Let's Get It Started! (or, The 34th Human Rights Council session begins)

Bonjour, everybody! Guess what?

THE 34^TH SESSION OF THE HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL STARTED ON MONDAY! That’s right, a whole bunch of people came together in Room XX to listen to a bunch of speeches by important people from different nations!

The opening meeting was clearly a place for socializing. One could see friends catching up with each other, acquaintances offering each other handshakes, and those awkward people who do not really have any friends sitting at their desks with their computer open, trying to avoid eye contact with anyone. The difference between this meeting and a university meet-and-greet was that all the participants were high-level diplomats representing the interests of their countries.

I was most impressed by the opening statement for Antonio Guterres, Secretary General of the United Nations. He spoke about the ‘disease of disregard’ that currently is spreading in the world and emphasized human rights are not a luxury and are not political tools, but rather they are an intrinsic part of all we do and who we are. Drawing upon his past experiences growing up in a dictatorship, Mr. Guterres was able to strongly declare the need for the Human Rights Council and the work it does through its various treaty bodies and the Universal Periodic Review. Additionally, in his speech Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein, High Commissioner for Human Rights, stated that human rights are the first pillar of the UN, put in the preamble before any other. He also made some pointed comments about the increasingly xenophobic policies of Donald Trump, though not naming him specifically.

Regarding the speeches, I felt that all the ones we heard could fit into a few categories: I want assistance, I want to offer my knowledge, the UN needs to do something about this, and I am doing good things in my country. Some speeches had aspects of multiple categories, but usually they fell strongly into one.

For example, the President of Palestine used his time to call the UN to action against the illegal occupation of Palestinian land by Israel while the President of Libya and First Vice-President of South Sudan requested more technical assistance from the UN to deal with their respective civil conflicts. The Minister from Croatia offered his country’s assistance with knowledge about post-conflict rebuilding as did the Minister from El Salvador. El Salvador was also interesting because of their willingness to quote Pope Francis and mention Blessed Oscar Romero as key figures in their speech, showing the importance of religious figures in their country and government.

I also found the speech by the Philippines interesting because while there was truth in what the Minister said, it was also a speech I have heard many times in the past from different politicians in the United States. It is the speech that offers reasoning for the government doing things it knows are wrong in order to maintain security within the country. It is the one that says the ends justify the means. It sounded even more familiar because the Minister from the Philippines had a very American style of speaking. I do not necessarily agree with what he said because it is a dangerous road to travel, justifying actions in the name of security. We see what is happening in the United States right now because of this same type of justification.

And just think, these are only a few of the many, many states that gave speeches during the first three days.

As I’m sure a lot of you have already seen on Facebook (thanks to a certain sister of mine), I also got to make an intervention (special UN terminology right there) on climate change and the rights of the child. If by some miracle you haven’t seen the video, I’ve posted it below. I’m actually going to make another intervention next week regarding migrant youth over the age of eighteen, so wish me luck.

Until next time!