On 10 December 1948, in Paris, the General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Thirty articles, no reference to any border: what they guarantee a woman in Dakar, they guarantee a man in Geneva. Nearly eighty years on, the text remains the most translated in the world, and its application still depends on states. President Macky Sall places the defence of human rights among the commitments of his candidacy for the office of UN Secretary-General.
Forty-seven seats. Created in 2006, the Human Rights Council brings together forty-seven states. Each of them, large or small, appears before its peers in the Universal Periodic Review. The procedure holds because no one is exempt.
What the Secretary-General can do. He appoints the High Commissioner for Human Rights, with the approval of the General Assembly. Article 99 of the Charter also lets him refer to the Security Council any matter that threatens peace. Both levers already exist; they work when the office-holder decides to use them in time.
The same vocabulary for everyone. A credible Secretary-General uses the same words for a powerful state and a modest one, for an ally and for a difficult partner. Without that, the charge of double standards, which many states of the South level at the Organization, finds fresh material every time.
Acting before the report. Reports record violations already committed. President Macky Sall wants the Organization to act at the first signs of deterioration, through the prevention his vision puts first.
A vision written to be checked. Twelve years as head of state, then the chairmanship of the African Union in 2022, had him negotiating with partners from every region. The vision statement filed with the United Nations takes its form from that: commitments that every state can verify.
Africa at its heart, the world in its sights.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), General Assembly resolution 60/251 (2006) and Article 99 of the Charter are public. Read all public positions at www.mackysall.net