Mary Robinson has never sought to curry favour and has happily remained an outsider in her UN post, writes Nuala Haughey, Social and Racial Affairs Correspondent
Mary Robinson's last day in office will be September 11th, 2002, exactly a year after the terrorist attack on the US which she recently said had ushered in the "bleakest time for human rights".
As a defender of these rights in the face of renewed attacks, Robinson's final year in Geneva has been injected with renewed vigour. Her calls for proportionality and justice instead of revenge in the strikes on Afghanistan and her criticisms of the treatment of Taliban and al-Qaeda prisoners were strong challenges to the tendency of states to blur civil rights standards in times of crisis.
Her remarks did not endear her to the US, a factor which some in Geneva say is relevant to her decision not to seek a second four-year term as the UN's High Commissioner for Human Rights.
Yesterday's announcement is the second time that Robinson has stated she will not renew her mandate. When she made the same announcement this time last year, she came in for some criticism that she was bottling out.
Within weeks, she agreed to stay on for one extra year, after being promised additional resources for her office by the UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, who showed strong support for her.
This time it is unlikely that Robinson will be persuaded to change her mind, even if she wanted to. Insiders in Geneva say she may have been open to taking on a second term, but that the US would have blocked her bid for re-election by the UN's General Assembly. It is thought unlikely that Annan would have weighed in behind her this time, according to informed sources. "That is the $64 million question," said one insider in Geneva.
The extra year has made a real difference to Robinson, who will now depart her post in a more upbeat mood, no doubt buoyed up by the positive reactions of non-governmental organisations and some governments to her strong stance on Afghanistan.
This time last year, she seemed dispirited, worn down by bureaucracy and persistent funding difficulties. Yesterday, when she announced her departure, she struck an altogether more positive note, commenting that her voice may have been perceived at times to be "awkward" but that she always had remained loyal to Annan's advice for her to remain an outsider.
"She was fighting fit this time around, whereas last year she didn't seem to want to be bothered any more," said one senior diplomatic source.
Robinson will leave behind her a human rights division established in 1993 and still very much in its infancy. Staff there say the major problem continues to be the fact that they still do not have the capacity to fully respond to all demands for action and help.
The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights is based in Geneva and has around 250 staff there, in New York and in the field. The many activities of the office include providing support for fact-finding bodies which are looking into alleged violations of human rights around the world.
The High Commissioner for Human Rights's regular budget from the UN is $22 million this year, about 2 per cent of the overall UN budget. An appeal for voluntary funds brought in an additional $30 million this year, according to a spokesman.
Robinson's complaints about under-funding last year did not lead to a major increase in the regular budget, although there has been a modest increase in personnel. About 10 new posts have been created and a further eight are pending final approval by the General Assembly, said the spokesman.
Once outside the UN, the likelihood is that Robinson will further her involvement in human rights. "There is a real role for someone with her advocacy skills in increasing understanding and knowledge of the importance of human rights standards in debates on globalisation," said one Geneva-based source.
Robinson has recently called in several public addresses for the development of "ethical globalisation". Her stance is that globalisation is a phenomenon which is here to stay and it must be shaped ethically and with a strong human rights focus and respect for international legal standards and principles. The shaping of ethical globalisation is the next big international idea, she said recently in an address at a German university.
It is thought likely that Robinson will return to Ireland after she leaves the UN before embarking on a new career as an advocate in the human rights field. Sources close to her say has no definite plans yet, although it is likely that she will be an advocate for human rights rather than a campaigner or in any role that would involve administrative work.
It is a tribute to her success as a voice of the voiceless that Robinson has made many enemies: The United States over executions, and the war on Afghanistan; the British for their role in that war; the Russians over human rights violations in Chechnya; the NATO alliance was unhappy with comments she made on the war on Kosovo. Several countries, notably Russia and China, have lambasted her for what they termed harassment.
She may look back at her efforts in this past year with some pride, not least of them being her heroic struggle to keep the UN World Conference Against Racism in South Africa on the rails last summer, despite intense political bickering. Robinson invested intense personal energy in that project, which was regrettably marred by the walkout of the US and Israeli delegations and bitter disputes about compensation for slavery and colonialism.
She showed her grit though, and has followed through on her commitment to set up an anti-discrimination unit in her office, which will monitor the commitments made by governments at that Durban conference. That she will continue to be an independent and awkward voice outside the system is not in doubt.