Legitimacy at Your Door Step

The legitimacy of international organisations (IO) and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) created to protect human rights is often challenged by national politicians and the media. In these circumstances, such organisations have to embrace every possible opportunity to increase their legitimacy. However, there are issues that are at the core of human rights and are still not addressed by human rights IOs and NGOs. These issues are concerned with the question of whether the human rights IOs and NGOs should comply with the standards they are established to promote.

It is a debated issue whether human rights norms are applicable to NGOs and IOs designed to protect human rights. For me, however, it is counterintuitive to argue against it. The human rights NGOs and IOs should not only comply with the most basic human rights norms but they should be a ideal example of human rights protection. It is a common ground that the best way to persuade someone to follow your way is to persuade him or her by example. The legitimacy and credibility of a human rights institution is not only based on what this institution says but what such institution does. The NGOs and IOs which do not follow the highest human rights standards can be manipulated and threatened and therefore they can compromise the whole idea of human rights protection. Everything that I have just written may look like a truism, but it is not perceived as such by some IOs and NGOs.

Unfortunately, it is very easy to find examples of bad practices in the world of international human rights protection. Sometimes it feels that those who protect human rights are convinced that human rights are for the state and its agencies but not for themselves. The Council of Europe is an IO designed to protect and promote human rights in Europe including social rights. Human Rights, Democracy and Rule of Law are the core values this organisation is seeking to promote. At the same time in order to become an employee of the Council of Europe one should be a national of one of the Member States. One can argue that it is a justifiable requirement since the employee has to know the legal system and language of a particular state. However, it is very possible that for example a Chinese national who has done his/her degree in Poland and who can speak Polish fluently could satisfy the above mentioned criterion. Despite this, the Chinese national would not be able to work for the Council of Europe. Apparently it is possible for a third country national to work as an external expert for the Council of Europe but in practice it is very unlikely to happen. The author of this post who is not a Council of Europe citizen was not paid his expert fees even though they were agreed beforehand. The fact that third country nationals are not really welcomed by the Council of Europe does not help this organisation to fight xenophobia and victimisation of foreigners.

One can also argue that employment of the citizens the Member States is justifiable for the reasons that they have to have a special link of loyalty with the member states. By virtue of this argument, the prohibition of employment of foreign nationals as civil servants at the national level is sometimes substantiated. Having said that, the employees of the Council of Europe should have a loyalty link with the Council of Europe, not their home states. It means that the exclusion of the third country nationals from being employed by the Council of Europe has no justification and can be seen as discriminatory.

There are many more examples of human rights violations in the area of employment that are committed both intentionally and recklessly by the human rights IOs and NGOs. A couple of years back, Amnesty International Moldova clearly mentioned that they would provide preferential treatment to male candidates for the vacant position of a project coordinator. This is just one example of many. Human rights and corruption-related scandals are not that rare in the area of human rights.

It seems that the human rights IOs and NGOs have to audit their practices and policies and double check whether what they do always complies with human rights norms. Compliance with human rights standards will enhance the challenged legitimacy of the human rights institutions. This is crucially important for their work and their extremely significant function: the protection human rights in the world.

Kanstantsin Dzehtsiarou

http://www.humanrights.ie