Human Rights Diplomacy: Contemporary Perspectives

319 Pages·2011·3.423 MB·English

by  Zdzis?aw K?dzia, Amrei Müller and George Ulrich Michael OFlaherty

Human Rights Diplomacy:
Contemporary Perspectives
Nottingham Studies on
Human Rights
Published under the auspices of the Human Rights
Law Centre of the University of Nottingham
Edited by
Michael O’Flaherty
David Harris
VOLUME 1
The titles published in this series are listed at brill.nl/nshr
Human Rights Diplomacy:
Contemporary Perspectives
Edited by
Michael O’Flaherty
Zdzisław Kędzia
Amrei Müller
George Ulrich
LEIDEN • BOSTON
2011
This book is printed on acid-free paper.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Human rights diplomacy : contemporary perspectives / edited by Michael O'Flaherty ... [et al.].
p. cm. -- (Nottingham Studies on Human Rights ; v. 1)
Based on presentations from the High-Level Workshop on Human Rights Diplomacy at the
European Inter-University Centre for Human Rights and Democratisation (EIUC) in Venice,
30-31 January 2009.--Forword.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-90-04-19516-5 (hardback : alk. paper) 1. Human rights--Congresses.
I. O’Flaherty, Michael, solicitor.
K3239.8.H864 2011
341.4’8--dc23
2011034628
ISSN 2211-7342
ISBN 978 90 04 19516 5
Copyright 2011 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands.
Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Global Oriental, Hotei Publishing,
IDC Publishers, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers and VSP.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in
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Fees are subject to change.
CONTENTS
Foreword ....................................................................................................vii
Kyung-wha Kang
List of Contributors ...................................................................................xi
Acknowledgements ................................................................................xvii
1. Introduction. Human Rights Diplomacy—Contemporary
Perspectives .............................................................................................1
Michael O’Flaherty, Zdzisław Kędzia, Amrei Müller and
George Ulrich
2. Framework for the Analysis of Human Rights Diplomacy ...........19
George Ulrich
3. A Short Reflection on Human Rights Diplomacy ..........................43
Robert Archer
4. The Role of Human Rights Ambassadors in Human Rights
Diplomacy—Perspectives from Spain ..............................................59
Silvia Escobar
5. Human Rights Diplomacy of Small States .......................................69
Éamonn Mac Aodha
6. The European Union as a Human Rights Actor ..............................77
Toby King
7. Human Rights Diplomacy and the Council of
Europe Commissioner for Human Rights .....................................101
Thomas Hammarberg and Isil Gachet
8. Human Rights Diplomacy from a UN Perspective:
A Complement to Advocacy ...........................................................129
Ibrahim Salama
vi contents
9. The United Nations Human Rights Treaty Bodies
as Diplomatic Actors ......................................................................155
Michael O’Flaherty
10. The Human Rights Diplomacy of the UN
Secretary-General ...........................................................................173
Bertrand G. Ramcharan
11. Human Rights Diplomacy of the United Nations
Security Council ..............................................................................191
Joanna Weschler
12. Conference Diplomacy and Human Rights ................................201
Zdzisław Kędzia
13. Human Rights Diplomacy: The NGO Role .................................217
Peggy Hicks
14. National Human Rights Institutions as
Diplomacy Actors ...........................................................................223
Kirsten Roberts
15. The Relevance of the Multi-Stakeholder Approach and Multi-
Track Diplomacy for Human Rights Diplomacy ........................251
Wolfgang Benedek
Annex: Report on the High-Level Workshop on Human Rights
Diplomacy, Venice, 30–31 January 2009 ......................................263
Select Bibliography .................................................................................289
Index ........................................................................................................293
FOREWORD
In the three decades since the 39th President of the United States,
Jimmy Carter, made human rights a cornerstone of his administra-
tion’s policy overseas, human rights has come to occupy a central place
in the foreign policies of many countries. Governments are investing a
great deal of diplomatic capital in defending their records on human
rights at home and promoting their positions on global human rights
issues with interlocutors at the bilateral level and in multilateral fora.
Indeed, human rights diplomacy is a growing field of work. But the
literature on the topic remains scant, and the vacuum prompts a basic
question: Is it diplomacy in the service of human rights, or is it human
rights as a tool of diplomacy in pursuit of foreign policy goals? The
answer is not so obvious when observing the actions of key players on
the global stage, and in many cases the two may overlap. But clearly,
the organisers of the 2009 High-Level Workshop on Human Rights
Diplomacy at the European Inter-University Centre for Human Rights
and Democratisation (EIUC) in Venice had the former in mind. The
presentations at the workshop, now collected in this volume together
with additional articles, are about making advances for universal
human rights around the world through principled and skilful diplo-
macy. The publication could not be more timely.
Many human rights professionals are reluctant to call their work
diplomacy, and find ‘human rights diplomacy’ an uncomfortable oxy-
moron that links two fundamentally different areas of human endeav-
our. The roots of the discomfort run deep. Diplomacy is traditionally
understood as the cool-headed pursuit of national interests, where
principles and morality can, and in some cases should, be left aside or
compromised, a dispassionate exercise of realpolitik at the interna-
tional level. Meanwhile, human rights work has always been about
ideals and values, driven by passion and indignation over injustice.
In recent decades, however, there has been a convergence of the two
disparate areas of work. Governments increasingly desire to be and
to be seen as respectful if not in active pursuit of human rights in their
domestic and foreign policies. Thus expanded, the opportunities
for dialogue with governments call for more active and thoughtful
engagement by human rights professionals.
viii foreword
The drive behind the convergence may be enlightened leadership in
some countries. But in most, it has been the demands of the people and
civil society to whom the policies of democratic governments must be
accountable. More than six decades after the proclamation of the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, everyday individuals around
the world are keenly aware of and ready to claim their rights, though
perhaps not necessarily in the terms of international human rights
norms. The citizens of the 21st century global community demand that
their rights and those of others be upheld by their own governments
and their bilateral, regional and international partners. When the
demands for the full range of human rights are not met, the discontent
is expressed through the ballot box, advocacy groups, petitions to
regional or international human rights mechanisms or peaceful pro-
tests. When the calls are ignored or suppressed for a long time, when
human beings can no longer bear the assault to their inherent dignity,
the anger over the injustice explodes onto the streets, becoming an
unstoppable force for political upheaval and national transformation.
In the early months of 2011, we are witnessing one such powerful
moment in history, the aftermath of which will have long-lasting,
wide-spread repercussions for human rights and political orders far
beyond the national boundaries within which the protests have
unfolded. Indeed, the longing for human rights is at the heart of the
popular uprising that has swept across many countries of North Africa
and the Middle East in the ‘Arab spring’ of 2011. From country to
country, people have taken to the streets to voice their ardent aspira-
tion for a clean break with the past in which their fundamental rights
and freedoms were denied and abused by autocratic governments.
They have said ‘enough’ to self-serving rulers who sheltered behind
thick layers of state machinery that kept them disconnected from the
aspirations of their people, and relied on the complacency of friendly
governments to turn a blind eye to their socio-economic plight and
political oppression in the pursuit of short-sighted security or eco-
nomic interests.
The disconnect and the complacency have now been exposed and
rejected in these countries, with countless human lives lost in the pro-
cess. They remain yet to be fully revealed in many others. While, the
primary responsibility of breaking the chains of the past and moving
toward a future of democratic rule with respect for human rights rests
with the governments of the peoples who have risen or hope to rise,
the international community also has a role to play. Governments of
foreword ix
countries that share a genuine commitment to human rights, non-gov-
ernmental human rights organisations on the ground and in the global
arena, regional and international human rights entities, and research-
ers in academic institutions all have a contribution to make in nurtur-
ing dialogue and action on human rights toward tolerant and open
societies. These are demanding and exciting times for human rights
diplomacy.
One should not preach what one does not practice, it is said. For
human rights diplomacy, this is more than a simple dictum. It is at the
core of the credibility of any effort to advance human rights. Thus,
human rights diplomacy is as much a process of self-reflection and
self-correction, as it is about encouraging and urging others for
improvements. Connecting the two, using the platform of universal
human rights norms, is a challenge for all countries.
The authors of each of the articles in this collection are highly
accomplished thinkers and practitioners of human rights. They offer
valuable and much-needed insight, analysis and lessons learned at a
pivotal time for both human rights and diplomacy.
Kyung-wha Kang
Deputy UN High Commissioner for Human Rights