Madam President, The EU welcomes this informal briefing, and thanks the High Commissioner for the letter on her Office’s initial action plan to COVID-19, including embedding human rights in the broader UN response. While we are doing everything we can to combat the virus in Europe, we agree that this is a time for solidarity and cooperation - The EU supports international cooperation and multilateral
solutions in this crisis, and is working to secure financial support to partner countries for more than 20 billion EUR. All measures taken must be in accordance with international law, including human rights. In our response we will continue to promote and uphold good governance, human rights, the rule of law, gender equality and non-discrimination, decent work conditions, as well as fundamental values and humanitarian principles. High Commissioner, We
need to act swiftly on the health, social, economic and humanitarian aspects, while maintaining a human rights-based approach to our actions. The EU will put its full weight behind the UN Secretary General’s UN-wide response and you can count on our support in ensuring the centrality of human rights in these global efforts. The EU is a staunch advocate of having human rights at front and centre of UN’s work, with inclusive decision-making involving civil society and access to information being
key elements. Only by adopting a human rights-based approach can we guarantee an effective response and ensure that no one is left behind. Madam Bachelet,
As you have pointed out, response measures should adhere to human rights standards, including limiting any restrictions on human rights to what is strictly necessary and proportionate to the evaluated risk. OHCHR’s mandate is of utmost importance when advising governments in that their response plans are people-centered and uphold the dignity and human rights of all without discrimination of any kind.
In this regard, could you please elaborate on how we can ensure gender-responsive measures, as well as strategies to adequately address the risks of those in most vulnerable situations, including in SG Guterres Global response plan?
On April 11, American University Washington College of Law welcomed United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet to campus.
Senior Associate Dean Brenda Smith welcomed attendees to Bachelet’s presentation, “Challenges to the Protection of Human Rights in the 21st Century and the Role of the United Nations,” which drew in more than 250 people from the extended AUWCL, human rights, and legal communities.
During his introduction of Bachelet, Professor and Dean Emeritus Claudio Grossman called her “a trailblazer,” as the first woman elected President of Chile from 2006 to 2010, and then again from 2014 to 2018. In 2011, Bachelet was named the first Director of UN Women, an organization dedicated to fighting for the rights of women and girls internationally. Bachelet also served as Chile’s and Latin America’s first female Defense Minister from 2002 to 2004. Prior to that, Bachelet served as Health Minister from 2000 to 2002. Bachelet opened her presentation by thanking AUWCL and members of its distinguished faculty for a longstanding commitment to international human rights law.
Professor and Dean Emeritus Claudio Grossman introduced UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet. “I want to salute the work you have done to elevate human rights standards and issues,” she said, including “torture, sexual violence, and accountability for systematic violations.
In front of an audience of 250 members of the extended AUWCL, human rights, and legal communities, Bachelet observed that we currently live in a “paradox” – where global economy and changing demographics are bringing us closer together, but policy makers and the international community are more fragmented.
Many leaders of states seem to be less committed to working together for the common good. They are turning away from shared principals, and solutions to shared problems – and this situation is leading to increasing suffering and chaos,” Bachelet said. “Justice brings peace. It doesn’t eliminate disagreements, but when people have confidence in an impartial and independent structure of law and norms, they know they will be able to resolve their disputes peacefully.
Bachelet went on to discuss various human rights issues, including topics of violent conflict and war, women’s rights, and the heightened presence of race- and religious-based hate.
Many of us are concerned with the global rise of hatred being directed at members of racial, ethnic, or religious groups, as well as against foreigners and other minorities,” she said. “In many countries, what used to be extremist ideas have now entered the political mainstream in tandem with a nativist, exclusionary world view.
She also acknowledged the environmental and societal impacts of climate change through a human rights lens – an area of concern Bachelet said she is committed to as commissioner.
Climate change is driving displacement by destroying people’s ability to earn a decent livelihood in the place that they were born,” Bachelet explained. “From increased poverty and food insecurity, to growing environmental damage, there is a clear and increasingly present threat to human dignity.
The audience posed many questions, to which the High Commissioner answered extensively and in detail. Among others, people in the audience raised the situation in Venezuela. Bachelet pointed out that her role is not to solve the deep political crisis, but rather to have a positive impact on the human rights situation in the country. Very soon she will travel to Venezuela to try to help improving the human rights situation there.
The event was co-sponsored by the International Law Student Association, the Academy on Human Rights and Humanitarian Law, the Center for Human Rights and Humanitarian Law, and the American University International Law Review