Afterthought

There must be proper monitoring of the performance of Governments to ensure compliance with the Covenants and International Conventions. There has been a marked change in recent years in that Governments cannot any longer seriously argue that human rights are purely an internal affair which should be exempt from external scrutiny. Governments which persist in adhering to this position must be made to see that their position is untenable . . . . We must pay as much attention to securing economic, social and cultural rights as we do to civil and political rights. It would be illogical to expect civil societies to flourish if access to education, health care, food and water is denied to millions.*

Mary Robinson
United Nations High Commissioner for
Human Rights

 

The arc of the universe is very long. It bends toward justice.

Martin Luther King

 

* Mary Robinson, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, “The Future of Human Rights Rests in Our Own Hands”, in an address to a gathering of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), 8 June 1999.