HIGHLIGHTS OF PRESS CONFERENCE BY UNITED NATIONS HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS NAVI PILLAY ON OCCASION OF HUMAN RIGHTS DAY

United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay today held a press conference at the United Nations Office at Geneva on the occasion of Human Rights Day, which is commemorated on 10 December.

After her opening statement which was related to human rights defenders, a journalist noted that Chinese human rights defender Liu Xiaobo would be honoured tomorrow night with the Noble Peace Prize, and asked what the High Commissioner thought of China organizing a boycott of the ceremony.

The High Commissioner : “On Liu Xiaobo, I want to start by just putting the facts straight. I was not invited by the Noble Peace Prize organizers to the event that they are holding tomorrow. I also want to add that I was on mission in Jordan and arrived an hour ago. Of course it is very important for me to be here with you. Let me now turn to the substance of your question. As you know, I did make a statement on 25 December last year, the day when he was sentenced to 11 years imprisonment. I described the sentence as extremely harsh and raised questions about the fairness of the charges against him. It is my view that the case should be reviewed and Liu Xiaobo should be released as soon as possible. I hope that the Chinese authorities will come to recognize the positive contributions that peaceful advocates like Liu Xiaobo can make to China’s development. In this regard, I wanted to say how dismayed I am at the recent restrictions China has placed on an ever widening circle of associates of Liu Xiaobo and other activists and critics, including his wife. In recent weeks, my Office has received reports of at least 20 activists being arrested or detained, and more than 120 other cases of house arrests, travel restrictions, forced re-educations and other acts of intimidation. These include Liu Xiaobo’s wife, who remains under house arrest, house arrest which in my view is in contravention of Chinese national law. I intend to continue holding a dialogue with the Government of China on these cases. And of course on Human Rights Day, I encourage the Chinese authorities, as well as all other countries, to release any persons detained for peacefully exercising his or her right to freedom of expression. I also encourage all countries which have not done so, as yet, including china, to ratify the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. As I said, I am engaged in a constructive dialogue with the Government of China on all these matters.”

A journalist asked if the High Commissioner believed that Wikileaks deserved the same whistle blower protection as journalists enjoyed.

The High Commissioner : “Of course, you asked me about Wikileaks, I think that, what is happening here, this is truly what the media would call a cyber war. It is just astonishing what is happening. Let me say that the Wikileaks cases raises complex human rights questions about balancing freedom of information, the right of people to know, and the need to protect national security or public order. This balancing act is a difficult one. Let me say article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights provides for the right to freedom of expression, which includes the right to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds. Well the right to seek, receive and impart information may be restricted; restriction clauses must be a. necessary and b. proportional, and must be provided by law and should be justified strictly on the need to protect national security or public order. So who is best to judge or strike at the balance but courts of law. Courts of law are equipped to address the delicate issue of balancing competing rights and values. If Mr. Assange has committed any recognized offense, then the judicial system following fair procedures should be able to address how these rights can be balanced. It is important to note that the current charges against him do not relate to leaked information. I am concerned about the reports of pressure exerted on private companies, including banks, credit card companies and internet service providers, to close down credit lines for donations to Wikileaks, as well as to stop hosting the website or its other sites. While it is unclear whether the individual measures taken by private actors directly infringe on States’ human rights obligations to ensure respect of the right to freedom of expression, taken as a whole, that could be interpreted as an attempt to censure the publication of information. That is potentially violating Wikileaks right to freedom of expression. If Wikileaks has committed any recognizable illegal act, then this should be handled through the legal system, and not through pressure and intimidation, including on third parties. I would say there is currently no clarity at the moment about the source of the cyber attacks and counter attacks. They nevertheless raise concerns about the effective protection that concerned States should provide in relation to the right of the Wikileaks founder to freely share information, as required in article 19.2 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.”

In response to a follow-up question on Wikileaks on Iraq, the High Commissioner said : “Obviously, we were very concerned when we read those documents. The files reportedly indicate that the US knew, among other things, about widespread use of torture and ill-treatment of detainees by Iraqi forces, and yet proceeded with the transfer of thousands of people who had been detained by US forces to Iraqi custody between 2009 and 2010. In my view, this could potentially constitute a serious breach of international human rights law. I fully support all efforts being made by several independent UN experts, known collectively as Special Procedures mandate holders, who are seeking clarification from the US, from the Iraqi authorities and from the Afghani authorities concerning the circumstances regarding the torture and ill-treatment described in the Wikileaks documents. I urge all countries to take necessary measures to investigate the allegations made in these reports, and to bring to justice those responsible for human rights abuses.”

A journalist again raised the issue of the Chinese Noble Peace Prize Winner, saying that apparently China had been asking States not to send delegations to Oslo, and others said it was organizing a boycott. Had the Chinese Government approached her directly or indirectly?

The High Commissioner: “Of course I am not aware of the Chinese approaching States. But let me say that Member States approach us all the time because we are in constant dialogue with them. Let me repeat, I am in dialogue with the Chinese Government over these matters. No pressure was exerted by them, even when I issued the statement that I did on 25^th December, I asked for responses to the questions I raised about the nature of the charges and sentence and urged that they release him and of course urged, protested about the house arrest of his wife. So, the nature of my work means that States constantly come to see me because they are anxious about what I am about to say or what I will be saying. The challenge of my mandate is to pursue a constructive dialogue with States, whilst safeguarding the independence of my office. I am satisfied that I have stuck to those principles.”

Asked about the Chinese talking about giving their own peace awards, the High Commissioner said that there were many peace awards, and even Governments awarded peace awards. The High Commissioner said she was fully aware that China had protested that this selection was political. That was their point of view. The world would have its opinion on who would get awards. In this case, Liu Xiaobo had written a document which they had welcomed as a document in support of democracy.

In response to a question about recent Wilileak revelations concerning Iraq and the hundreds of Iraqis forcibly expelled from Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom to a hostile environment in Iraq, the High Commissioner said she had just come from Jordan where many Iraqi guests and Palestinian refugees had been living for many years, as explained by the King, who talked about the burden of this on the resources of the country. Recently, the Head of the OHCHR’s Middle East and North Africa Office went to the Ashraf Camp and he reported to her that it was very complex to find a solution. Under refugee law and human rights law, people who were forcibly removed from their countries, in this particular case Iraqis, were having their rights violated in being sent back to a country where they potentially faced torture, imprisonment and even death. This was what refugee law protected, and she was seeing more and more these well preserved laws were being violated, not only with regard to Iraqis, but even with irregular migrants who were being forcibly moved out.

Concerning the situation of women in Afghanistan, the High Commissioner said that her Office had a human rights advisor in Afghanistan, and had been trying more and more to put staff there. The reason was discrimination against women, which in her view was getting worse. OHCHR was monitoring the situation and filing reports regularly on this. She was very concerned that the protection of women seemed to be neglected and no one was speaking about it in any political settlements.

In response to a question about how the High Commissioner assessed the human rights situation worldwide over the past few years, Ms. Pillay said it was pretty depressing, the extent of human rights violations, and that these came mostly at the hands of State actors. She raised this everywhere she went. There were mechanisms today to address these issues, and to make States more accountable for human rights violations, one of them being the Universal Periodic Review. Also the Human Rights Council had set up the Special Procedure mandate holders who watched over these matters. She would do more.

Concerning the situation in Côte d’Ivoire, Ms. Pillay said she was closely working with the Secretary-General on Côte d’Ivoire and he had held urgent meetings. Yesterday the Security Council had supported the election results which the United Nations had endorsed of the opposition leader. She was very concerned about the situation in Côte d’Ivoire, and she had issued two statements, because their immediate concern was that civilians were being caught between the two groups.

Responding to a question on the fire in a prison in Chile, the High Commissioner said that she had watched the horrific pictures of the fire and the death of almost 80 who had been protesting about conditions in the prisons. She was working closely and encouraged the work of the Working Group on arbitrary detentions and the Committee against Torture. She also encouraged Governments to give access to national human rights institutions to make spot checks on prisons.

In response to another question on China and whether the human rights situation was getting worse or better, the High Commissioner said her concern was to keep track of human rights violations in China. Unfortunately OHCHR did not have a presence in China. It was when they were present that they could better monitor incidents on a regular basis. She did not want to categorize the state of the human rights record in China, but she would point the journalists to the Universal Periodic Review of China. OHCHR would be filing a human rights report at the next review, and therefore it was urging that the review process consider implementation of recommendations by States at the UPR process. She hoped that this would be the focus, implementation.

Concerning a question about impunity in Mexico, and how many journalists and human rights defenders were killed there, the High Commissioner said she went to Mexico as head of the Global Migration Group to attend the migration conference, and she had not been on mission. Her mission had been cancelled by the Government, which had said OHCHR could reschedule it. She would keep track of all the incidents.