Commissioner Robinson calls for observing human rights in ME

United Nations Human Rights Commissioner (UNHRC) Mary Robinson Sunday urged all parties to the conflict in the Middle East to comply with the obligations of human rights and international law.

The commissioner said such compliance was the only way to establish peace and stability in the Middle East region.

Referring to the events during her recent visit to the Palestinian areas, Robinson said there is a gap in understanding between the Israelis and the Palestinians in spite of the historical and geographical nearness.

In a message released by the United Nations Information Center in Cairo, the UNHCR said that she has listened to two different views while in Israel and the Palestinian areas, one fraught with fears about security and the other reflecting daily suffering and discrimination caused by the occupation.

Robinson said she had suggested the creation of any form of international presence in the Palestinian Authority self-rule areas to help stop daily acts of violence.

Robinson hoped that the new century would witness sowing seeds of respect for human rights and that the world would draw lessons from the events that had taken place in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Colombia.

On the other hand, United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan, on Human Rights Day, said the world has a long way to go to lay down effective national strategies for human rights cultivation.

In a message released by UN Information Center in Cairo, Annan pressed for fulfilling pledges made and urged governments to give NGOs a shot in the arm to help boost human rights at the international level.

Annan referred to UNESCO's Constituent Charter, stating that as wars were generated inside human minds, peace should be built as well.

Annan said that the increase in people's knowledge of their rights, their respect for the rights of others, and the improvement seen in standards of living, contributed to the growth of the human rights culture at the international level.