The New UN Rights Commissioner Turns his Attentions to Tibet

By Annie Padwick / October 23, 2014;

Zeid Ra’ad al Hussein
Photo; Reuters/Denis Balibouse

Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein, the new United Nations (UN) High Commissioner for Human Rights, has announced plans to visit Tibet. During a media briefing he expressed his intentions to “move around” the region in a multi-day visit, but said he is still in preliminary discussions with the Chinese authorities to arrange this.

China provisionally agreed a visit from the UN rights chief during a periodic review at the UN Human Rights Council last year. Groundwork to the visit was established by Ms Niva Pillay, predecessor to Al-Hussain, who had urged China to address the allegations of rights violations in Tibet, and the alarming escalation of desperate forms of protest in the region. Tibet has been a focus for many UN Human Rights Chiefs, but repeated requests to visit have been turned down. Following a UN review of China’s human rights record, China rejected all recommendations except the one to facilitate a visit from the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and Special Rapporteur to Tibet. If Al-Hussain’s visit to Tibet goes ahead as planned, he will be the first UN Rights Chief to visit China and Tibet since 1998.

The Human Rights Commissioner for the UN is mandated to promote and protect the enjoyment and full realisation, by all people, of all rights established in the UN Charter and in international human rights laws and treaties. Al-Hussain, previously Jordan’s ambassador to the US, has been outspoken on human rights since his appointment in Sept 2014, and his interest in China and Tibet has been highly commended by Tibetan activists and supporters.

When asked at a press conference if he might visit other areas of China, Al-Hussain answered, “In the initial dialogue, we spoke of a multi-day visit, so I suspect that I would move around if indeed we are able to get the visit in place soon.” Many hope that Al-Hussain will also include a visit to Xinjiang, an area which has seen escalating protest and unrest and disproportionate crackdown from Chinese authorities in recent years.