HUMAN RIGHTS: Brazilian to Succeed Mary Robinson in UN

By Gustavo Capdevila Reprint | | Print |

Gustavo Capdevila

GENEVA, Jul 22 2002 (IPS) - Brazilian United Nations career diplomat Sergio Vieira de Mello will replace former Irish president Mary Robinson as UN high commissioner for human rights on Sep 12.

Vieira de Mello, who headed the UN operation in East Timor until last May, was designated Monday by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. His decision had the backing of powers like the United States, according to human rights organisations in Geneva. The UN general assembly is expected to approve the appointment Tuesday.

Vieira de Mello “brings to the job an impressive diplomatic and UN background, but he lacks hands-on human rights experience,” Kenneth Roth, executive director of the New York- based Human Rights Watch, said Monday. “The challenge he faces is to prove that he will stand up to governments and be an unwavering voice on behalf of the victims of human rights abuse.”

The Brazilian government did not present any candidate for the highest position on human rights in the UN system, according to diplomatic sources in that country. In fact, Vieira de Mello, a career UN employee since the age of 21, has never held a post in the Brazilian government.

From 1969 to 1997, Vieira de Mello served in posts linked to the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, and has been posted to countries like Switzerland, Bangladesh, Cyprus, Lebanon, Peru, Sudan, and Mozambique.

Vieira de Mello, who holds doctorate degrees in philosophy and social sciences from the Sorbonne in Paris, will be the second Latin American to hold the office of high commissioner for human rights.

The post was created in 1994 by then-UN secretary-general Boutros Boutros-Ghali, who named Ecuadorean diplomat José Ayala Lasso as the first to hold the post.

Ayala Lasso was replaced in 1997 by former Irish president Mary Robinson, a lawyer with extensive experience in the field of human rights, and especially in the defence of women’s rights in her country.

Robinson’s performance in the Wilson palace, the headquarters of the office of the high commissioner for human rights in Geneva, has awakened varied reactions. She enjoyed broad support from human rights groups but drew criticism from a number of governments, especially the major powers, Israel and several Arab nations.

Robinson was an extremely active high commissioner. She kept contact with operations on the ground, visited more than 60 countries in five years, and put priority on relations with human rights defenders.

But her stance towards the political and legal changes that have occurred in the world since the Sep 11 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington sealed her fate, earning her the open antagonism of Washington.

Robinson’s relations with the United States, Israel and many European Union countries severely deteriorated during the preparations for the World Conference Against Racism, held last year in Durban, South Africa, and during the meeting itself.

The U.S. and Israeli delegations stormed out of the conference before it ended over attempts by some countries to identify Zionism with racism.

Nor were most of the EU delegations pleased, due to pressure from former colonies and countries in Africa that the EU recognise their right to moral and economic reparations for the damages caused by colonialism and slavery.

Robinson’s stance was closely aligned with the position taken by the bloc of developing countries.

During her term as high commissioner for human rights, she also promoted human rights in Chechnya, where independence fighters are involved in a struggle with Russian forces, and in China.

In March 2001, at the start of the annual meeting of the UN human rights commission, Robinson announced that she would not seek a second mandate. But a month later, under pressure from Annan, she changed her mind.

Nevertheless, in March this year she stated that she would definitely not stand for a second term. The continued decline of her relations with the U.S. government was a key factor in her final decision, according to analysts.

Since Sep 11, the high commissioner has accused several governments of using special powers aimed at fighting terrorism to restrict human rights.

Robinson said she had received reports from human rights defenders, trade unionists and journalists from around the world denouncing governments for cracking down on opposition and limiting freedom of expression, on the excuse of fighting terrorism.

The high commissioner also criticised the conditions in which former fighters of the Muslim fundamentalist Taliban movement and the Al-Qaeda network, captured by U.S. forces during the war on Afghanistan, were being held at the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo, Cuba. She also complained that they were not granted the status of “prisoner of war.”

Several sources said the U.S. government of George W. Bush pressured Annan to keep Robinson from completing her second four- year term.

Sources close to Robinson said that after Sep 12, when she is replaced by Vieira de Mello, she will dedicate herself to development aid issues.

Vieira de Mello will be one of two Brazilians currently holding a high-level UN office. Rubens Ricupero is currently serving his second term as secretary-general of the UN Conference on Trade and Development.

Another Brazilian, José Bustani, was removed from his post as director-general of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons early this year. As in the case of Robinson, Washington had lobbied for Bustani’s removal.