A visit from the boss (and everyone else’s)

These are heady days at the Human Rights Council. On the back of Friday’s firm action on Libya, senior figures from around the world descended on Geneva today for the start of the Council’s March session.  It’s the first time so many leading politicians have come to the Council and with them came the world’s media. There couldn’t be a clearer sign of the Council’s ongoing rise. There’s never been such a buzz around the place before and there’s a palpable feeling from everyone I talk to that the Council has finally come of age.

I always think that Ministerial programmes bring out the best in diplomats. Like the first day of school, they groom themselves to perfection (my wife always knows it’s Ministerial week by the fact that my shoes get their annual polish) and then spend their days proving that they can do everything from writing a last minute statement to arranging transport, nourishment and amateur photography for the Ministerial entourage.

For the UK it was a particularly big occasion, with a visit by Foreign Secretary William Hague. It was the first time we’d had such a senior UK visitor in almost 10 years  – and without wanting to reveal how long I’ve been here, yes, I was there for that one too.  The Foreign Secretary spent most of the day in meetings with Ministerial counterparts working to build support on responding to the crisis in Libya. This was also his main focus when he addressed the Council at lunchtime. Since I had nothing to do with the drafting I don’t mind saying that it was a real humdinger of a statement. “This is a warning to anyone contemplating the abuse of human rights in Libya or in any other country” he said, “stay your hand; there will be a day of reckoning and the reach of international justice can be long”. Top stuff.

Excitement reached fever pitch in the afternoon, as delegates packed the Council Chamber to the rafters to hear Hillary Clinton, who’d secured the first speaking slot after lunch. But the assembled masses, straining for the first sight of Mrs Clinton were left somewhat bemused, when out came Uruguayan Foreign Minister Luis Almagro. Smiling sheepishly at the biggest crowd ever seen in these parts he sauntered up to the podium and with remarkable good humour, paused and then shrugged apologetically to excuse himself for not being Hillary Clinton. The crowd loved it and treated him to thunderous applause before he’d said a word. What a showman.

When she did finally appear, Mrs Clinton was worth the wait and she spoke with rousing conviction. She had commendably strong words for Libya, as well as for Burma and North Korea. She also pulled no punches in her comments about the ongoing horrendous human rights situation in Iran. She formally announced that the US and a group of countries from all regions would seek to establish a Human Rights Special Rapporteur on Iran during the March session which would provide an independent UN assessment on human rights in Iran– something which the situation in that country needed desperately  for years.

Passing a resolution on Iran at this session will be the real test of how far the Council has moved forward since the US joined 18 months ago. The termination of the Special Rapporteur on Iran at the Commission on Human Rights, the Council’s predecessor, in 2002, marked the beginning of the end for the Commission. Finally correcting that wrong after 9 years of appalling human rights violations will show that the Council really is a place which can be used to go after the world word’s human rights violators.

One of the happier coincidences of today’s media coverage was that I ended up on several news channels during the Foreign Secretary’s speech. The UN cameraman casually told me afterwards that he’d been trying to film the Ambassador but kept getting distracted by the unnatural glare coming from my shoes.