Jörg Lauber, President of the Human Rights Council, began this session by emphasizing that the responsibility of states for human rights goes beyond the adoption of resolutions, and then asked participants to observe a minute of silence for all victims of human rights violations.
Philemon Young, President of the UN General Assembly, also said: We are witnessing a sharp decline in human rights.
He emphasized: Human rights violations have devastating consequences and there is no exaggeration in the urgency of confronting this issue.
According to Young, human rights violations from Gaza to other conflicts must end.
In his speech at the opening of the 58th session of the Human Rights Council, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said: Human rights are being stifled and suppressed around the world.
The UN Secretary-General, expressing his deep concern over the violence of the Zionist settlers in the West Bank, said: “I am deeply concerned about the increase in violence in the occupied West Bank by Israeli settlers and other violations, as well as the call for annexation of this area.” Guterres, calling the ceasefire agreement in Gaza valuable, said: “We must prevent the resumption of war at all costs.” In another part, he referred to the consequences of the regional war in the Democratic Republic of Congo and said: “I will present proposals to the Security Council in the coming days for greater stability and security for Haiti.” The UN Secretary-General called on the world to provide massive assistance to flood-stricken Pakistan. Guterres also called white supremacy a transnational threat and called for combating it. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk also gave a speech. He warned that the international system is undergoing a tectonic shift and human rights have never been under greater pressure than now.
Turk stated that the global consensus on human rights is crumbling under pressure from authoritarians.
The 58th session of the UN Human Rights Council will be held in Geneva from February 24 to April 4.
