A Nova Alta Comissária dos Direitos Humanos das Nações Unidas, Navi Pillay tomou posse no dia 1 de setembro. Abrindo a 9ª. Sessão do Conselho de Direitos Humanos abordou dentre outros temas A Conferência de Avaliação de Durban, prevista para abril de 2009.
Navi Pillay, que é de origem hindu e da África do Sul, vem do sistema internacional de justiça, onde teve extensa experiência com a questão do genocídio e crimes contra a humanidade. Pillay trabalhou no Tribunal de Rwanda e considera o genocídio a última forma de discriminação.Tendo sido vítima de discriminação racial e de gênero no regime do apartheid na África do Sul, Pillay considera que o desenvolvimento,a segurança, a paz e a justiça são minados quando se permite que a discriminação e a desigualdade, de forma aberta ou sutil, infestem e envenenem as relações sociais.
Com relação à Conferência de Avaliação de Durban, ela apela aos Estados para que as divergências de ponto de vista não os impeçam de participar . Ela considera que o “tudo ou nada” não é a abordagem correta para se afirmar os seus princípios e argumentos. A Alta Comissária considera que o processo de avaliação se beneficiará com a participação de todos os Estados. “Se as diferenças se transformarem em pretextos para a falta de ação, as esperanças e aspirações de muitas vítimas da intolerância serão prejudicadas talvez irreversivelmente”, declarou.
*** Por Edna Roland, com base na Nota de Imprensa publicada abaixo pelo Alto Comissariado das Nações Unidas.
Navi Pillay, que é de origem hindu e da África do Sul, vem do sistema internacional de justiça, onde teve extensa experiência com a questão do genocídio e crimes contra a humanidade. Pillay trabalhou no Tribunal de Rwanda e considera o genocídio a última forma de discriminação.Tendo sido vítima de discriminação racial e de gênero no regime do apartheid na África do Sul, Pillay considera que o desenvolvimento,a segurança, a paz e a justiça são minados quando se permite que a discriminação e a desigualdade, de forma aberta ou sutil, infestem e envenenem as relações sociais.
Com relação à Conferência de Avaliação de Durban, ela apela aos Estados para que as divergências de ponto de vista não os impeçam de participar . Ela considera que o “tudo ou nada” não é a abordagem correta para se afirmar os seus princípios e argumentos. A Alta Comissária considera que o processo de avaliação se beneficiará com a participação de todos os Estados. “Se as diferenças se transformarem em pretextos para a falta de ação, as esperanças e aspirações de muitas vítimas da intolerância serão prejudicadas talvez irreversivelmente”, declarou.
*** Por Edna Roland, com base na Nota de Imprensa publicada abaixo pelo Alto Comissariado das Nações Unidas.
High Commissioner’s First Speech to the Human Rights Council
High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay opened the ninth Session of the Human Rights Council this week highlighting the importance of impartiality and adherence to the standard represented by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which is “applied equally to all without political consideration.”
“I start from the premise that the credibility of human rights work depends on its commitment to truth, with no tolerance for double standards or selective application,” the High Commissioner said in her first speech to the Human Rights Council.
“Sustained by the United Nations principles of impartiality, independence and integrity,” she said, “I am determined to follow in the footsteps of my predecessors who envisaged and shaped their office as a springboard for the betterment and welfare of all and a place where all are given a fair audience.”
Pillay, who took office as High Commissioner on 1 September, noted that 2008 contains a number of important human rights milestones – including the 60th anniversaries of the Genocide Convention on 9 December, of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights the following day, and the twin 10th anniversaries of the Declaration on human rights defenders and of the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement, as well as the 15th anniversary of the Vienna Conference.
She reminded participants of the 9th session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva that both the Universal Declaration and the Genocide Convention “grew out of the Holocaust, but we have yet to learn the lesson of the Holocaust, as genocide continues.”
Drawing on her extensive experience as a leading member of the emerging international justice system dealing with war crimes and crimes against humanity, the High Commissioner made a powerful call for a stronger focus on preventing genocide, as well as the “cycles of violence, the mobilization of fear and the political exploitation of difference – ethnic, racial and religious difference” that lead to it.
“Genocide is the ultimate form of discrimination,” she said. “We must all do everything in our power to prevent it. What I learned as a judge on the Rwanda Tribunal about the way in which one human being can abuse another, will haunt me forever.”
Pillay, who was herself the victim of both racial and gender discrimination in apartheid South Africa, said that development, security, peace and justice are all undermined “when discrimination and inequality – both in blatant and subtle ways – are allowed to fester and to poison harmonious coexistence.”
She urged states not to let “diverging points of view” deter them from taking part in a key anti-racism review conference (the ‘Durban Review Conference’) scheduled for April 2009. “I do not believe that ‘all or nothing’ is the right approach to affirm one’s principles or to win an argument,” she said. “… The process will certainly benefit from active participation by all states… Should differences be allowed to become pretexts for inaction, the hopes and aspirations of the many victims of intolerance would be dashed perhaps irreparably.”
The High Commissioner also noted that “rights to freedom of expression, association and assembly, which are indispensable to the functioning of civil society, have come under sustained attack in all regions of the world.”
She encouraged civil society to be constantly vigilant and to make good use of the UN human rights mechanisms to defend its rights and prerogatives.
She emphasized that discrimination on the basis of gender remained a major concern. “Such discrimination makes the Universal Declaration’s promise an empty pledge for millions of women and girls”, she said.
“No effort should be spared to persuade countries to repeal laws and practices that continue to reduce women and girls to second-class citizens despite international standards and despite the specific commitments that have been made to throw out these laws and customs.”
Pillay concluded her speech by reiterating her commitment to human rights. “As the new High Commissioner for Human Rights, and as an individual who has in her life faced mighty challenges,” she said, “I will spare no effort in the pursuit and advocacy of human rights.”
September 2008
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