UN human rights chief decries weakened advocacy, says he won’t seek second term

The United Nation’s top human rights official will not seek a second term in office after his current mandate expires next summer. 

Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, told agency staff in an email obtained by The Hill that his current term would be his last, citing frustration with a waning global emphasis on human rights advocacy.

“Next year will be the last of my mandate,” al-Hussein said in the email.

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“After reflection, I have decided not to seek a second four-year term,” he added. “To do so, in the current geopolitical context, might involve bending a knee in supplication; muting a statement of advocacy; lessening the independence and integrity of my voice — which is your voice.”

Al-Hussein said he would focus his final months in office on promoting the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the 1948 U.N. document laying out basic individual rights.

He said he envisions that campaign as one of “mobilisation and defiance, pushing back the many trends across the world that seem to negate and deny the value of human rights.”

Al-Hussein’s letter, which was first reported by Foreign Policy, painted a bleak picture of human rights advocacy and the U.N.’s ability to be an effective champion for human rights in a political climate that has put the cause on the back burner. 

Al-Hussein, a Jordanian prince, has been a vocal critic of President Trump, who rose to political power on an “America First” message and has taken a less forceful stance on human rights than many of his predecessors.

Some in the Trump administration, however, including U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley, have spoken out against human rights abuses. 

“There are many months ahead of us: months of struggle, perhaps, and even grief — because although the past year has been arduous for us, it has been appalling for many of the people we serve,” al-Hussein wrote.

–This report was updated on Dec. 21 at 1:17 p.m.