Speaker: Activism starts small, at home

WATERVILLE -- U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East has set the stage for human-rights abuses and done little to help improve the situation in Iraq, according to former United Nations High Commissioner on Human Rights Mary Robinson.

Robinson is also leading the Ethical Globalization Initiative, an organization focused on bringing the norms and standards of human rights into the globalization process and supporting capacity building and good governance in developing countries.

President George W. Bush's insistence in using the term "war" to refer to the nation's post-Sept. 11, 2001, response, made it easier for Americans to stomach abusive interrogation techniques that would have otherwise been unacceptable, Robinson said.

"When you're 'at war,' people feel that the standards change with regards to human rights and human decency," she said in a forum at Colby College on Thursday night.

The human-rights advocate said that Bush should have framed the tragedy as "terrible crimes against humanity" taking the lead in bringing the perpetrators to justice, rather than calling it a global war on terror. While she felt that military action in Afghanistan was justified, attempts to redefine the Geneva Convention were unconscionable, Robinson said.

"If you are an international human rights lawyer, it is truly shocking," she said.

On other human-rights topics, Robinson exhorted those in the crowd to do what they could to promote human rights around the globe. Everyone can play a part, whether it be through activism or through selective consumerism, Robinson said.

"If human rights are going to matter in the small places close to home, they must also matter in the corridors of power ... and also in the boardrooms of corporations," she said.

Robinson discussed instances in which corporations could have taken stands in favor of human rights, such as when search engine giant Yahoo releases personal information to oppressive regimes, leading to the imprisonment of journalists or political dissidents. Yahoo's defense, she said, was that it obeyed the laws of the countries in which it operates.

This is unacceptable, she said. Everyone has a responsibility to stand up for human rights, even in countries where the existing laws encourage or mandate abuse.

She pointed to instances in which grassroots political pressure forced other corporations to stop exploiting workers in developing countries, and recommended the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre Web site, located at www.business-humanrights.org, for information on the matter.

Robinson has made a habit of visiting countries that are hardest-hit by human-rights atrocities, and has come away with some horrific images, she said.

"I went to Sierra Leone, and I saw pregnant women and little children and elderly with arms chopped off," she said. "I saw an old man trying to shave his face without hands -- he had two hooks."

"We should have a world where everyone has universal access to food, water, education ...," she said.

The forum was sponsored by the Senator George J. Mitchell Scholarship Research Institute, an organization dedicated to strengthening the involvement of a new generation of civic-minded and committed citizens through scholarship programs.

Reader Comments
Share your thoughts about this story.