THE world is a terrible, terrible place to live in for some people. We have known this for the longest time. We don't need the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) to tell us, but it helps.
Michelle Bachelet, who heads the institution, tells the global rights body's 47th session that we are facing the worst human rights setbacks in our lifetime. Call for concerted action and life-changing vision peppered her opening address at the virtual meet on Monday.
Her predecessors have made similar calls, and yet the world went to bed and woke up to a new day. But there never was a new dawn. People came and went discussing massacres here and genocides there.
But they never asked the overwhelming question: why do such atrocities keep happening? They will not because it will disturb the universe of big powers too much. We advance two reasons why atrocities continue to happen. One is big power hypocrisy. Two is the failure of international institutions such as the UN.
Start with big power hypocrisy. Consider big powers at two levels. At one level is a mount of evidence pointing to atrocities committed by their armed forces and mercenaries on hire. At another level is equally a mount of evidence pointing to war crimes of allies. At neither level can a tribunal or international court have access to evidence.
Big powers are always on the lookout to nip investigations in the bud. The International Criminal Court (ICC) tried to open its investigation into war crimes allegedly committed by United States soldiers in Afghanistan, and all American hell broke loose. Imagine imposing sanctions on court officials for doing their job. The US did, warning the ICC not to try again. Not in Afghanistan or anywhere else.
Europe and Britain are no better. The big powers aren't the only "untouchables". Their allies too are "they who must be obeyed". We saw this recently when the ICC attempted to open investigations into allegations of war crimes against Israel. The US, from the president downwards, was raging mad.
Hypocrisy is known to do this to nations and men. We ask whatever happened to rule-based world order? So do 680 global leaders of repute led by former president of Ireland Mary Robinson and former chief of UNHRC, in an open letter addressed to US President Joe Biden, published by Al Jazeera on Saturday.
Their message is: Dear President Biden, help end Israel's institutionalised oppression of the Palestinians. Britain, too, joined the same rogue league when it blasted the ICC for looking into Israel's war crimes. Legal principles must not be made so pliable.
International institutions too have failed the world. The UN is an epitome of such failure. Being a "child" of the West, it was designed to fail the rest. How else can we explain five permanent members (P5) of the UN Security Council (UNSC) deciding the fate of 195 nations and territories? Democracy dies a thousand deaths here.
The UN General Assembly (UNGA) with such huge membership isn't allowed to give its resolutions the force of law as opposed to those of the UNSC. Hypocrisy, like the bad blood of UN founding members, flows through the "veins" of international institutions.
Hypocrisy can be ended in either of two ways. The P5 come to their senses and mend their wayward ways, or the UNGA acts to change the hypocritical universe of the P5. Until then, many Bachelets will come and go without asking the overwhelming question.