[Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Germany,
Nasser Judeh, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Jordan,
Joachim Rücker, President of the Human Rights Council,
Esteemed panellists,
Excellencies,
Ladies and gentlemen,

I thank the Governments and Permanent Missions of Germany and Jordan for organizing this important event.

We meet at a moment of crisis. It can be viewed through the lens of threats to peace and security, grave violations of human rights and unprecedented levels of economic inequality.

Either way, we see immense human suffering.  People in Syria are digging their loved ones out of bombed-out homes. Families are despairing as fighting rages.  Desperate refugees risk their lives to find safety across borders and seas.

Since 2008, the number of conflicts in the world has tripled. Syria, Iraq, the Central African Republic, South Sudan, Yemen, Ukraine – the list is long.

These crises have caused national, regional and, in some cases, international insecurity – as well as deep scars and traumas for millions of people.

People around the globe look to the UN to help ensure peace and security, realize sustainable development and protect human rights.

The Security Council is vested with the primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security.

There have been commendable accomplishments over the years – but the grim state of the world today proves that much remains to be done if we are to live up to this Charter obligation.

Excellencies,
Ladies and gentlemen,

With this background, the key question for this event, I suggest, is: how does the United Nations system engage with the Security Council and how does the Council respond?

In 2012, the Secretary-General’s review of UN action during the final stages of the civil war in Sri Lanka recognized a systemic failure of the UN to meet its responsibilities in the face of atrocities.  Blame was rightly apportioned both to the UN system, to the Security Council and to the Human Rights Council.

The Secretary-General asked me to take the lead on developing a response to these failings.  The result is the Human Rights Up Front initiative, launched in 2013.

Fundamentally, Human Rights Up Front is about prevention.  It draws on the UN’s combined mandates and potential to address the political, development, humanitarian and human rights factors which can lead to crisis and conflict.

The initiative seeks change in three different dimensions.

- First, cultural change within the UN.  Human Rights Up Front calls on all staff to recognize human rights and protection of civilians as a core responsibility. UN staff must be principled and act with moral courage on such issues.

- Second, operational change in the field and at Headquarters. The UN system must be able to detect  human rights violations which can signal worse to come. It must act on those warning signs by sharing analysis, forging common strategies and coordinating responses.

- Third, political change. The UN System must engage with Member States, not least the Security Council, in an open, transparent and proactive manner.

These three changes are interlinked.  Through cultural and operational change, the UN system will growingly be able to engage more effectively both with Member States and the Council.

Over the two years since we started Human Rights Up Front, the initiative has made a major difference in UN engagement.

The second part of the equation is the response of the Security Council to human rights violations as well as peace and security risks.  Human Rights Up Front is mainly an internal initiative.  However, the safeguarding of human rights rests on and requires Member State or Security Council action.

A cultural change in the Security Council should be to place a stronger focus and higher priority on the early stages of crisis or conflicts, whether in the political, development or human rights areas.  This is fully in the spirit of Chapter VI of the UN Charter and, I may say, in the enlightened self-interest of Member States

The Council could also establish a channel to regularly receive UN early warning information – before lives are lost and political positions become entrenched.  With the right information at the right time, the Council can jump-start action.

To reduce politicization, the Council could prepare a pre-defined list of actions that it would take after receiving information on grave violations of human rights and security risks, ranging from reporting and good offices missions to deployment of civilian missions.

For this to work, though, the Council has to act without delay.  Too often, it is unwilling to expend  political capital to address signs of looming conflicts, especially inside countries.  Today’s crises demand earlier reactions to the vibrations on the ground and faster and firmer UN action. 

The life of a crisis starts with early warnings and ends with post-conflict actions and peace-building to avoid relapse.  This demonstrates the point that there is no peace without development and no development without peace, and none of the above without respect for human rights and the rule of law.

Thank you.