Human Rights Day 2023: Remarks by Ms. Sheri Ritsema-Anderson UN Resident Coordinator in Jordan

Your Excellency Prof Dr. Mahafthah, Excellencies, Distinguished participants, ladies and gentlemen,

Allow me to open by thanking the Amman Center for Human Rights Studies for bringing us together today.

I would also like to congratulate you for being among the four laureates globally that received the 2023 General Assembly United Nations Prize in the Field of Human Rights.

This year, we commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

While this milestone should have been a cause for celebration, a dark cloud hangs over us as we witness a conflict so severe that it seriously risks aggravating existing threats to the maintenance of international peace and security, as stated by the UN Secretary-General on Friday.

The conflict in Gaza, the escalating situation in the West Bank, the abduction and holding of hostage dozens of civilians … all of these horrors are resulting in a loss of confidence in international law and systems.

The UN has been clear in its calls for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. Let me echo this again, now. There must be an immediate ceasefire.

Despite repeated calls by the United Nations, and the rare invocation of Article 99 of the UN Charter last week, the Security Council has been unable to act with unity in calling for a ceasefire, as needed by the civilians in Gaza.

As many of you know, I spent the better part of 10 years working with the UN in Gaza.

It is beyond heartbreaking to see this suffering. For me, like many of you, this is not merely a story on the news. It is a reality that I can call by name. Neighborhoods I know, once filled with children’s laughter. Families I have spent time with, torn apart by displacement, death and injury. Dinners in welcoming homes, now destroyed. UN schools where human rights were taught daily, now attacked, damaged and used as shelters for over 1 million people with nowhere else to go. Birthdays, weddings, and graduation and retirement ceremonies with dear colleagues who now grieving the loss of more than 130 UN staff.

And yet, still 13,000 UN staff in Gaza – who are our colleagues, friends, and family – carry on every day, in the most unimaginable circumstances, to provide vital assistance to 2.2 million people, 75 per cent of whom are refugees.

So, amidst this profound suffering, on Human Rights Day, let us take a moment to pause in honest reflection on both the importance and challenges of human rights. Let us engage in frank conversation.

Have human rights mechanisms failed?

This is a difficult question. I will not give you an overly simplistic answer.

Let’s start with a different question. Are the principles and ideals of universal human rights still valid? Is international human rights law still valid?

I’ve met many Jordanians in recent weeks that are asking these difficult questions. Yet when I ask whether they think the principles of human rights, the basic laws, are still valid, they all say yes. The laws themselves are still valid.

But are all humans able to access their rights equally? 

This is where we have trouble. Clearly the answer is no.

It is painfully and unavoidably clear that not all humans are able to access and enjoy the universal human rights. Many perceive, especially now, that human rights stop at borders, religions, genders, and ethnicities.

So clearly, obviously, we have a lot of work to do.

How do we correct what the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights calls “the cynical disregard for human rights, and the failure to respect and heed warnings” which is what led us here?

How do we ensure accountability and justice where violations occur?  Where there are extremely serious allegations of multiple and profound breaches of international law, regardless of who commits them?

The law says these need to be properly reviewed through rigorous independent investigation, based on careful and unbiased documentation and analysis of evidence, with those responsible held to account by a competent judiciary.

In the current context, the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel, is already “collecting and preserving evidence of war crimes committed by all sides since 7 October 2023”.

So this is happening, but it takes time.

So what else? What can we do to ensure accountability? To ensure equal protection?

Primarily, the solution rests with States. With our political leaders. Those that gather at the UN General Assembly, at the Security Council, at the Human Rights Council, and who engage bilaterally to press other States to act according to the law.

Jordan provides indispensable leadership in this regard. His Majesty King Abdullah II, HE Foreign Minister Safadi, and many others are all pressing for full respect of human rights in the region. Efforts by Member States like Jordan are critical.

However, the solution also rests with each of us, including you, the Youth Fellowship participants. Each of us play a crucial role in improving the situation by contributing suggestions, fighting polarization, and promoting equal prosperity, peace, and planetary sustainability.

Rather than retreating, let us reassert our commitment to human rights. Let us be united rather than divided in rebuilding trust in international human rights law. And if you see something that is not working, raise your voice and ideas on how to fix it.

In this moment of deep darkness, let us not give up in our efforts to find the light. The light that will show us the path forward.

The challenges are severe. There is no magic solution.

Together, we can find the way. A better way forward. For all.

So today, on the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration for Human Rights, let us reconfirm our support for these values, and for a strengthening of accountability mechanisms, so that a lasting peace and prosperity for all can prevail across the region and beyond. Let us reaffirm that we are all equal in dignity and rights.