WHO AM I?
I, Anna-Lena Christina, the person behind the blog Human Rights-Better Life, am a Swedish-Swiss citizen with a law degree from Sweden, the Diploma of the International Institute of Human Rights – Réné Cassin Foundation in Strasburg, France, and a PhD from the Graduate Institute of International Studies (as it was then called) in Geneva, Switzerland. The subject of my doctoral thesis was The International Law of Human Rights and States of Exception.[i] This study showed how important it is for the protection of human rights, that states adhere to the principles of legality and of a democratic society also in emergency situations. In such dire circumstances, it therefore continues to be essential that institutions, such as the legislature and the judiciary, can continue to operate freely in order to contribute to addressing and overcoming the causes of the emergency and, quite importantly, to preventing the abusive use of emergency measures.
After graduating from Stockholm University, I worked for a brief period as a junior judge in the District Court of Varberg, Sweden, before joining the Secretariat of the then European Commission of Human Rights (Council of Europe) in Strasbourg. My years with the Commission turned into a significant legal and human learning experience that has been instrumental for my subsequent work. The practical experience in detailed and critical legal interpretation of human rights law, and its application in concrete cases, showed that international complaints procedures are indispensable for providing relief to victims of human rights violations when such relief is not available to them in their own countries.
I have also worked as legal adviser and director of operations at the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), where, among many other tasks, I oversaw and contributed to the implementation of various human rights projects, worked with members of OMCT’s worldwide network of Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), organised workshops on how to petition the UN Treaty Bodies and how to follow up their opinions and recommendations in specific countries. On behalf of the OMCT and in cooperation with the Administration Police in Kenya, I also organised and led a workshop on human rights for police officers around the country.
My interest in human rights actually started at an early age, when Europe was still challenged with dictatorships in Portugal and Spain and, as from 1967, in Greece. As a teenager, I therefore joined the Swedish Section of Amnesty International as a passive member and was later an active member of Amnesty country groups in both Sweden and France.
For many years I have also worked as an independent lawyer and trainer. This work, which has often focused on the investigation of torture and other forms of ill-treatment and on how to petition the UN Treaty Bodies, has been particularly significant to combining human rights theory and practice. It has brought me to participate in, and also to organise and carry out, human rights training seminars in Africa and the Middle East for key stake holders, such as judges, prosecutors, lawyers, health professionals, police officers, government officials and civil society actors.
To be able to meet people at the local level, watching the human rights situation on the ground, listening to the daily challenges people face, allowing the stakeholders to increase their awareness and knowledge of peoples’ human rights, and stimulating discussions about possible solutions, has been a significant learning experience. It has also been a humbling lesson in the local actors’ commitment to human rights and their perseverance and courage in trying to influence positive changes in this respect.
International support to local actors is thus important for purposes of building capacity to create a bottom-up strategy to promote the protection of human rights and thereby create a better life for people in the countries concerned. Again, it is about making the theory of human rights a reality for people in their every-day life, where human rights matter. These consultancies have primarily been done with the International Rehabilitation Council for Victims of Torture (IRCT) in Copenhagen but also with the OMCT.
In a joint project with the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in Geneva and the International Bar Association (IBA) in London, I wrote Human Rights in the Administration of Justice – A Manual on Human Rights for Judges Prosecutors and Lawyers (Professional Training Series No. 9). The Manual has been translated into Arabic and Russian and can thus be used in many parts of the world to help promote a better protection of individual rights and freedoms.[ii] However, I have not drafted the various updates to the Manual that now exist in the form of Addenda.
In my consultancies with the European Parliament Subcommittee on Human Rights in Brussels – one of which I carried out in cooperation with the OMCT – I studied the implementation in selected countries of the Guidelines to EU Policy Towards Third Countries on Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. These Guidelines are an external policy tool for the EU to promote the eradication of torture and other forms of ill-treatment in states not members of the EU. The two studies contain numerous recommendations to the EU for purposes of improving its work on the prevention of torture and ill-treatment around the world.[iii]
At the request of the United Against Torture Coalition in Ramallah, Palestine, I made a similar study on the implementation of the EU Guidelines in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, with recommendations to both the EU and the local civil society actors.
My work with the EU was important in order to explore its capacity to develop serious human rights policies that can instil confidence in its partners. It can be done, but on the condition that the EU seriously endeavours to commit itself to its founding values and create an internal and external human rights strategy that is consistent and coherent.
Finally, it may be relevant to mention that I have represented NGOs before the former UN Commission on Human Rights in Geneva. There I learnt important lessons in the significance of working with governments that are genuinely committed to human rights, the cynicism of those that are not so committed, and the fundamental importance of vibrant civil society actors to defend the truth and the dignity of human beings at all times. I also learnt the fundamental importance of independent UN officials committed to moving the human rights agenda by braving political obstruction and more. This meant that you could also lose your job for trying to create a better life by promoting human rights.
I end with a question: In which direction is our world heading today?
Anna-Lena Christina
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[i] For the published version, see The International Law of Human Rights and States of Exception – With Special Reference to the Travaux Préparatoires and Case-Law of the International Monitoring organs (International Studies in Human Rights, Vol, 54), Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 1998, 780 pp.
[ii] For the text of the Manual in various languages with updates, see https://www.ohchr.org/EN/PublicationsResources/Pages/TrainingEducationtwo.aspx
[iii] For the first study, which is entitled “The Implementation of the EU Guidelines on Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (Long Version) (Doc. Ref. EP/Expol/B/2006/12 PE 346.584), see: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/etudes/join/2007/348584/EXPO-DROI_ET(2007)348584_EN.pdf. - The second study, entitled “An Update on the Implementation of the EU Guidelines on Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment” (EXPO/B/DROI/2008/77 PE407.013) can be found at: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/etudes/join/2009/407013/EXPO-DROI_ET(2009)407013_EN.pdf. The Guidelines were updated in 2019; for the new text see https://www.consilium.europa.eu/media/40644/guidelines-st12107-en19.pdf.