Governments which continue to ignore conventions on human rights must be named and shamed to make them accountable, writes Mary Robinson
As a human rights advocate, I have always stressed the need to tackle impunity. A voice for victims needs to emphasise that perpetrators of gross violations of human rights must be held accountable.
It is necessary to stand up to bullies: to name and shame. In that context I encouraged the establishment of the International Criminal Court and welcomed national court decisions such as the Pinochet ruling of the House of Lords re-enforcing the principles of accountability and justice.
Gradually, however, I realised that there is another issue of accountability which has to be addressed. This one is more insidious because it applies to a wide range of governments.
Of the 191 governments which ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child, for example, a significant number are not complying with their legal obligation to "progressively implement without discrimination" children's right to food, safe water, education, healthcare and shelter.
Of the 170 countries which ratified the Convention of the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, a significant number continue to discriminate against women and the girl child. So, too, for some of the 145 countries which ratified the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Holding those governments accountable would require informed citizen action on an unprecedented scale.
Each day, this lack of implementation by governments of their legal commitments results in millions of people being denied fundamental rights. Unless we act decisively, this could get worse. We know that acute poverty, inequality and the persistent violation of human rights can create an environment which breeds violent extremism. The world is more fragile than it was yesterday and, until and unless we progressively implement universal economic and social rights, it may become worse tomorrow.
I was conscious on a recent visit to Australia that the horrific attack in Bali and the suffering and human insecurity it caused in Australia had overwhelmed coverage of Indonesia's ongoing economic crisis. In five years, 100 million people - almost half the population - have slipped below the poverty line; 39 million have lost jobs, the national debt has just tipped $300 billion and 1.3 million Indonesian children cannot now afford to attend school. Globally, more than a billion people live in poverty and 900 million are illiterate. This is no recipe for peace and human security.
The negative effects of globalisation have been felt across the developing world. People I have met living in terrible circumstances in Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Colombia, Kosovo, East Timor and elsewhere have felt larger economic forces working against them. Yet our political leaders remain better at talking about these problems than solving them.
While many of the economic forces driving globalisation are market-led and favour the strong, I believe they can be changed for the benefit of all - they have to be, because civil and political rights can flower only where economic, social and cultural rights are also respected.
This entire basket of rights must become synonymous with development. For the first time we have all the necessary international legal frameworks in place to protect and strengthen these rights. I believe this rights-based approach is the future of development. The dividend ultimately is peace, but it won't come without hard work.
Developing countries which resolve to strengthen human rights and governance and to tackle corruption should be given effective support, including deeper debt relief and much more aid. A free press, an independent judiciary and police trained to gather forensic evidence for trial instead of resorting to torture are key elements in a country's development. The wealthy world, meanwhile, needs to correct the imbalances within international trade and reaffirm its commitment to the rule of international law. To do this we must strengthen relevant institutions, not undermine them.
International trade links our lives and brings wealth, but the rules which govern it favour the rich. If poor countries could increase their share of world exports by just 1 per cent, they could lift 128 million people out of poverty. In Africa alone this would generate $70 billion - more than five times what the continent receives in aid.
To achieve this, there must be the political will to cut rich-country subsidies (I was saddened to read that the average EU cow receives 10 times more money than that given by the EU in aid to a poor person in a developing country), lower tariff barriers and stabilise commodity prices.
THE UN Millennium Development Goals of universal primary education and halving world poverty by 2015 are slipping already and will fail unless rich countries provide more aid money as was promised. Oxfam estimates that we are falling short by about $100 billion a year.
Finally, governments must be at their most vigilant in upholding the rule of law as they seek to combat terrorism, for the terrorist will have won a victory if human rights are undermined in the single-minded pursuit of security.
It is simply not sustainable to continue to deny billions of people their basic economic and social rights. Governments should no longer be allowed to enjoy virtual immunity from scrutiny and accountability when they fail to implement the legal obligations they undertook in ratifying international human rights conventions.
The eyes and ears to monitor this and demand accountability are civil society groups in every country, large and small, developed and developing.
I have been heartened to see the beginnings of a hugely significant broad-based alliance emerging between human rights NGOs, women's groups, anti-poverty activists, church groups, trade unionists, enlightened business and development experts.
At the World Summit in Johannesburg, environmental activists, development experts and human rights advocates linked together as never before. Anger at the worsening inequalities in wealth will not respect national borders. As a global community, we sink or swim together.
Mary Robinson, the former President and most recently UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, has joined Oxfam International as honorary president. She is also developing a new project, the Ethical Globalisation Initiative.