Neither Fish nor Fowl: The Quest to Define the Role of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights VII. Looking Ahead After the resignation of Ayala Lasso, one commentator called for the appointment of `a true champion of liberty ... who is not afraid to openly challenge governments'.36 Another emphasized the need for `a fearless human rights czar'.37 That may be something of an overstatement, however, partly because fearlessness is not a recipe for success in an international diplomatic context unless moderated by prudence and underpinned by a strong sense of strategy. And partly because the United Nations system, with its in-built checks and balances and its penchant for endless turf battles, brooks no czars, even one whose task is to defend humanity against inhumanity. In the event, Mary Robinson's appointment was announced by the Secretary-General on 12 June 1997, and approved by consensus by the General Assembly five days later.38 Her credentials could hardly have been better. Before becoming President of Ireland in 1990, she had been a Professor of Constitutional and Criminal Law, a parliamentarian, an active participant in various human rights and social sector NGOs at both the domestic and international levels, and a barrister with experience before the European Court of Human Rights.39 She faces four main challenges. The first is to identify an appropriate role for the office, one which does not seek to reach beyond certain limits and which ensures that what is done can be done effectively. She will need to play a central role in maintaining the importance accorded to human rights on the international agenda at a moment in history when it would suit a great number of governments to downgrade it. The task is to develop and communicate a clear vision for the office and to establish a workable balance between consensual diplomacy and a preparedness to speak out in defence of human rights. While it will not be easy to strike such a balance, her predecessor clearly erred on the side of the former. The second challenge will be to give the office a viable status or profile vis-à-vis the Secretary-General and other parts of the international system. Ultimately, a HCHR cannot work at odds with a Secretary-General since the latter can cut the lifeline in a hundred different ways. But a degree of independence from the day to day political pressures that swirl around the office of the Secretary-General is indispensable if the office of HCHR is to be meaningful. Robinson's task will be to cajole governments gradually to accept that the office of HCHR cannot be just another UN exercise in high-level politicking and horse-trading. And indeed Kofi Annan has demonstrated by Robinson's appointment that he may well prove to be far better disposed to human rights than any of his predecessors, none of whom distinguished themselves in that respect. The third challenge lies in the policy domain. There is a pressing need to establish a clearer line between the function of responding to violations of human rights and that of providing friendly advice and assistance. Given the difficulty the first HCHR had in establishing genuinely cooperative relations with other parts of the UN system, the better strategy might be to work through those other agencies rather than in effective competition with them when it comes to technical cooperation and related activities. Similarly, it is essential that something be done to take economic, social and cultural rights seriously. Ayala-Lasso had no feel, and apparently little sympathy, for those rights. A HCHR from Western Europe will have less leeway in such matters if she is to assuage the scepticism of many developing countries. Equally, there is still a long way to go in order to achieve an adequate gender balance in the human rights work of the UN, despite the achievements to date of the 1990s. The final challenge for the new HCHR will be to bring the reality, rather than just the restructured appearance, of managerial competence to the Centre for Human Rights. For that task she will need not only formidable skills of her own and the ability to motivate a demoralized secretariat, but also adequate management assistance and additional financial resources. The moment has come when Western governments in particular will have to give financial substance to their fine words. 36 Brody, supra note 32. 37 Deen, `Search for a Fearless Human Rights Czar', IPS [Inter Press Service] Daily Journal, vol. 5, no. 25, 24 Feb. 1997, at 2. 38 UN Doc. A/51/924 (1997) and UN Press Release GA/9254 of 17 June 1997. 39 UN Press Release SG/A/638 of 12 June 1997.
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