The United Nations Office at Geneva
Multimedia Newsroom
Statements , Conferences , Edited News
Human Rights 75 – Welcome statement by Volker Türk - 11 December 2023
STORY: High-Level Event Commemorating the 75th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by Volker Türk
TRT: 03:04
SOURCE: OHCHR
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: English/NATS
ASPECT RATIO: 16:9
DATELINE: 11 December 2023 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
SHOTLIST
- Exteriors shots: Palais des Nation with HR75 banners
- Various shots: Outside Room 20 in the Palais des Nations participants arriving
- Various shots: Inside room 20 participants
- Soundbite (English)— Volker Türk, High Commissioner for UN Human Rights: “In the ashes of global warfare, it brought hope. To put an end to cycles of bloodshed, it promised justice. It promised development that would be secure, equitable; inclusive. It set out the path to peace.”
- Cutaways: room 20
- Soundbite (English)— Volker Türk, High Commissioner for UN Human Rights: “But alongside the progress that has transformed many of our societies, there have also been numerous failures to uphold human rights over the past 75 years. We live among many such failures today – with the turmoil and suffering that they produce.”
- Cutaways: room 20
- Soundbite (English)— Volker Türk, High Commissioner for UN Human Rights: “War: my thoughts go to the millions of people suffering unbearably in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, notably in Gaza, and Israel; in Sudan; Ukraine; Myanmar; and so many other places. Famine. Oppressive and hateful discrimination. Repression and persecution. Threats to human rights generated by climate change, pollution and biodiversity loss.”
- Cutaways: room 20
- Soundbite (English)— Volker Türk, High Commissioner for UN Human Rights: ““It was drawn up at a time of horror, after the most monstrous mass killing the world has ever known, in the form of the Holocaust – and with the knowledge that total destruction was growing closer. It has demonstrated its power and efficacy over decades. It bridges every sector of Government action and field of human endeavour.”
- Cutaways: room 20
- Soundbite (English)— Volker Türk, High Commissioner for UN Human Rights: “At a time of so little solidarity, and so much divisive and short-sighted vision, I view it as a call to overcome polarisation. A call to work, with courage and principles, together, to resolve the huge challenges that we face.”
- Cutaways: room 20
- Soundbite (English)— Volker Türk, High Commissioner for UN Human Rights: “A call to hark back to the spirit that led every Member State to adopt the Universal Declaration, and to base local, national and global decisions, across all areas of policy, on the intrinsic, and equal, value of every human life”
- Cutaways: room 20
Similar Stories
2
1
1
Statements , Conferences , Edited News | HRC , OCHA , UNOG
A record 383 aid workers were killed last year with hundreds more wounded, kidnapped and detained, the UN’s top aid official said on Tuesday in a call for accountability, at a solemn ceremony in Geneva to mark World Humanitarian Day.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
UN Human Rights Office spokesperson Thameen Al-Kheetan made the following statement at today’s biweekly press briefing in Geneva:
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
“In Gaza, the Israeli army has intensified its attacks in the north of the strip,” UN Human Rights Office spokesperson Thameen Al-Kheetan told the biweekly press briefing in Geneva on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , OCHA
Gaza: Aid insufficient to avert ‘widespread starvation’ as Israeli military ramp-up forces more people to flee
The small trickle of aid entering Gaza is totally insufficient to alleviate starvation and displacement in the Strip, UN humanitarians said on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Conferences | UNEP
1
1
1
Press Conferences , Statements | UNEP
After 10 days of UN talks on plastic pollution, no consensus was reached; negotiations to continue.
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO
Gaza: Hospitals continue to overflow with people injured while seeking food - WHO
As besieged Palestinian civilians face widespread malnutrition and starvation, hospitals in the Strip are increasingly overwhelmed by the influx of victims of shootings and other injuries at food distribution areas, warns the World Health Organization.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNHCR , WHO , UNMAS
Urgent help is needed to halt a deadly cholera outbreak that is sweeping across Sudan, UN agencies said on Friday, while warning that communities continue to be terrorized by parties to the conflict even as they flee violence.
1
1
1
Conferences | UNEP
Plenary at the second part of the fifth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on plastic pollution, including in the marine environment (INC-5.2) taking place from 5 - 14 August 2025 at the Palais des Nations in Geneva, Switzerland.
2
2
1
2
Press Conferences , Edited News , Images | UNEP
Negotiations got under way at UN Geneva on Tuesday to agree on a legally binding treaty to curb plastic pollution, with delegates from nearly 180 countries attending.
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA , UNICEF
Gaza: Hundreds of trucks per day of free aid needed “for months”, in addition to commercial supplies - OCHA
Despite the tactical pauses Israel introduced last week to allow some safe passage for humanitarian convoys, the amount of aid that has entered Gaza remains by far insufficient for the starving population, and UN trucks continue to face impediments on their way to delivering aid.
1
3
2
1
Images , B-roll , Conferences | IPU
Parliament speakers gather for a photo at the UN in Geneva on July 30, 2025.