UN rights chief points failures prior to Human Rights Day

"The UN Human Rights Office will continue to work with all our partners to try to prevent human rights breaches from occurring. We will continue to be vocal about human rights violations. We will continue to ask states to do their part – the biggest part by far – to ensure that the tragic mistakes of the past are not repeated and that the human rights of all are protected and promoted. We can – and we must – do better, said Pillay in a statement to mark Human Rights Day 2013.

Pillay added "The vision and goals formulated 20 years ago in Vienna are still valid. They are still worth fighting for now – over the next 20 years – and beyond."

Noting that in the last 20 years, there were many setbacks and a number of tragic failures to prevent atrocities and safeguard human rights, Pillay highlighted that in several instances where deplorable, large-scale violations of international human rights law were occurring, the international community was too slow, too divided, too short-sighted – or just plain inadequate in its response to the warnings of human rights defenders and the cries of victims.

Pillay underlined that women continue to suffer discrimination, violence and persecution.  "So do ethnic, racial and religious minorities, and migrants, as well as individuals because of their sexual orientation. This shows how far we still have to go".

Regarding new technologies, Pillay said "we have also seen how new technologies are facilitating the violation of human rights, with chilling 21st century efficiency. In breach of international law, mass electronic surveillance and data collection are threatening both individual rights, and the free functioning of a vibrant civil society."

"A Tweet or Facebook post by a human rights defender can be enough to land him or her in jail. Drones can be, and are being, used for positive purposes. But armed drones are also being deployed, without due legal process, for the remote targeting of individuals," Pillay added.

Pillay said "Twenty years ago, a historic document was adopted in Vienna. It crystallized the principle that human rights are universal, and committed states to the promotion and protection of all human rights for all people, regardless of their political, economic and cultural systems."

"Among many other significant and ground-breaking achievements, the Vienna Declaration led to the creation of my Office – the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights," Pillay reminded.

Pillay added "The Vienna Declaration should be viewed as a blueprint for a magnificent construction that is still only half built."

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