to mix religion with politics.”

Adding to Ennahdha’s challenges are judicial headaches. Since Saied’s power grab, opposition politicians including Ennahdha have faced house arrest or been targeted in judicial investigations over a raft of allegations. Some face travel bans — or have gone abroad to pre-empt them.

In recent weeks, Ghannouchi has been questioned over money laundering among other allegations that he dismisses as politically motivated.

“We’ve made mistakes, but not sins,” he says of the party’s time in power-sharing governments, expressing regret for their failure to grow the economy and deliver jobs—especially to youth.

“Our priorities were freedom and stability,” he adds. “But we didn’t pay enough attention to the socio-economic issues.”

Political headwinds

Ghannouchi is no stranger to political headwinds. Jailed in the 1980s under Tunisia’s past two authoritarian rulers, who rounded up thousands of Ennahdha members, he later sought refuge in Britain.

More than two decades later, after Tunisia’s 2011 so-called Jasmine revolution, he finally returned—welcomed at Tunis’ airport by thousands of cheering supporters. Ennahdha won the country’s first free elections later that year, with 37% of the vote.

Those heady days are long over. Experts estimate Ennahdha currently has about 10% support.

“Ennahdha has focused more on positioning its leaders in chairs of power than on really building forward-thinking visions and platforms that address bread-and-butter issues,” says Tunisia analyst Monica Marks of New York University Abu Dhabi.

But other Tunisian parties did the same, adds Marks, who believes anti-Ennahdha sentiments—fanned by Saied—amount to a “dangerous distraction” from very real threats to democracy that Tunisia’s current leader presents.

Analyst Hamadi Redissi is more critical — especially of Ghannouchi, who was speaker of Tunisia’s last parliament, which Saied dissolved in March.

“Ennahdha is a failed movement now,” he says.

“But if Kais Saied remains in power,” Redissi adds, and fails to grow the economy, “probably Ennahdha will recover.”

Closing door for dialogue

Not so long ago, Saied and Ghannouchi seemed on the same page. Both were religious conservatives. Ennahdha sought Saied’s advice during his former days as a law lecturer.

Ghannouchi’s party also backed Saied during his 2019 landslide victory that catapulted the party-less political neophyte to the pinnacle of power.

But relations quickly soured after Saied took office and Ghannouchi took the helm of a squabbling, gridlocked legislature.

Still, Ghannouchi initially called for dialogue after Saied seized emergency powers last year, amid massive protests and a sliding economy. Ghannouchi’s conciliatory approach drove some 113 senior Ennahdha members to leave; dozens demanded he not run again as party leader.

Nonetheless, longtime Ennahdha supporter Abdel Fatah Bouani believes Ghannouchi’s course was right.

“We want real dialogue, civilized dialogue in which everyone can participate,” Bouani says.

That seems increasingly unlikely.

Political scientist Andrew March, who is co-authoring a book on Ghannouchi, offers up worst-case scenarios for Ennahdha. They could include President Saied banning parties with a religious identity—or striking deals with other opposition groups that effectively sideline Ennahdha.

Describing Ghannouchi as “savvy and patient,” March says Ennahdha’s leader will do “what he thinks is most expedient” for his party’s survival—and to keep it from being labeled extremist.

“My guess is that he will avoid confrontations that could give the state an excuse to escalate repression,” March said in a recent interview with Brandeis University. “Even if this means he ends his career in house arrest—or even prison.”

Chaima Issa, a civil society leader who is part of the Salvation Front coalition, praises Ghannouchi as a “courageous man.”

“Rached Ghannouchi is doing a lot to bring this country back to a democracy, to defend the institutions,” she says. But Issa doesn’t see Ghannouchi—or any other veteran of Tunisia’s rocky transition—as part of the country’s future.

“We don’t want to deal with old hatreds and misunderstandings from past eras,” she says. “We need a new narrative.”

Source: Voice of America