“Human Rights, Peace and Security – What Role for the Security Council?“
Bern, 29.09.2015 - New York, 29.09.2015 – Address by the Federal Councillor Didier Burkhalter on the occasion of the 70th session of the UN General Assembly (Human Rights, Peace and Security: what role for the Security Council?) - Check against delivery
Ministers, Excellencies, Ladies and gentlemen
“Development, peace and security and human rights are interlinked and mutually reinforcing.” These words stand in the Outcome Document of the World Summit dating 10 years ago.
If you put it in the positive way: Human Rights, Development and Peace and Security reinforce each other. If you put it the other way where it lacks peace and stability, or human rights or development, these challenges weaken each other.
This is why we should better interlink these elements in the way we work in the framework of the United Nations. We should see them as sort of “United Challenges”.
The Security Council is responsible for the maintenance of international peace and security. In order to fulfill this important role efficiently, it must play a role in the protection of human rights too. The Security Council has played an increasing constructive role in this regard over the last years. For example by orienting UN peace operations towards the protection of civilians and by including human rights aspects into their mandates.
Switzerland welcomes this evolution.
But more should be done.
Switzerland would like to emphasize three points:
1) First, early warning is of no value if there is no early action. The UN system needs to get better at identifying and reacting to potential crises – and human rights are one of the principal indicators. There are some initiatives in this direction, like the Human Rights Up Front initiative . But it is not enough: as the institution responsible for Peace and Security, the Security Council has to play its part.
By monitoring closely situations where human rights violations occur, and by using the tools at its disposal from an early moment on, the Security Council can help to strengthen human rights and to prevent conflicts. This must become part of the core business of the Security Council’s work.
2) Second, the Security Council should increase its collaboration with relevant entities from the UN system. The Human Rights Council should be a stronger partner and the Security Council should build more systematically on its work – also with a view to preventing the deterioration of specific situations.
Likewise, the Peacebuilding Commission could offer specialized insights into country situations to the Security Council.
3) Third, there can be no lasting peace without justice. And impunity sets the frame that fosters human rights violations. Where atrocities have been committed, the Security Council should strengthen accountability inter alia by taking post-war provisions to ensure that the perpetrators of war crimes or crimes against humanity do not go unpunished.
The Security Council can do much. But it does not bear sole responsibility. The General Assembly for example could make a difference too by agreeing to strengthen the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, based in Geneva, institutionally and financially. Switzerland strongly supports this reinforcement.
It is our responsibility to act. And we should act now. There is a momentum. The current reviews in the area of peace and security offer an ideal window of opportunity to reflect on this issue and to better use the resources of the United Nations to support both :
- peace and security on the one hand
- and human rights on the other
Thank you.
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