UN High Commissioner for Human Rights

The establishment of a UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in late 1993 provided a perfect occasion to probe the gap between theory and practice that pervades international human rights diplomacy. In theory, greater attention to the rights of people around the world is always a good thing. But in practice, power and national interest so drive the international human rights agenda that smaller and weaker countries—and the underprivileged and oppressed of the world—should rightly ask whether they can expect justice from a UN-appointed guardian of human rights. I raised that question in Third World Resurgence (February/March 1994), JUST Commentary (No. 7, fanuary 1994), and Pemikir (July–September 1995).