“Silence does not buy you any respect – none.” The words of UN Human Rights Commissioner Zeid Ra’ad al Hussein during one of his final press conferences before leaving office at the end of this month. By that standard, Zeid should be one of, if not the, most respected men on the planet. He has been famously blunt about human rights abuses around the world, sparing no one. Throughout his time in office, his speeches and statements were eagerly awaited by the Geneva press corps: here was a UN diplomat who spoke his mind, never flinching from the task of speaking the truth about human rights to some of the world’s most powerful violators. Zeid has likened US President Donald Trump, or Hungary’s prime minister Viktor Orban, to ‘demagogues’. He has suggested that Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines ‘needs psychiatric evaluation’. He has warned repeatedly of the dangers of xenophobia and populism. His stance has endeared him to human rights activists worldwide. “He has been ...
