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United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres speaks during the opening of the 55th session of the High-Level Session of the Human Rights Council at the United Nations European Headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, Monday, February 26, 2024. (Salvatore Di Nolfi/Keystone, via AP)
GENEVA (AP) – U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said that combatants in regions such as Congo, Gaza, Myanmar, Ukraine and Sudan should “observe” international law, calling for greater respect for human rights and peace in their surrounding areas. He said he was turning a blind eye. world.
The world is “becoming less safe by the day,” Guterres warned Monday as the U.N.’s top human rights body opened its latest session.
“Our world is changing at warp speed,” he told the Human Rights Council. “The rise in conflict is causing unprecedented suffering. But human rights remain constant.”
The UN chief said attacks on human rights take many forms and reiterated his frequent calls for debt relief for some of the world’s poorest countries and increased spending to fight climate change. He defended UNRWA, the Palestinian refugee aid agency, as the “backbone” of Gaza relief efforts, even as top Israeli authorities have called for its dismantling.
UN human rights chief Volker Türk also slammed the “attempts to undermine the legitimacy and operations” of the UN and its related agencies.
“The United Nations has become a lightning rod for manipulative propaganda and a scapegoat for policy failures,” he said. “This is a gross destruction of the public interest and a heartless betrayal of the many people whose livelihoods depend on it.”
The council began its six-week session on Monday amid a rash of human rights crises. He will be remembered by many for his death in custody this month in President Vladimir Putin’s Russia, a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council.
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