Even as war rages on in
close proximity to India, the United Nations
High
Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCR), Mary
Robinson was honored for her role in promoting
peace. Robinson, who was president of Ireland,
was awarded the Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace
Disarmament and Development on November 19
in New Delhi, India.
Robinson's
commitment in the area of human rights is a substantial
and long one. During her presidency, from 1990-1997,
she was active in promoting the awareness and education
on vital human rights issues.
Robinson was the first head of state to visit
Rwanda in the aftermath of the genocide there.
She was also the first head of state to visit the
International Criminal Tribunal for the Former
Yugoslavia, as well as the first head of state
to visit Somalia following the crisis there in
1992. Soon thereafter, she was awarded the Special
CARE Humanitarian Award in recognition of her efforts
in Somalia.
Robinson was recently
assigned the post of Secretary General in leading
the UNHCR, which was the preparatory
committee, at the 2001 World Conference against
Racism. Here her role was to oversee yet another
stage in the global campaign against racial discrimination. "It
was my privilege to oversee this stage," she
said, referring to the Conference.
"I regard this award as a recognition of
the work for the promotion and protection of human
rights that the Office of the High Commissioner
for Human Rights has been pursuing in its short
existence of some seven years," Robinson said
in her address during the award ceremony.
She added, "The
recognition of peace, development and disarmament
as interlocking agendas in the
Indira Gandhi Prize is not new. No doubt it was
intended by those who established it in 1986 to
remind us of that fact. I would in my acceptance
of this Prize to underscore the further link of
these noble goals to human rights-a link which
I know is also in your mind by honoring me with
the award."
Robinson also touched
on India's position today amidst the war that
the country has been fighting
with it's neighbor, Pakistan. She said, "Dialogue
is necessary if peace is to be possible. In this
regard India and it's neighbor must continue to
see the path of dialogue over their difficult problems."
She further indulged
in her personal experience with her own country. "Now
there is hope born out of patient dialogue and
cooperation between
the two states directly involved, the United Kingdom
and Ireland. The most important shift in thinking,
which led to the possibility of peace, arose when
the two states came to see that they had a shared
problem and that they should work together for
a solution."
Robinson ended
her address by saying, "I
believe there can be no better tribute to Indira
Gandhi, or to her father, Nehru, than for the objectives
of peace, development and disarmament to become
a reality throughout the South, and especially
the South-Asia region."
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