Human rights are the bedrock of peace, and today, both are under attack, UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned Monday in Geneva, where he delivered remarks at the opening of the 55th high-level session of the Human Rights Council (HRC). Amid deteriorating conditions in Gaza, Guterres also renewed his call for a humanitarian cease-fire in the Palestinian enclave.
“Human rights are the bedrock of peace. Today, both are under attack,” the UN Secretary-General said today in Geneva as the UN Human Rights Council opened for a six-week session.
"First and foremost, conflicts are taking a terrible toll as parties to war trample on human rights and humanitarian law," he said, noting that at the local level and online, many communities are riven with violent rhetoric, discrimination and hate speech.
“Add to that an information war. A war on the poor. And a war on nature. All these battles have one thing in common: they are a war on fundamental human rights.”
The Secretary-General added that around the world, violence is increasing, and conflict-related human rights violations are spreading.
“From Ukraine to Sudan to Myanmar, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Gaza, parties to conflict are turning a blind eye to international law, the Geneva Conventions and even the United Nations Charter,” he said.
Guterres stressed international humanitarian law is clear: All parties must always distinguish between civilians and combatants.
"The Security Council is often deadlocked, unable to act on the most significant peace and security issues of our time," he said.
The Secretary-General pointed out that human rights conventions and humanitarian law are based on cold, hard reality.
“They recognize that terrorizing civilians and depriving them of food, water, and healthcare is a recipe for endless anger, alienation, extremism and conflict. Today’s warmongers cannot erase the clear lesson of the past. Protecting human rights protects us all.”
Given the crisis facing Gaza, Guterres said he had invoked Article 99 for the first time in his mandate “to put the greatest possible pressure on the Council to do everything in its power to end the bloodshed in Gaza and prevent escalation.”
Israel began its war against Gaza after a large-scale attack by Palestinian armed groups on Israel killed 1,200 people, and led to the capture of about 240 hostages. Gaza health officials say Israel’s military operations have left more than 29,700 people dead and some 70,000 people injured, while thousands of others are reported missing and feared dead.
Article 99 of the UN Charter allows the Secretary-General to bring to the attention of the Security Council any matter which, in his opinion, may threaten the maintenance of international peace and security. This article has been invoked only six times since the UN was created in 1945.
Guterres noted his use of the article was not enough to shake up the Security Council, which remains “deadlocked and unable to act on the most significant peace and security issues of our time.”
“The Council’s lack of unity on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and on Israel’s military operations in Gaza following the horrific terror attacks by Hamas on 7 October, has severely — perhaps fatally — undermined its authority,” said the UN chief.
“The Council needs serious reform to its composition and working methods,” he said, noting that international humanitarian law was still under attack and humanitarian aid for millions of Palestinians in Gaza was insufficient.
"Rafah is the core of the humanitarian aid operation, and UNRWA [the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinians] is the backbone of that effort," Guterres said.
“An all-out Israeli offensive on the city would not only be terrifying for more than a million Palestinian civilians sheltering there; it would put the final nail in the coffin of our aid programs,” he said.
Rafah is an area between the Gaza Strip and Egypt and a focus of concern for the safety of Palestinian civilians.
Dennis Francis, President of the UN General Assembly, echoed the Secretary-General’s call for a humanitarian cease-fire and increased aid for Gaza. However, he said millions of people in other parts of the world also were in a state of crisis and in need of international aid. He said they must not be forgotten.
“The war in Ukraine — now in its third year — has only grown more entrenched, with no foreseeable signs of cessation in the short term. Haiti has descended into lawlessness, while persistent violence across Yemen, Sudan, Myanmar and elsewhere has exacerbated the human rights situation with deepening concern,” said Francis.
“In the Sahel, the impact of strife and environmental stressors has led to a resurgence of famine, jeopardizing the right to food and proper nutrition for millions,” he said.
According to Volker Türk, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, this Council session is occurring “at a time of seismic global shock. Conflicts are battering the lives of millions of civilians and carving even deeper fault lines across and between nations.”
Türk said he was disturbed by attempts “to undermine the legitimacy and work of the United Nations and other institutions. They include disinformation that targets UN humanitarian organizations, UN peacekeepers and my office.”
“The UN has become a lightning rod for manipulative propaganda and a scapegoat for policy failures. This is profoundly destructive of the common good, and it callously betrays the many people whose lives rely on it,” he said.
Over the coming six weeks, the HRC will examine and shine a light on alleged violations occurring in all regions of the world. It will conduct interactive dialogues on the human rights situations in places such as the occupied Palestinian territories, East Jerusalem, Afghanistan, Eritrea, Myanmar, Nicaragua, South Sudan, and Sudan.
“The pain and the slaughter of so many people in the Middle East, Ukraine, Sudan, Myanmar, Haiti and so many other places around the world are unbearable. And when we discuss, in the coming weeks, country after country, we must remember their faces and their anguish,” the High Commissioner for Human Rights said.
The Council also will consider thematic issues such as torture, disappearances, freedom of religion or belief, and the situation of children in armed conflict.
In his speech to the Council, UN chief Guterres warned that the world was facing a human rights crisis.
“Around the world, violence is increasing, and conflict-related human rights violations are spreading […] We cannot, we must not become numb to appalling and repeated violations of international humanitarian and human rights law,” he said.
To support states in meeting their obligations under international law, Guterres said that he and UN rights chief Türk were launching a systems-wide United Nations Agenda for Protection.
“Under this agenda, the United Nations, across the full spectrum of our work, will act as one to prevent human rights violations, and to identify and respond to them when they take place,” the UN Secretary-General said.
Some information for this report provided by VOA.
Further Information
Full text: Secretary-General's remarks to the Human Rights Council, UN Secretary-General, speech, delivered February 26, 2024
https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/sg/statement/2024-02-26/secretary-generals-remarks-the-human-rights-Council-bilingual-delivered-scroll-down-for-all-english
Full text: UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, 55th session of the Human Rights Council, speech, delivered February 26, 2024
https://www.ohchr.org/en/statements-and-speeches/2024/02/opening-human-rights-council-turk-launches-new-human-rights