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Bad
governance at root of many gross violations of human rights
-UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
Wednesday, December 10th 2003
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Acting United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Bertrand Ramcharan, says that human rights are being grossly violated throughout the world because of poverty, conflicts, terrorism, violence, prejudice and bad governance. "Let us be honest and recognise that bad governance is at the root of many of the afflictions of the world's peoples and of the gross violations of human rights that are rampant in the contemporary world. Equity and the stronger protection of human rights demand better governance," Dr Ramcharan declared in a message for today's observance of Human Rights Day. Notwithstanding the lofty commitments in the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action and the more recent commitment to human rights values in the Millennium Declaration (2000), he notes, the universality of human rights remains formal rather than real in the contemporary world, while inequalities and injustices against women and children are commonplace alongside racism and racial discrimination. Dr Ramcharan asserts also that the struggle for equality and non-discrimination must be a rallying struggle of the human rights movement. And he says further that the struggle against poverty must remain at the forefront of the human rights movement. In his message he also observes that in today's world ians are deliberately targeted in conflicts and the rules of international human rights and humanitarian laws are flouted with impunity. Pointing out that contemporary conflicts wreak havoc on the human rights of millions, the UN official says it is therefore of the utmost urgency to intensify efforts for the prevention of conflicts - nationally, regionally and internationally. "The prevention of conflicts means the prevention of gross violations of human rights," Ramcharan contends. He is also urging the international human rights movement to speak out against terrorism with all the force at its command, noting that terrorists kill, maim, terrify and threaten without compunction. He says further: "I call upon each government to review the adequacy of its protection mechanisms at home. I call upon sub-regional and regional organizations to ask what more they could do to strengthen human rights protection." He also challenged a number of organs within the United Nations system and human rights treaty bodies to each consider what more it could do to strengthen human rights protection.
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