Sir, - It saddens me to see that Mary Robinson's ground-breaking visit to China and Tibet has been overshadowed for her own compatriots by a misunderstanding over media coverage. The reaction in these pages to the High Commissioner's alleged refusal to allow Conor O'Clery to accompany her to Tibet demonstrates a remarkable lack of understanding of the political and geographic sensitivities with which Mrs Robinson must contend on a daily basis. It may indeed have been the case that she made an error of judgement in vetoing the inclusion of Conor O'Clery in her entourage. However, there has been no attempt in this country to understand what motives might have been behind such a decision.
The post of UN High Commissioner for Human Rights was a contentious one from its inception five years ago and the ongoing battle the High Commissioner wages to ensure respect for human rights, in theory and in practice, has become if anything more difficult over that time. Many countries remain deeply suspicious of human rights as simply a projection of Western values (by a Western High Commissioner) onto non-Western societies, a pretext for intervention in their internal affairs. The principal proponent of this interpretation is China, permanent member of the Security Council, home to over 1.2 billion people and possessor of a far from stellar human rights record. Simply negotiating access for Mrs Robinson's visit to China was a fraught and lengthy process.
The visit takes place against a backdrop of weakening resolve on the part of the international community to challenge China on its human rights record. Symbolically, for the past two years the UN Commission on Human Rights has failed to adopt a resolution on the situation of human rights in that country. In his visit to China this summer, President Clinton notably failed to meet with any dissidents or to visit Tibet. For its part, China is believed to be behind the continued refusal of the UN Security Council to be briefed by the High Commissioner, an ongoing saga here in New York.
In visiting China, Mrs Robinson was thus treading on very thin ice. It would be heartening to see her countrymen and women applauding and supporting her courageous work. Instead, however, we wallow in our own petty concerns at somehow having been slighted. The Conor O'Clery story has received more coverage in Ireland than the story of this historic visit. It is telling that the incident is not even known to most of the staff of the High Commissioner's office in Geneva or in New York. That is as it should be. - Yours, etc.,
Michele Griffin,
Programme Officer,
International Peace Academy,
United Nations Plaza,
New York,
NY 10017.