Human rights and those who defend them: Mary Robinson

On Inside Geneva this week: part two of our series marking the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Imogen Foulkes talks to Mary Robinson, the second person to serve as UN Human Rights Commissioner. Even as a schoolgirl in Ireland, she was already passionate about human rights. 

‘I was a bit of a bookworm, and I found a book with a photograph of Eleanor Roosevelt holding the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. That iconic photo.’

She became a campaigning lawyer, and then Ireland’s first female president, but still wanted to do more.

‘There was this office of High Commissioner which I was aware of. In fact, I'd seen some of its work in Rwanda, which had been very difficult work. All my knowledgeable friends said ‘you know Mary I wouldn't take that job’.’

Her time as Human Rights Commissioner was challenging.

‘I remember feeling to myself, I'm going to get on top of this somehow. This job is impossible, everything is very very difficult, it's extremely hard work but somehow I’m going to get on top of it. And it got better.’

‘Some governments were critical…’

‘Over and over again, I kept saying to myself ‘I represent the first three words of the charter of the United Nations: we the peoples. That's what I represent. Not the states.’

Today, her commitment is undimmed..

‘Human rights is the answer.  We need to understand that everyone has these core human rights, that all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. That this is who we are.’

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