UN chief: Progress on human rights has gone into reverse

GENEVA (AFP) – Respect for human rights has gone into reverse, the United Nations chief warned yesterday, calling for a renewal of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 75 years after its signing.

Pointing to the war raging in Ukraine, and threats to rights from soaring poverty, hunger and climate disasters, Antonio Guterres said the declaration was “under assault from all sides.”

“Some governments chip away at it. Others use a wrecking ball,” he told the opening of the UN Human Rights Council’s main annual session, describing the disregard and disdain seen for human rights around the world as “a wake-up call.”

He said the “Russian invasion of Ukraine has triggered the most massive violations of human rights” being witnessed in the world today.

“It has unleashed widespread death, destruction and displacement,” he said.

While the past century has seen astounding progress in human rights and human development, Guterres warned that now, “instead of continuing this progress, we have gone into reverse.”

Russia’s war in Ukraine loomed large over the meeting, due to last a record six weeks, with calls for unity in condemning Moscow and extending a probe into war crimes in the conflict.

The session comes just days after the one-year anniversary of Moscow’s fullscale invasion – which UN rights chief Volker Turk warned shows that 75 years after the world agreed on the universality of rights, “the oppression of the past can return in various disguises.”

Turk cited “the old destructive wars of aggression from a bygone era with worldwide consequences, as we have witnessed again in Europe with the senseless Russian invasion of Ukraine.”

Following the speeches by the UN top brass, nearly 150 ministers and heads of state and government are due to speak, virtually or in person, during the first four days of the session.