Vital Need To Depoliticize UNHRC

In theory, human rights are universal and apolitical. This is what international human rights law insists, for the law is no respecter of nations or politics.

- Ameen Izzadeen

But in practice, human rights are given different interpretations in different cultures and are subjected to political exigencies and national interest agendas. In other words, human rights are politicized while their application is, sometimes, hypocritical.

When the biggest human rights violators sit as jurors at the United Nations Human Rights Council and condemn other nations, as the case will be against Sri Lanka during the upcoming UNHRC sessions, the hypocrisy is revolting. Depoliticizing the UN human rights mechanism is just as important as the need to hold human rights violators accountable.

The Council was set up in 2006 with the intention of depoliticizing human rights. Its predecessor, the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, was criticized for being a political tool in the hands of big time human rights violators and for its failure to live up to the expectations in terms of the UN Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Widespread human rights violations took place in every nook and corner of the world, although every state had pledged to uphold human rights upon being admitted to the UN as a member of the community of civilized nations.

Talks on reforming the politicized Human Rights Commission gathered momentum following the demise of the Cold War in 1991 with the then sole superpower United States coming under intense pressure to play a responsible role and give leadership to create a rule-based world order instead of being a conceited bully on the world stage. This was the period when human rights were being given paramount importance in international relations.