HC Volker Türk Global Update speech at 54th HRC.

Speaking at the opening of the UN Human Rights Council session in Geneva, Türk flagged how people everywhere want – and have a right to – a decent standard of living, food on the table, affordable medical care, education and equal opportunities for themselves and their children. They have a right to good economic prospects, a clean, healthy and sustainable environment and the freedom to make their own choices.

“But time and again, I see people deprived of these rights, and crushed by development that is neither respectful nor fair. Injustice, poverty, exploitation and repression are the cause of grievances that drive tensions, conflicts, displacement and further misery – on and on,” the UN Human Rights Chief said.

Yet instead of unity of purpose, and decisive, cooperative leadership to face the world’s many challenges, we are seeing the politics of division, distraction, deception and indifference, and the old blunt brutal politics of repression.

“Antidotes exist to each of these. We need to insist on evidence and truth. We need to be mindful of our interconnectedness and shared values. We need to cultivate humanity's natural reflexes of empathy, justice and compassion. We need to nourish the critical thinking and creativity that can only stem from broad, free participation and open debate. And we need to stand firm on the promise of human rights, which is a promise of solutions,” the High Commissioner said.

Sustainable Development Goal 16 – on Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions – encapsulates our way out and forward from the turbulence that we are experiencing with its interlocking relationship between good governance and development, he detailed.

“Leaving no-one behind" is not an empty slogan. It is a human rights action plan that reaches across the whole spectrum of human rights. Freedom is both the goal of development and its source.” said Türk. “Civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, the right to development and the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment all build on each other.”

However, the High Commissioner warned, the world is betraying the promise to end hunger by 2030.

“Across 111 countries, 1.2 billion people, nearly half of them children, now live in acute multidimensional poverty. They represent almost 20% of those countries' populations – and according to the World Bank, many millions more will be pushed into extreme poverty as a result of climate change. This is a terrible collective human rights failure,” he said.

Ours is an age of massive concentration of wealth, and unprecedented inequalities, with the abyss between rich and poor harms everyone.

“One important step must be the reform of the international financial architecture, including fairer deals on debt relief and development finance,” said Türk, welcoming the current international discussions on reinforcing international tax cooperation.

“Taking decisive steps to end corruption and illicit financial flows is a powerful tool for raising revenue, as studies have found. Both phenomena also undermine the rule of law, taking away resources needed for public investments and the common good and destroying public confidence,” he flagged.

The rights to affordable and quality food, water and sanitation, housing, education, healthcare and social security impose obligations on all States. Like all other human rights, they need to be embedded in law and upheld, everywhere.

“But in many countries, housing, for example, is treated as a commodity for speculative investment: a plaything of financial markets, rather than a fundamental right,” Türk said.

“A crisis of affordable housing squeezes family incomes; deepens inequalities; harms the health of children; impoverishes young people; and drives a growing crisis of homelessness. This has become especially evident across much of the industrialized world, and I am highlighting this issue because I am convinced that it goes to the heart of the social contract. The apparent indifference of elected officials to the plight of young people and others contributes to their disillusionment – eroding their trust in political systems,” the High Commissioner stressed.

“Ending homelessness and ensuring affordable housing are firmly embedded in the Sustainable Development Goals. They are also a human rights imperative: States need to recognize homelessness as a violation of human rights that strips people of protections essential to dignity. I encourage all countries – particularly the most developed countries – to deploy maximum available resources to fulfil these rights, as required by international law,” he urged.

More than halfway through the 2030 Agenda, we are on target for it to become a tragic monument to the failure of our generation to erase extreme poverty and realise human rights, the High Commissioner warned.

“At the SDG summit next week; at COP28, on climate change; and at the Summit of the Future, States need to pivot decisively towards fundamental changes. And as we approach our Human Rights 75 high-level event in December, I urge all Member States to make genuine commitments through transformative pledges,” Türk said, noting that The Declaration on the Right to Development sets out rights and duties on the part of States to forge development and related policies for the well-being of all.

“In conclusion, let me stress again that the human rights cause in all its facets has the potential to unify us, at a time when we urgently need to come together to confront the existential challenges that face humanity. This is ultimately about building trust and restoring hope, including through the work of this Council. All of us need to play our part.”

ENDS

For more information and media requests, please contact:

In Geneva

Ravina Shamdasani - + 41 22 917 9169 / ravina.shamdasani@un.org or

Liz Throssell + 41 22 917 9296 / elizabeth.throssell@un.org

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