Mirage, Magic, or Mixed Bag? The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights' Field Operation in Rwanda

Table of Contents

I. Introduction	2
II. Human Rights Law and the UN Intervention in Rwanda:
A Frustrated Search for Effective Integration and Application	4
A. UN Activities Before the Genocide and Mass Killings	5
B. The United Nations and the Rwandan Peace Process	6
C. Failure of the UN Human Rights System	9
III. The HRFOR: Struggles to Navigate a Productive Course	14
A. Objective(s)	14
B. Mandate	16
C. Structure	17
D. Problems in Implementing the Mandate	19
E. Development of Work Methodology	21
IV. Case Studies: Lost Opportunities, Innovations, and Limits	25
A. Problem 1: Responding to the Genocide and Mass Killings	25
1. Reality	25
2. HRFOR Response	27
3. Results	32
B. Problem 2: Contributing to the Construction of a Human Rights Culture	34
1. Reality	35
2. HRFOR Response	35
3. Results	39
V. The Seven Most Salient Failures and Leading Lessons to be Learned	40
VI. Conclusion	54

The contradiction, witnessed painfully in Rwanda, between our lofty human rights values on the one hand, and the pressure of reality on the other, provokes a natural human response. I hear the words “Never Again”—the call that became the leitmotif for the development of human rights this century—and am deeply dismayed and angered at the human capacity for self-delusion. ¹

I. Introduction

The main purpose of this article is to contribute to an improved understanding of human rights field operations, as they are a relatively new tool for facilitating compliance with human rights law. Secondly, the article will highlight the significant challenges faced by the new High Commissioner for Human Rights (HCHR) to effectively integrate human rights into the UN system and to harmonize the actions of states to achieve eventual respect for the full spectrum of human rights.

This article deals with the UN Human Rights Field Operation in Rwanda (HRFOR) as part of the UN system. The article discusses what the United Nations (UN) did before the Rwandan genocide and how it responded to it. The HRFOR was created in mid-1994 as part of this international response, with the aim of assisting both the international community and Rwanda in responding to the genocide and mass killings that had marred that nation. ² The HRFOR’s mandate, structure, problems, and development are discussed so that lessons can be gleaned from its existence and operation. How the HRFOR responded to the genocide and how it attempted to contribute to the development of a human rights culture are highlighted in the article to bring its contributions and failures into clearer focus. Finally, the article attempts to extract the eight most salient failures of the HRFOR and the lessons to be drawn from those failures.

The HRFOR made a contribution to human rights practice and perhaps to improving the human rights situation in Rwanda. Nonetheless, it must be viewed as a failure because an essential aim of the HRFOR was to improve the Rwandan human rights situation. Simply too large a disparity exists between what was needed to facilitate the creation of a society where the full spectrum of human rights are respected and what the HRFOR accomplished. This article is written from the perspective of a participant-observer, ³ as the author spent two years working for the HRFOR. ⁴

II. Human Rights Law and the UN Intervention in Rwanda: A Frustrated Search for Effective Integration and Application

Two related problems afflicted the UN in its activities related to Rwanda. First, it seemed unable to prioritize human rights principles above the interests of individual states and blocs of states. Second, the UN appeared mired in its own compartmentalization and individual departmental or agency self-interest. There appeared to be more interest in career preservation and avoiding responsibility than in genuine thought of what should and could be done in the circumstances. ⁵

The measures taken in relation to Rwanda have not come close to an effective process to harmonize the action of states to promote and encourage the respect for human rights...