This week's UN summit is a historic opportunity to promote human rights, writes Seán Love
Human rights embody the values of human decency, dignity, equality and justice.
The deadly terrorist attacks on civilians in many parts of the world are an abomination against human rights, while the global attack that has been unleashed on the human rights framework by several governments has set the world on a backwards course at a pace that was unimaginable when world leaders met in Johannesburg in 2000 for the UN's Millennium Development Summit.
This week in New York, on the fifth anniversary of Johannesburg, another UN summit takes place, where 180 heads of states and governments will review progress to date and consider necessary reforms to the UN to ensure it is capable of handling the challenges of the 21st century.
This is a crucial moment to reflect on the twin evils of terrorism and the so-called "war on terror".
The leadership challenge for the UN and its member states is to acknowledge that human rights are the basis for our common security, not a barrier to it. No state, armed group or individual is above the law.
The summit is also an opportunity to highlight the experience of ordinary people - from Darfur to Baghdad, from London to Gaza, from New Orleans to Beslan - and to demonstrate that the interdependent link between poverty, war, refugee flows, and environmental degradation is human rights.
Kofi Annan wants to reassert the fundamentals of the UN Charter, to reposition human security and human development firmly within the human rights framework as the three pillars of the UN.
The summit will address several key issues, including UN structural reform, establishment of a Human Rights Council, creation of a Peace Building Commission, disarmament, terrorism, protection of civilians under threat of genocide and crimes against humanity, and achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) within agreed timelines.
While there is broad agreement on the need to deal with these complex issues, there is no agreement on the specific solutions. The International Criminal Court (ICC) is an essential component in breaking the cycle of violence and impunity. Perpetrators must be brought to justice in accordance with the law.
Having played a leading role in its establishment, the Irish Government should underline its support for the ICC by actually legislating to give legal force to the ICC statute - it's now over four years since the referendum in which the Irish people gave overwhelming endorsement.
Another key issue on which there is a lack of agreement is on the need to control the international arms trade. It is hypocritical to speak of dealing with genocide and crimes against humanity while refusing to deal with one of the primary root causes. Ireland has a credible historical position on disarmament and nuclear proliferation, but the Government has yet to indicate whether it will support the draft legally-binding Arms Trade Treaty.
Too often the political jockeying that goes on around these major global events belies and masks the enormous opportunity they present.
The power to change the UN, to address its oft-lamented weaknesses, and to rectify the failures is with us now. It would be unforgivable if we have to watch as this power evaporates with ambassador after ambassador lining up to undermine, dilute and prevaricate - and all the while people suffer.
Minister for Foreign Affairs, Dermot Ahern, one of Kofi Annan's five regional envoys for the UN reform process, has spoken of his concerns about the approach being adopted by some governments (The Irish Times, September 5th).
Amnesty International echoes these concerns. For example, the proposal to create a new Human Rights Council is critical. It must have far more authority and credibility than the current Human Rights Commission that it will replace.
The High Commissioner for Human Rights must at last get the funding that will allow her to carry out a comprehensive programme. This proposal has won the endorsement of an overwhelming majority of states from all regions of the world. However, some 15 countries led by Cuba and including Venezuela, Myanmar, Turkmenistan, Pakistan, Belarus, Vietnam and Syria, are blocking any movement on this very important reform.
The summit is also billed as a major opportunity to recommit governments to the MDGs, which seek to halve extreme poverty and hunger, slash maternal and infant mortality, and increase access to healthcare, education, water and sanitation, all by 2015.
Already governments, including Ireland, are way behind on the commitments they made in 2000.
Now the US, under the stewardship of their controversial new ambassador to the UN, John Bolton, are seeking to drop any reference to the MDGs and the 0.7 per cent target in the final declaration. This will be a major setback to the global effort to end poverty, and the US position must be rejected.
Selfish ideological positions and leadership failures must not be allowed to undermine the greater good. However, there appears to be no willingness to make concessions.
There are big majorities in favour of a Peace Building Commission, a Human Rights Council, and protecting against genocide and crimes against humanity. However, a relatively small number of countries, along with key permanent members of the Security Council, are strongly resisting progress on most of these issues. These include Russia and China, with the US proposing a vast number of amendments to the overall draft declaration.
The summit is a historic opportunity to have states recommit to implementing the human rights standards that they proclaimed in the UN Charter in 1945 as the world struggled to come to terms with the inhumanity of the second World War. Billions of men, women and children are depending on them to agree meaningful measures to create a better world where development, security and human rights are indeed anchored as the three pillars of the UN, with human rights being the underlying force.