WEST AFRICA: UN launches regional human rights office

Violence against women, human trafficking and migration are expected to lead the agenda of a new West Africa office of the UN human rights commission, a top UN official says.

The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) signed an agreement with the Senegalese government on 3 December to set up a regional office in the capital, Dakar. The office – the fourth regional office in Africa – is expected to open in early 2008.

Kyung-wha Kang, UN deputy commissioner for human rights who was in Dakar for the signing, told IRIN on 3 December that one priority is to help make people aware that violence against women constitutes a breach of fundamental rights. “People tend to think of violence against women not as a human rights issue,” she said. “But it is a serious, serious human rights violation.”

She noted that in many post-conflict situations – such as in Sierra Leone and Liberia – violence against women escalates. “In many cases, the end of the conflict hasn’t meant at all the end of the violence against women. In some cases it has gotten worse….It’s a huge challenge.”

Kang noted that while these human rights issues prominent in West Africa are likely to top the new office’s agenda, priorities could shift according to consultations and needs on the ground once the office is installed.

The new OHCHR office comes to a region where thousands of young people risk their lives each year trying to get to Europe to escape poverty. Kang said the office will focus on the rights of migrants. OHCHR continues to urge countries to ratify the Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, which lays out fundamental rights including protection from cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment and from forced labour.

Kang said it is important “to make people aware that human rights is not just about freedom of expression and political rights but a whole range of economic, social and cultural rights as well....It's a package that's indivisible."

In the fight against impunity, which Kang said is a global priority for OHCHR, it is vital that human rights advocates work from the ground up, she said. “You have to work with the traditional systems of justice present and try to bring in international standards. You cannot go from the international standards and try to bring the ground up to that standard overnight.”

Many human rights advocates say combating impunity in West Africa requires bringing former Chadian leader Hissene Habre to justice. Habre – accused of crimes against humanity during his reign – has lived in Senegal for 17 years. Kang said OHCHR “follows the [Habre] case very closely”, adding, “We see the government here is taking positive steps to prosecute the case.”