18 September 2008

To mark the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, this year's theme for the International Day of Peace was 'Peacekeeping and Human Rights'. UNV volunteer Human Rights Officers and Advisors work across the UN's peacekeeping missions, helping to restore mutual respect among populations traumatized by war.

Even when conflicts are over, human rights abuses continue. Local institutions may not yet have the capacity to deal with human rights issues, and may require assistance in ensuring violations do not persist.

This is where UNV volunteer Human Rights Officers and Advisors lend support to restore mutual respect among populations traumatized by war. They collect data on the human rights situation in their countries of operation, and work with local authorities and UN agencies on pressing human rights issues.

Their work can be high-level and high-profile, and often demands a variety of skills. Mileydi Guilarte is a former journalist who chose to become a UNV volunteer Human Rights Officer to get involved with "hands-on development issues" in Timor-Leste. She lists her responsibilities as providing advice on policies and legislations; monitoring economic, social and cultural rights, particularly the right to food; and facilitating training on the Human Rights Based Approach (HRBA) to development programming, as well as engaging in advocacy work.

"A 'typical' day could include monitoring an Internally Displaced Person (IDP) return process, providing comments to an inter-agency food security initiative, and planning a training workshop in one of the regions," she adds.

To UNV volunteer Human Rights Officer Ariel Ida Ngondi, who works with the United Nations Mission in Côte d’Ivoire (ONUCI), the mandate is clear: "We provide protection." Specializing in prison and detention centre monitoring, she emphasizes the importance of the personal touch.

"Everyone who we see gets attention, and depending on the case, we act," she explains. "We go on site ourselves to make sure what the situation is and get a precise idea of what we are dealing with. Then we try to come to a consensual decision in the spirit of respect for human rights."

UNV volunteers such as Karen Oliveira da Costa, another Human Rights Officer in Côte d’Ivoire, are also seeing to it that the country's future speaks the language of human rights. With UNV volunteer colleagues, she has organized human rights training days at high schools to teach youth about the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and its continued relevance.

Read Mileydi Guilarte's perspective here
Read Ariel Ida Ngondi's perspective here (in French)