UN human rights chief launches "path of solution"; decries "disinfo propaganda" targeting global body

Geneva [Switzerland], February 26 : The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk on Monday, flagged disinformation attempts to undermine the legitimacy and work of the United Nations and other institutions.
He also said that negotiations on treaties on pandemic prevention and on cybercrime, as well as on plastic pollution; and global discussions about the regulation of artificial intelligence were "not sufficiently taking into account human rights obligations, and the human rights harms that could be done."
"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," Turk said in his address at the beginning of the UN Human Rights Council's first high level session of the year in Geneva.
Volker Turk said he was deeply disturbed by the "disinformation that targets UN humanitarian organisations, UN peacekeepers, and my office."
The UN is uniquely equipped to enable States to discuss and resolve pressing global issues, the UN Human Rights chief said adding that "this convening power" is particularly vital now, when the magnitude of conflict, planetary peril and digital transformation requires urgent solutions."
"UN humanitarian agencies assist hundreds of millions of people to stay alive. The UN's development and peace work is absolutely crucial to all nations. My Office is mandated to monitor and report on human rights because States have agreed that rights and justice are the best, and only, way forward. The work of opening dialogues and protecting rights is not comfortable for everyone - but it is essential to all of us," he said.
Turk said that the UN Council was meeting at a time of "seismic global shocks."
"Conflicts are battering the lives of millions of civilians, and carving even deeper fault-lines across and between nations," he said.
Turk said that 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.
He noted that the Open Society Barometer, a survey of over 36,000 people in 30 countries - found that the vast majority agreed that human rights have been a "force for good."
"In other words, the silent majority holds to the human rights principles that ensure progress and justice across all societies, and which keep our world safe," he said.
Turk launched "Path of Solution" document with eight messages to guide renewed action for peace; economies that work for people, planet, as well as effective governance. It contains guardrails for digital and scientific progress and "broadens the way we think about rights, in ways that can transform societies and our global community."
The UN Rights chief said that the vision document titled, "Human Rights: A Path of Solutions," would inform world leaders coming together for the Summit of the Future in September.
He also highlighted how the Member States and many partners came together at the December high-level event to commemorate 75 years of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights last year.
"This was an important moment of reflection on the successes and failures to implement human rights, and how we can do better in the future. It was the culmination of a rich, year-long engagement across the world which resounded with demands that the world deliver on the promises of the Universal Declaration," he went on to say.
"By the end of that two-day event, 153 Member States had issued concrete pledges, alongside civil society groups, UN bodies, businesses and others: over 770 pledges, in all. They ranged from commitments to increase women's leadership and employment equality, to tackling extreme poverty, ensuring transitional justice, and improving access to education, healthcare and social protections," Turk underlined.
"Just as important was the outpouring of support from members of the public, in every corner of the globe. The Open Society Barometer - a survey of over 36,000 people in 30 countries - found that the vast majority agreed that human rights have been a "force for good." In other words, the silent majority holds to the human rights principles that ensure progress and justice across all societies, and which keep our world safe," he said.
The introduction by the Secretary-General of the UN's Protection Pledge and Agenda for Protection will guarantee that the UN as a whole prioritizes the advancement of human rights in all situations, regardless of how difficult they may be, Turk said.
"The power of human rights is rooted in their universality - the equal value of every human life that is at their core. The same human rights standards must be deployed everywhere, and they must be benchmarks for future progress - not high-water marks from which we can recede. Every human being is born equal. All victims are equally deserving of justice. No-one can be left behind. And nobody is above the law," Turk said.
"The work of opening dialogues and protecting rights is not comfortable for everyone - but it is essential to all of us," he said.
"We need to overcome the binary view that if you are not for us, and against our enemies, then you too must be an enemy. Within countries, the "us versus them" illogic is creating increasingly dangerous and combustible divisions, especially in pre-electoral periods," Turk said.
"Every human being is born equal. All victims are equally deserving of justice. No-one can be left behind. And nobody is above the law," he said.
Meanwhile, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in his address to the Human Rights Council today, urged the international community to fulfil its "primary responsibility" of promoting and protecting human rights everywhere and for everyone.
The UN chief said that any further extension of Israel's ground operation in the south of Gaza "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 programmes."
The rule of law, and the rules of war, are being undermined, the UN chief said.
The Security Council, he said, is often deadlocked, 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," Guterres said.
To support states in meeting their obligations, the UN chief launched a system-wide United Nations Agenda for Protection, together with the High Commissioner for Human Rights.
"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. That is the Protection Pledge of all United Nations bodies: to do their utmost to protect people," Guterres said.