Human rights are under assault globally: UN Chief

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has warned that human rights are under unprecedented assault around the world. He pointed to widespread violations of international law and the immense suffering of civilians in conflicts in Sudan, the Gaza Strip, and Ukraine. Speaking at the opening of the Human Rights Council in Geneva on Monday, Guterres said human rights are being deliberately undermined. He urged member states not to treat international human rights obligations as optional. He strongly defended the UN human rights system, describing it as being in survival mode due to significant funding cuts, mounting attacks on its independent experts, and the withdrawal of the United States from one of its key universal accountability mechanisms.
"We are living in a world where mass suffering is excused away, where humans are used as bargaining chips, where international law is treated as a mere inconvenience," he said. The UN chief called for urgent action to reverse the trend. "We must defend our shared foundations, without compromise," he said, insisting that "the UN Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the instruments of international human rights law are not a menu". "Leaders cannot pick the parts they like and ignore the rest," he said.