On Monday, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, urged voters to be wary of “strong politicians” and figures who “scapegoat migrants, refugees and ethnic minorities.”
The unelected official went on to declare that the world needed to change course to avoid a future filled with military escalation, repression, growing inequality fueled by disinformation and rapid climate change.
The Turkish president did not name any leaders or countries, but mentioned a timeline that includes upcoming votes in countries including Georgia, Tunisia and the United States. Reports.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres (L) and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk chat as they arrive at the opening ceremony of the 55th session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva on February 26, 2024. (Gabriel Monnet/AFP via Getty Images)
The Austrian-born lawyer and career civil servant criticised some politicians in France, Germany, Hungary, Britain, the United States and other countries who “scapegoat immigrants, refugees and ethnic minorities” during election season.
Turk told an elite audience in Geneva, Switzerland.
I urge voters to ask themselves which political platforms and candidates work for the human rights of all people.
And I urge all voters to be vigilant: be wary of the shrill voices and “strongman” types who cast a glint in our eye and propose fantasy solutions that deny reality.
He noted that while there were “positive trends” towards abolition around the world, the number of executions was increasing in Iran and Saudi Arabia.
In a wide-ranging speech marking the midpoint of his four-year term as UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Turk welcomed moves towards decriminalising same-sex relations in many places but denounced a “swath of laws” aimed at punishing same-sex relationships in countries such as Ghana, Indonesia, Iraq and Uganda.
Turk's comments came 48 hours after the heads of British and US intelligence agencies jointly warned that the international order was “under threat like not seen since the Cold War,” Breitbart News reported.
Sir Richard Moore, Director of the British Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), and William Burns, Director of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Financial Times Opinion articles, He added that they foresaw the coming of war in Ukraine and “could have warned the international community, including by declassifying it, to help Kiev.”
