The United Nations' Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has been established in the wake of the World Conference on Human Rights, held in Vienna in 1993. It spearheads the United Nations' human rights efforts and aims at making the promise of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights a reality.

This declaration, to be honest, has grown a bit old. It doesn't include all the human rights and liberties that we cherish now; new rights have emerged since, or the meaning of existing ones have changed. Nevertheless, the real problem is not in the text of the declaration, but in its implementation. The fact that the OHCHR was created 45 long years after the adoption of the declaration says it all.

We shouldn't underestimate this office, however, as it plays an important role in influencing public opinions. Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, the current High Commissioner for Human Rights, is indeed doing his best.

He assumed his functions in 2014 following the General Assembly's approval, and since day one, he has been trying to make his voice heard. He is especially keen on exposing situations where the right to life has been violated. He, for example, tried to draw the international community's attention to the human catastrophe caused by the civil war and foreign military interventions in Yemen. Furthermore, he recently published a declaration about Cizre, Turkey. He did so, because he believed in the claims according to which hundreds of people were burned alive by Turkish security forces. It was his mistake to not verify these false reports and to pay too much attention to certain media. Nevertheless, in general, he is doing a good job.

As an example, he declared, without hesitation, that Europe's attitude toward Syrian refugees is unacceptable and that the anti-refugee stance is nothing less than a human rights violation. He also warned the world about the rise of right-wing politicians in the European continent, saying that nothing good will come out from that. He also adopted a clear stance in criticizing the U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump and reminded every country that they should do their best to preserve fundamental rights.

States have to respect human rights, not only to protect their own citizens or the citizens of others; but they also have to respect human rights in inter-state relations.

That's what Zeid al-Hussein says all the time when it comes to the Syrian refugee crisis. According to him, what is going on in Aleppo is a blatant crime against humanity, and the fundamental rights of the town's inhabitants are being violated by Syrian government forces. Al-Hussein is not only criticizing, he also has serious proposals to correct the situation.

The High Commissioner is being persuaded that the head of the Syrian regime, Bashar Assad, deserves to face justice before the International Criminal Court. He is perfectly aware, though, that permanent members of the U.N. Security Council have the power block this; so he is asking for the veto powers to be suspended temporarily. He, of course, refers particularly to Russia's veto powers, as we all know that Moscow didn't miss an opportunity in the past to protect the Assad regime at the Security Council.

This is perhaps the High Commissioner's way of saying that "the world is bigger than five." He also has a very convincing humanitarian argument to justify this stance.

Unfortunately, among the five major powers holding the veto right, only France has announced it may accept a temporary suspension. The remaining four have preferred to remain silent; perhaps because they suspect their own war crimes may come under scrutiny. They want to hide their past by protecting Assad, as they are all involved one way or another in similar crimes, they don't seem to worry about each other's vetoes.