THE WAR IN Ukraine will be among the “immediate priorities” for Galway native Michael O’Flaherty when he takes up his new role as the Human Rights Commissioner for the Council of Europe.
The Council of Europe (COE) is the continent’s leading organisation in the field of human rights, democracy and the rule of law.
It was established in 1949 in the wake of World War II with the aim of promoting stability and increasing cooperation on the continent and currently has 46 member states.
The Commissioner for Human Rights is an independent and impartial non-judicial institution established by the COE in 1999.
The Commissioner has the right to intervene as a third party in the proceedings of the European Court of Human Rights, provides advice and information on the prevention of human rights violations.
The Commissioner also engages with governments to improve public awareness of human rights standards.
O’Flaherty was elected to this role last night and will take up the position in April.
“The Commissioner is the Council of Europe’s human rights watchdog,” O’Flaherty told The Journal.
“The Commissioner’s role is to keep an eye on the situation of human rights across the 46 COE member states, so it’s a lot bigger than the European Union.”
Britain is among the 46 member states, but Russia was excluded from the COE in 2022 following its invasion of Ukraine.
“You’re bringing attention to what needs to be addressed and fixed and work with the countries to find solutions to these problems,” added O’Flaherty.
He also remarked that human rights “relates to every aspect of our lives”.
“It’s everything from how you get treated in a demonstration or on the street, all the way over to issues of inequality.
“It’s very relevant to particular groups, like Roma and Travellers, but also right now, a huge preoccupation would be the wellbeing of the people of Ukraine.”
O’Flaherty told The Journal that once he takes up the role in April, his “first immediate priority is Ukraine.”
“The situation in Ukraine is about the human rights of those people, but it’s also about all of us and all of our human rights,” said O’Flaherty, “because the Russian aggression is an existential attack on everything we have constructed in terms of a Europe of values.
“I can’t think of anything more urgent and immediate.”
O’Flaherty told The Journal that he is also concerned about the right of hate speech, in particular online hate speech.
“Hate speech takes many different forms,” remarked O’Flaherty.
“But right now, I’m thinking among others of the rise in anti-semitic speech, the rise in anti-Muslim hatred, the attacks on journalists online, including women journalists in particular.
“These are all human rights issues, and they’ve got to be tackled very quickly.”
O’Flaherty noted that the need to confront these issues is even more urgent given that 2024 is a year of elections across Europe.
“We’ve seen how disinformation and hate online can impact harmfully upon free elections,” said O’Flaherty.
He also described the situation of Roma people and Travellers as “very worrying”.
“Roma is the biggest minority in Europe and the extent to which Roma people suffer is hugely worrying,” said O’Flaherty.
He added: “There’s also the situation of migration and addressing that in a way that works, but that respects human rights, so the list is a very long one.”
As a result of being a non-judicial institution, the Commissioner’s Office cannot act upon individual complaints.
When asked if this limits the power of the Commission, O’Flaherty noted that the post was “created by member states themselves to help them to do a better job of protecting human rights”.
“So when the commissioner intervenes on a situation and engages with it, then it’s really important that it be paid attention to,” said O’Flaherty.
O’Flaherty has an extensive background in the realm of human rights and at one point was a priest.
He told The Journal: “I’ve been interested in trying to give something back to society my whole adult life and that meant when I was much younger, I tried the priesthood.
“But after a few years, I moved on from that and went into working for human rights internationally.”
This involved working during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1993, and acting as Chief of the UN’s Human Rights programme in the late 90s.
“I stayed with the UN for many years,” said O’Flaherty, “and more recently I was a human rights professor in Galway and in Nottingham, and Chief Commissioner of the Human Rights Commission in Northern Ireland.”
When asked about his decision to leave the priesthood, O’Flaherty said: “It was about figuring out what is the right thing for you to do, and there were a few personal issues, and that combination is what led to me leaving the priesthood.
“So I moved on to the UN and then some years later I was laicised. I’m a lay person now and that’s important for my identity of who I am.”
When asked if the Catholic Church and its social teachings influenced him to further his career in human rights, O’Flaherty instead pointed to some prominent figures within the Church.
“I think people are more important,” O’Flaherty told The Journal.
“It was people like Óscar Romero, and the others who fought for human rights in Latin America.
“They were hugely influential for a guy like me growing up in the 70s and I’m sure that was part of the path that I’m now on.”
Óscar Romero was an archbishop in El Salvador and was shot dead while saying Mass in 1980.
Romero was an outspoken advocate for the poor and victims of government repression, denouncing killings by right-wing death squads in El Salvador, and was often in conflict with the country’s right-wing government.
Meanwhile, O’Flaherty said his new role as human rights Commissioner is a “huge honour, but also a huge responsibility”.
“I’ll face it more with that in mind than anything else,” remarked O’Flaherty.
“’Can I live up to the expectations in a moment when that’s never been more needed?’ That’s what’s on my mind.”
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