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Neither Fish nor Fowl: The Quest to Define the Role of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
Philip Alston 1
Full text available: PDF format *
I. Introduction
In March 1997 the first United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (HCHR) resigned, after almost three years in office. Assessments of the importance of the post vary greatly. Some have seen it as merely `a small step forward for human rights',2 while others have portrayed it as `symboliz[ing] humanity's aspiration to achieve greater dignity for all human beings'.3 In announcing the appointment of a new HCHR, in June 1997, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said that it was `one of the most important appointments that I will probably have the opportunity of making ...'4 Amnesty International had earlier suggested, somewhat hyperbolically, that the appointee `will shape the next century's human rights agenda...'5
The analysis that follows seeks to take stock of the achievements and shortcomings of the HCHR at a time when the baton is passing from José Ayala-Lasso, a cautious, low-profile, but very senior Ecuadorean diplomat, to Mary Robinson, an experienced human rights lawyer and former President of Ireland. The principal focus of the article is on the extent to which the nature of the office and the appropriate role to be played by its incumbent have been clarified by the experience to date.
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1 Professor of International Law, European University Institute,
Florence.
2 Cerna, `A Small Step Forward for Human Rights: The Creation of the
Post of United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights', 10 The American
University Journal of International Law and Policy (1995) 1265.
3 Clapham, `Creating the High Commissioner for Human Rights: The
Outside Story', 5 EJIL (1994) 556 at 567. See also Lord, `The United
Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights: Challenges and Opportunities',
17 Loyola of Los Angeles International and Comparative Law Journal
(1995) 329; and Tikhonov, `The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights', 1
Moscow Journal of International Law (1995) 21.
4 Transcript of Press Conference by Secretary-General Kofi
Annan, UN Press Release SG/SM/6255, 12 June 1997, at 9.
5 `New High Commissioner for Human Rights Must Confront Human Rights
Abusers', Amnesty International News Release, Amnesty Doc. AI index: IOR
40/05/97, 21 Feb 1997.
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