The High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, has vowed to continue speaking out against governments which commit human rights abuses, even if this makes her unpopular. Mrs Robinson has also rejected claims that she aligned herself to Western interests by concentrating her criticisms on developing nations.
In a wide-ranging interview in her Geneva office last month, she also expressed frustration with UN bureaucracy and with the dire lack of resources which is hindering her office from carrying out its work.
efficiently. Her first year in office had been "very stretching, difficult, time-consuming" but "a lot of progress has been made notwithstanding the difficulty of promoting real change within the system."
Mrs Robinson blamed the recent resignation of her deputy, Mr Enrique ter Horst, after less than eight months on the "under-resourcing" of her office - she is confident that a replacement will be found quickly.
Although professionally she has left Ireland, "mentally and emotionally I haven't. I've said that it is the greatest honour to represent your country as president. I bring a lot of it with me still. Many times Ireland comes up in a very positive context - whether it's the peace process in Northern Ireland or that as an person from a small country which has been a developing country I will understand."
She has little patience for critics who claim she has been quicker to cry foul when developing countries infringe human rights than when Western states break the rules. "That is not the perception I'm getting directly, particularly from representatives of developing countries."
This, she says, is because she has been "strong" on all forms of human rights, including economic and social rights, and not just on the usual Western definition of political and civic rights such as democracy and a free press.
A number of "constructive" visits to developing countries, such as South Africa and China, have also helped. "All of that means that when I meet permanent representatives or ministers or even presidents of developing countries I get the opposite message. They're very aware that I have gone out of my way...because I believe it's better to have a better balance. I took on this job for that reason. "I will go on - because it's necessary - being critical of gross violations and violations where there is no obvious redress. It may mean this will make me a very uncomfortable presence with many governments."
Asked why she didn't speak out on the US bombings in Sudan or Afghanistan, she pauses before replying: "The steps taken in that area can either be addressed in a public way or by quiet diplomacy. When it's a very political issue it's often better to operate by quiet diplomacy." So are you saying you did operate by quiet diplomacy? "I'm saying that if I operate by quiet diplomacy, I'm going to operate by that. But it depends - some issues are inherently in the political domain."
Internally, Robinson has experienced the rough ride she was warned about be- fore starting. "I feel I underestimated some of the areas but I've also been heartened by the calibre of some of my colleagues in Geneva, New York and in the field." Charged with reorganising a demoralised and inefficient UNHCHR, Robinson also has a remit to develop the field offices which monitor human rights on the ground, as well as integrating human rights into all UN areas.
Yet, despite this increasing workload, UNHCHR's budget has been cut, from 1.78per cent of the overall UN budget in 1996-97 to 1.67per cent in 1998/99. The annual turnover of 27million is modest compared to the sums available to EU bodies and some NGOs. As part of the UN reforms, 18 posts have been cut, or 11per cent of the Geneva-based staff. But why, at a time when everyone says human rights is so important, is the budget being cut? "That's a question I'm increasingly ensuring is being put at every level."
Under-resourcing makes it difficult if not impossible to service human rights committees and to support the rapporteurs (investigators) in the ways that they wish, with additional research capacity, translation of documents, or more opportunities to travel.
Don't governments want the figleaf of "a moral conscience" without providing the money to drive real change? "I've been told more than once that the trick is to give a very broad mandate but almost no resources. But you have to work with the pack of cards you're given. "What I found difficult at the beginning was to recognise just how slowly you have to operate in the UN system. It is multi-cultural and to fill a post can take months whereas. A government or private industry can act more quickly."
As though making the point, Mrs Robinson spoke to The Irish Times from her modest office in a wing of the UN's Palais des Nations complex. Four months earlier, she was presented with the keys for a new home for UNHCHR in the historic Palais Wilson, the former UN headquarters on the shores of Lake Geneva, but a variety of technical and administrative hitches have delayed the move.
The High Commissioner may still have to write her own speeches but she has at least found a replacement for her special advisor, Bride Rosney, who has returned to Ireland. Rosney's successor is an experienced South African diplomat, Mr Jock Christofides, whose entree to UN circles in Geneva may prove invaluable.
"Part of the challenge is that, if the UN can do it, it remains the most important, acceptable forum for action. Therefore, while it can be very frustrating, it's important to engage in making the commitment to try and work within what the world has built regarding human rights machinery."
She describes the resignation of the deputy high commissioner, Mr ter Horst, as "a regrettable setback. The Secretary General recognises the importance of that position in itself and of filling it as soon as possible, so there won't be any lacuna."
Why did he leave? "The reasons are tied in with the difficulties of the position and the fact that this is an under-resourced office. It's a difficult process of transition and I believe Enrique is the best person to explain why he found it difficult." Mr ter Horst was centrally involved in efforts to save UNHCHR's largest human rights field in Rwanda. He was said to be disappointed when it was closed. "We were all in favour of continuing the mission in Rwanda and he specifically went to see if the mandate could be renewed. We worked very closely together and we had no difference of views on the matter."
But it was "not in accordance with the facts" to say that UNHCHR pulled out of Rwanda. "We didn't make a decision to pull out at any stage. It was the government of Rwanda which would not continue the mission."
Historic though it was, the High Commissioner views her controversial visit to China in September as the start of a major process, rather than a turning- point in itself. The way has now been paved for the start of an ongoing human rights dialogue between her office and the world's most populous nation, she hopes.
She reverts to a typical Robinsonism - a dash of Seamus Heaney - to describe her feelings about the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It should be seen, she says, as lying "between hope and history: the hope was that after the first World War and the Holocaust, it was the first constitutional document identifying individual human rights.
The history is what has happened over the past 50 years in fufilment of that." She hopes the anniversary will help to rekindle the spirit of the Declaration but concedes that this past 50 years - years of wars, atrocities, genocides and countless other human rights abuses - are not an occasion for celebration.