Geneva: UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk Monday September 11, 2023 cited violence in Nuh, Manipur and incidents of burning of Holy Quran to warn the world against politics of division and distraction.
“Instead of unity of purpose, and decisive, cooperative leadership, we’re seeing the politics of division and distraction – for instance, through the fabrication of artificial disputes over gender, migration or imagining a "clash" of civilisations”, Volker Türk said in his opening remark at the start of the 54th session of UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC).
“The repugnant series of some 30 incidents of burning the Quran recently is the latest manifestation of this urge to polarise and fragment – to create divisions, within societies, and between countries”, he added.
“We're also seeing the politics of indifference, the numbing of our mind and soul – an effort to deflect our innermost feature, compassion, by simply negating the humanity of victims and people vulnerable to harm”, he added.
Speaking on the situation in India, the UN Human Rights Commissioner said that his office “frequently receives information that marginalised minority communities are subjected to violence and discrimination”.
He noted that “Muslims are often the target of such attacks, most recently in Haryana and Gurugram, in Northern India”.
"In Manipur, other communities have also been facing violence and insecurity since May", he said.
“There is a clear need to redouble efforts to uphold the rights of all minorities, by dealing in a forthright manner with intolerance, hate speech, religious extremism and discrimination”, he said.
The UN Human Rights Commissioner also raised the vandalism of dozens of churches and Christian domes in Faisalabad, Pakistan by a large mob of thousands of people.
A career UN official and Austrian national, Türk, has been the UN Human Rights Commissioner since October 2022.
In his speech, Türk also referred to the concerns about the human rights situation in China’s Xinjiang province which were released in a report on the last working day of his predecessor, Michele Bachelet.
“As my office highlighted a year ago, the concerns in Xinjiang UAR require strong remedial action by the authorities, as per our recommendations. I also remain troubled by the continued detention of human rights advocates,” he said.
The UN Human Rights Commissioner in his speech also raised escalation of violence in occupied Palestinian territories, and attacks by illegal settlers on civilians including children.
“I remain profoundly shocked by the escalating violence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, as more Palestinians and Israelis – including children – continue to be killed and seriously injured”, he said.
“The use of airstrikes in the occupied West Bank is especially concerning. Violent attacks by settlers against Palestinians appear to be growing more common, and in some cases have taken place with the apparent acquiescence of Israeli forces. Illegal settlements are also expanding greatly”, he added.
Türk also raised concern over unequal distribution of wealth, and batted for reform of the international financial architecture.
“Ours is an age of massive concentration of wealth, and unprecedented inequalities. Global wealth has never been greater. But in 2021, the richest 10% owned 76% of total wealth; the poorest half owned just 2%. And nearly half the world's people live in countries where governments must spend more on debt repayment than they are able to do on education or health”, he said. “The abyss between rich and poor harms everyone. Nationally and internationally, it destroys trust and weakens efforts to find solutions. It is in the interest of every State to ensure that all international institutions and multilateral discussions reflect the needs of every participant – and that they work to close the widening inequalities between countries”, he added.
“Ours is an age of massive concentration of wealth, and unprecedented inequalities. Global wealth has never been greater. But in 2021, the richest 10% owned 76% of total wealth; the poorest half owned just 2%. And nearly half the world's people live in countries where governments must spend more on debt repayment than they are able to do on education or health”, he said.
“The abyss between rich and poor harms everyone. Nationally and internationally, it destroys trust and weakens efforts to find solutions. It is in the interest of every State to ensure that all international institutions and multilateral discussions reflect the needs of every participant – and that they work to close the widening inequalities between countries”, he added.
“One important step must be the reform of the international financial architecture, including fairer deals on debt relief and development finance”, the UNHRC Chief said.
For all the latest News, Opinions and Views, download ummid.com App.
Select Language To Read in Urdu, Hindi, Marathi or Arabic.
