2008 Annual Lecture sponsored by Mallesons Stephen Jaques

Dr John Pace

'The Great Enterprise after Iraq'

Public Lecture – All Welcome

In this public lecture, John Pace will speak about the effects of the invasion of Iraq on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In light of Henri Laugier’s 1946 description of the pioneering work of the UN in human rights as comprising “a great enterprise”, he will present the war in Iraq and its human rights issues within the context of the historic Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which incidentally turns 60 this year. 

Details          

Date:  Friday, 22nd August 2008
Time:  1 to 2 pm               
Venue: Swanston Hall, Ground Level, Melbourne Town Hall, Cnr Swanston and Collins Streets, Melbourne
RSVP essential to castan.centre@law.monash.edu.au or tel 03 9905 3327

Bio

John Pace was Chief of the UN Human Rights Office in Iraq from 2004 to 2006, where he was responsible for monitoring the human rights situation and participating in the reconstruction of Iraq.  He liaised closely with the US and Iraqi militaries and supported the establishment of a National Centre for Missing and Disappeared Persons and clinics for rehabilitation of victims of torture.  Dr Pace witnessed first-hand the extremely difficult human rights environment, which persists in Iraq to this day.

Dr Pace is a veteran of almost four decades working with the UN in the area of human rights.  He was involved in a number of capacities with the UN’s Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Population of the Occupied Territories from 1969 to 1988.  During this time, he also assisted the Commission on Human Rights to establish the special rapporteur system, which is now one of the UN’s most important human rights tools. 

He was secretary to the Commission on Human Rights from 1978 to1991 and again from 1993 to1994.  In between those periods, he was the coordinator for the landmark World Conference on Human Rights which brought together 171 of the world’s nations and made important decisions on the future of human rights, including the establishment of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).

Dr Pace held a senior position with OHCHR from 1996 to1999, where he pioneered the now-universally accepted “rights-based approach” to development.

He was Director of the Australian Human Rights Centre at the University of New South Wales from 2000 to 2002.

Over the years, as part of his work with the UN, Dr Pace has participated in a number of special missions including:

  • a three-person (then) confidential good offices mission to Gen. Idi Amin Dada of Uganda regarding a possible investigation by the Commission on Human Rights (1978).
  • a fact-finding mission on the human rights and humanitarian legal aspects of the Iraqi occupation of Kuwait (1991), for the purpose of reporting to the Security Council. The mission was the first to set foot in Kuwait a few days after the withdrawal of the Iraqi Army.
  • a two-person mission which negotiated with the Royal Government of Cambodia on a continued United Nations human rights presence and programme in Cambodia (1995).
  • A three-person good offices/fact finding mission to Nigeria after the hanging of Ken Saro-Wiwa and his colleagues in November 1995 (1996)

Since finishing in Iraq, Dr Pace has held senior positions in the human rights/humanitarian field in Lebanon and Senegal and conducted missions to various other countries including Indonesia, Sudan and Cambodia.