GENEVA: Often criticized for failing to tackle abuses in authoritarian countries, the UN human rights office has leapt into action recently to denounce leaders clinging to power in Ivory Coast, Tunisia and Egypt.
The marked shift in its response coincides with a rise in pro-democracy movements that have challenged election results or entrenched repression in the Middle East and elsewhere.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay is widely credited with seizing the momentum and showing her Geneva-based operation can move swiftly after tyrants are ousted and facilitate pro-democracy change on the ground.
"We appreciate the shift in her ability to speak out in real time and address crisis situations as they are happening," Eileen Chamberlain Donahoe, US ambassador to the UN Human Rights Council, told Reuters. "Timing is important."
"The United States believes the High Commissioner’s office is supposed to be a voice for the voiceless," Donahoe added.
Pillay sent experts to Tunisia to help shape democratic reforms and investigate past violations, and made it clear her office is ready to help elsewhere.
She denounced killings and abductions as they unfolded in Ivory Coast after a Nov. 28 poll where UN-certified results show Alassane Ouattara beat incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo.
On New Year’s Eve, she went a step further, publicly warning Gbagbo and top commanders they may be held accountable for human rights crimes. She flagged reports of two mass graves at the time and allegations of a third one since.
Pillay has blamed unprecedented protests in Egypt squarely on the government of President Hosni Mubarak, accusing it of serious abuses including widespread torture.
"People have a right to protest, and freedom of information is especially important at times like these," she said in an appeal for calm as one million people took to the streets.
The international criminal justice system now provides the tools to ensure that perpetrators are held to account, according to the former UN war crimes judge.
In a statement on Friday, ahead of visits this month to Israel, the occupied territories and Russia, she warned:
"We now see there is an intense hunger for human rights in the Middle East and North Africa — and of course in other countries in other regions. Governments who ignore these extremely loud and clear warning signals are doing so at their own peril."
Pillay spoke out on Ivory Coast from her native South Africa, where she took her two daughters to Robben Island, the notorious prison where as a young lawyer she helped win rights for inmates who included Nelson Mandela.
Senior aides say that her formative years, working as a defense attorney for anti-apartheid activists alongside her late husband, shaped her approach to the top rights job.
As unrest grew in Tunisia, rights groups sought a meeting with her.
"We were encouraging her to speak out on Tunisia. We quickly realized we were knocking on an open door," Peter Splinter of Amnesty International told Reuters.
Within days of the overthrow of Tunisian leader Zine Al-Abidine Ben Ali, Pillay sent a team of senior UN rights officials to the North African country to advise new authorities quickly on how to reform the judiciary and other institutions.
"Our concern is to accompany these processes. The High Commissioner is at the head of it, she lived through political transformation and understands the dynamics of the moment and the need to act quickly on these issues," said Mona Rishmawi, chief of the rule of law branch in the UN human rights office.
Rishmawi, part of the team sent to Tunisia, said: "It’s very important to be there right at the beginning. If these ambitions are not structured into strategies, people get disappointed."
UN and Tunisian officials discussed questions including how to guarantee the independence of the judiciary and freedom of expression, and the future role of the security apparatus.
"It’s delicate stuff, but they know it’s needed," she said.
There has been a marked increase in UN rights probes in the last five years, including into violence in Kenya, Guinea and during Israel’s invasion of the Gaza Strip, according to Roberto Ricci, head of the rapid response unit.
Pillay last week also condemned a surge in executions in Iran and offered to help Haiti to prosecute Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier. It remains to be seen whether there will be a backlash in the UN Human Rights Council over her bold moves.
The 47-member forum is dominated by developing countries often backed by China, Cuba and Russia. Critics say the council unfairly focuses on Israel and its alleged violations.
Pillay, who succeeded Canadian Louise Arbour in September 2008, is the fifth High Commissioner since the post was set up in 1994. It is not yet clear whether the 69-year-old will seek a second four-year term or be nominated by UN chief Ban Ki-moon.
