rights

In a wide-ranging opening speech to the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, the UN rights chief sheds a light on “preventable calamities” and worrying trends around the world, including detailed concerns about the situation in more than 50 countries.

Marking 50 years since the unanimous adoption of two United Nations human rights treaties – respectively promoting respect for civil and political, and economic, social and cultural rights – a top UN official today said the landmark covenants have helped extend rights to people crushed by tyranny and discrimination for generations.

The principle of “responsibility to protect,” a call for putting into action legal commitments to protect populations from atrocity crimes, has seen mixed results since its inception in 2005, the United Nations deputy chief said today, urging the international community to make the protection of populations from such heinous acts “a living reality.”

Warning of “a strong sense that that we are off track and in a deep mess,” United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today called on the world to move from a pattern of reaction to crises to a culture of prevention, with a heightened focus on the universality of human rights in tackling the “mega-crises” of the 21st century.