Castan Centre for Human Rights Law

REPORT BY INTERNS VANESSA SZABO AND DOUGLAS STEWART ON THE AUSTRALIAN DELEGATION TO THE UNITED NATIONS COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS 2002

Basic Facts

The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) sits annually in Geneva for 6 weeks, from mid-March to late April. The CHR, a subsidiary body of ECOSOC, has primary responsibility in the UN for matters concerning human rights. It is a governmental forum, where member states of the UN negotiate on human rights resolutions and determine the programs the Office of the HCHR will undertake for the following year.

The Commission is comprised of Member states and Observer states. Member states are voted on to the Commission by regional voting groups. There are approximately 50 member states who have voting rights on CHR resolutions. As the non-member states only have observer status, they cannot vote but have speaking rights. In 2002 Australia was an observer, in 2003 it will be a Member of the Commission. Consequently, the work and size of the Australian Delegation in 2003 will be greatly increased.

Governmental delegations are made up of the following Geneva-based diplomats:

· The Ambassador
· The Deputy Permanent Representative
· First Secretaries
· Support staff
· Interns

Other Australian Diplomats may join the Delegation for part of the Commission. The Delegation is in continuous contact with DFAT in Canberra, and Australian Embassies worldwide, regarding Australia's position on issues which may arise in the Commission.

Non-governmental organizations have observer status for the Commission, as do inter-governmental organizations. A number of delegations, governmental, NGO and IGO include Interns in their delegations. They are volunteer positions.

The Australian Internship

In 2002, as in 2001, Australia had 2 interns on its delegation to the CHR. We were there for the entirety of the Commission. The duties of interns are undefined, and are subject to the Delegation's needs at the time. They may range from simple administrative tasks to policy work. Some of the duties we engaged in are as follows:

a) Attending Regional Group Meetings

Every morning we attended meetings of the Western Europe and Others Group, of which Australia is a member, to discuss policy co-ordination and strategy in the Commission. We also attended JUSCANZ (another regional group) meetings for the same purpose. Our role was to take notes during the meetings, where we were privy to high-level diplomatic communications.

b) Monitoring the Plenary Session

Much of each day was spent in the main general forum of the Commission, the Plenary, to monitor the debate with special attention to any issues which may concern Australia. Speakers at the Plenary session were largely the Geneva-based diplomats, but also included high-profile politicians etc. Such speakers we saw include Prime Ministers, Kofi Annan, and Foreign Ministers such as Jack Straw and Jose Ramos Hortas.

c) Negotiation on CHR Resolutions

We regularly attended confidential inter-governmental consultations on formulating resolutions for the Commission. In some of these meetings, we assisted high-level Australian diplomats on sensitive issues such as the Middle East, the Convention Against Torture and Burma. For other less controversial resolutions, we took on the role of negotiator ourselves, and advocated Australia's position. Australia was the only nation to allow its Interns to do this type of work.

d) Lobbying for support on Australian-lead Resolutions

We spent a significant time in the closing stages of the Commission personally lobbying other nations to support resolutions Australia had led in the Commission, namely on National Human Rights Institutions and Good Governance. We succeeded in gaining unprecedented support for these resolutions, which contributed significantly to Australia's good standing in the Commission. Based on this achievement, one of us was able to make a speech on these resolutions to the plenary session in the presence of Mary Robinson. This was an honour and Australia was the only nation that permitted an Intern to address the Commission.

e) Other tasks we engaged in:

· Attended Embassy Receptions
· Research at the Australian Mission
· Report writing on the progress of commission negotiations

Informal Activities

The social scene in Geneva largely revolved around people we met while working at the United Nations. Seeing another youthful face would prompt an inquiry of intern-status, which was generally answered in the affirmative. It should be noted however that this assumption is not always correct - at the Polish Embassy a minor embarrassment ensued when two nuclear physicists were asked if they were interns!

Each weekend many interns and younger diplomats would go out to a nightclub in the center of the city, the Alhambar, or to other nightspots. We also took many opportunities to sample the beautiful restaurants the city has to offer.

Being in the center of Europe was very convenient for weekend travel. Zurich, Lucerne, Mont Blanc, Lyon, Milan and the French Riviera are all a couple of hours away, which permitted us to do some sight-seeing on the weekends. Geneva itself is small, cultured and well-provided for, which meant that weekends at 'home' were never dull.

Things to be aware of

Geneva is an expensive city, and the cost of this internship is considerable. We applied to 75 companies and organizations for sponsorship of the internship, and were successful in one, receiving a travel scholarship from the Law Faculty. Prospective interns need to be prepared to foot the bill themselves, which may run into several thousands of dollars.

Accommodation is very difficult to find at any price, and should be sought out months in advance. The cheapest option is probably to rent a room in a "foyer" (dormitory style) but again, March-April is a busy time in Geneva and "foyers" fill up quickly so bookings should be made early. While no financial assistance whatsoever is provided by the Australian Mission, work-related incidentals such as mobile phones and stationary are provided.

Geneva is in the French speaking part of Switzerland but it is also an extremely international city. Further, all meetings at the Commission are either conducted in English or have English translation. This means that while interns should learn some basic French before they leave for Geneva, it will not be necessary to be fluent in French in order to complete the internship. The UN and other language schools offer French lessons for those who want to improve their French while in Geneva.

Working for a governmental delegation in a human rights forum can involve witnessing and advocating responses to human rights issues with which you may disagree. At times, the inactions of nations can be more disturbing than their actions. Interns should be aware that working at the United Nations can be frustrating and tedious at times, and that the successes of its work are often overshadowed by continuing failures, and persistent human rights abuse. At other times, the swell of outrage from nations over human rights abuse can be invigorating, and produce a strong sense of justice and morality. A healthy balance of idealism and realism must be found in order to get something meaningful out of working at the Commission. Witnessing first-hand the work of the United Nations is an unrivalled education, and participating in it can be inspiring. We wish the interns of 2003 well in achieving as much as we have from their experiences in Geneva.