The United Nations Office at Geneva
Multimedia Newsroom
Edited News | OHCHR
End of High-Level Event Commemorating the 75th Anniversary of the declaration of Human Rights
More than 16 Heads of State and Government were in Geneva on Tuesday for the culmination of a major meeting on human rights.
The two-day event commemorated the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Civil society representatives, human rights defenders and youth leaders were also among some 2,200 people taking part in Geneva, and also at connected events in Bangkok, Nairobi and Panama.
Opening Tuesday’s programme, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk stressed the importance of putting a renewed focus on human rights.
“This is a pivotal day. We are here to rebuild a foundation of hope. Hope that we need now, perhaps more than ever, at this sombre moment in history. Disorder and division. Complex and bitter geopolitics. Deepening inequalities. And fear,” said Türk.
“Unbearably, in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel – yet again; as well as in Ukraine, Sudan, Myanmar and far too many other places, conflict, intractable and brutal, is inflicting terrible suffering on civilians, without remorse,” he stressed.
The many crises in the world stem from the failure to uphold human rights.
During the two-day meeting, communities from across the world called urgently for change, proposed transformative ideas and made commitments.
There were some 286 pledges announced by States on a wide range of human rights issues.
These included advancing women’s rights and children’s rights, tangible commitments on climate change, empowering people with disabilities, and ens to ensuring legislative reforms that promise lasting impact on people’s lives.
Four key discussions took place on Tuesday. On peace and security. Digital transformation. Economics and development. Climate change and the environment. And how to make human rights central to all policy-making and action.
Closing the event, the High Commissioner highlighted how this work will continue. The UN Human Rights Office will draw on rich insights and practical recommendations from the wide-reaching conversations throughout this HR75 initiative year to inform a Vision for Human Rights for the next 25 years.
“We must respond to what we have heard the many voices - from every region, every generation – which are demanding hope and change now. We are writing a new narrative for human rights - as the driver of an ambitious agenda of change that has to meet the biggest challenges of our time, the one’s we face now but also the one’s in the future,” Türk said.
There should be no doubt that there is a strong global constituency for rights, he added.
“We remain all of us each other’s best hope.”
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 or
Jeremy Laurence + +41 22 917 9383 / jeremy.laurence@un.org or
Marta Hurtado - + 41 22 917 9466 / marta.hurtadogomez@un.org
Tag and share
Twitter @UNHumanRights
Facebook unitednationshumanrights
Instagram @unitednationshumanrights
STORY: End of High-Level Event Commemorating the 75th Anniversary of the declaration of Human Rights
TRT: 03:36
SOURCE: OHCHR
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: English/NATS
ASPECT RATIO: 16:9
DATELINE: 12 December 2023 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
SHOTLIST
- Exteriors shots: Various Palais des Nations arrival shots
- Interior shot: Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights Nada Al-Nashif greeting Polish President Andrzej Duda
- Interior shot: Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights Nada Al-Nashif greeting President of Senegal Macky Sall
- Interior shot: Outside Room 20 in the Palais des Nations participants arriving
- Various shots: Inside room 20 participants
- Various shots: Inside room 20 President of the Swiss Confederation Alain Berset
- Wide shot: Prime Minister of Thailand Srettha Thavisin addressing room 20 remotely
- Various shots: Inside room 20 participants
- Soundbite (English)— Volker Türk, High Commissioner for UN Human Rights: “This is a pivotal day. We are here to rebuild a foundation of hope. Hope that we need now, perhaps more than ever, at this sombre moment in history. Disorder and division. Complex and bitter geopolitics. Deepening inequalities. And fear. ”
- Cutaways: room 20
- Soundbite (English)— Volker Türk, High Commissioner for UN Human Rights: “ Unbearably, in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel – yet again; as well as in Ukraine, Sudan, Myanmar and far too many other places, conflict, intractable and brutal, is inflicting terrible suffering on civilians, without remorse. ”
- Cutaways: room 20
- Various shots: Inside room 20 participants
- Various shots: Vice President of Colombia Francia marquez Mina speaking on the future of Human rights
- Various shots: Polish President Andrzej Duda speaking on the future of Human rights
- Cutaways: room 20
- Soundbite (English)— Volker Türk, High Commissioner for UN Human Rights: “ We must respond to what we have heard the many voices - from every region, every generation – which are demanding hope and change now.
- Cutaways: room 20
- Soundbite (English)— Volker Türk, High Commissioner for UN Human Rights: “ We are writing a new narrative for human rights - as the driver of an ambitious agenda of change that has to meet the biggest challenges of our time, the one’s we face now but also the one’s in the future.”
- Cutaways: room 20
- Soundbite (English)— Volker Türk, High Commissioner for UN Human Rights: ““We remain all of us each other’s best hope.”
- Cutaways: room 20
Similar Stories
2
1
2
Press Conferences , Edited News | HRC
Russia’s deportations of Ukrainian children amount to crimes against humanity: independent UN rights probe
Scores of Ukrainian children are still missing after being deported far and wide across Russia and occupied territories while their families continue to search for them, human rights investigators said on Thursday.
2
1
2
Edited News , Press Conferences | OCHA
The UN’s emergency relief chief on Wednesday condemned the “$1 billion-a-day” cost of the war roiling the Middle East, at a time of severe cuts to the global body’s humanitarian work in emergencies and “soaring” needs.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , WHO , UNHCR , UNICEF , WFP
Middle East war: UN warns of ‘toxic rain’ danger from oil depot strikes as mass displacement, aid supply shocks spread
Toxic “black rain” linked to strikes on oil depots, mass displacement and continuing disruption to humanitarian supply chains are upending lives across the Middle East and beyond after 10 days of war in the region, UN humanitarians said on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
UN Human Rights Spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani on Friday made the following remarks on Israel’s military ground incursions and displacement orders in Lebanon.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , IOM , WHO
The escalating war in the Middle East has heightened growing concerns about further civilian suffering and displacement in the region and far beyond, UN agencies said on Friday.
2
1
2
Press Conferences , Edited News | OHCHR
UN Human Rights chief Volker Türk made the following remarks at a press stake out on the current situation in the Middle East.
“The crisis sparked in the Middle East one week ago following US and Israeli attacks on Iran, and Iran’s counterattacks, has been spreading like wildfire. It is causing significant damage in Iran, Israel and at least a dozen other countries, mostly in the Gulf, with risks of major economic and environmental ramifications across the world,” he said.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
UN Human Rights Spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani on Tuesday made the following remarks on the current situation in the Middle-East.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNHCR , WFP
Schoolgirls killed, thousands displaced, aid routes compromised: UN humanitarians deplore effects of new Middle East war
On the fourth day of Israeli and United States airstrikes against Iran and amid growing violence and instability in the Middle East, the UN urgently called for protection of civilians and warned of growing displacement and humanitarian needs.
1
1
1
Edited News | IOM
Well over 1.3 million people have fled Sudan’s ongoing war for South Sudan, the UN migration agency, IOM, reported on Friday, amid rising violence and a massive humanitarian emergency linked to the country’s political crisis.
2
1
2
Statements , Conferences , Edited News | HRC , OHCHR
UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk on Friday presented to the 61st Human Rights Council his global update on the human rights situation.
2
1
2
Edited News | OHCHR
UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk on Thursday presented to the UN Human Rights Council a new report on the human rights situation in occupied Palestinian territory.
2
1
2
Edited News | OHCHR
UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk on Thursday briefed the Human Rights Council in Geneva on the human rights situation in Sudan: “Nearly three years of brutal conflict have almost turned Sudan into a land of despair. The report I am presenting today is yet another chapter in the chronicle of cruelty. It outlines clear, ongoing patterns of violence against civilians, including killings, rape, and torture. As the fighting has intensified, violations of international law by all parties to the conflict have surged, while accountability has remained practically absent,” he said.