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	The need for negotiations to stop the war in Ukraine could not be more urgent by OCHA, UN News, ICRC, UNICEF, agencies   3 June 2022   One hundred days of war in Ukraine. (UN News)   UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres marking the tragic milestone:   "Today marks 100 days since the start of the 24 February Russian invasion of Ukraine. As we mark this tragic day, I renew my call for an immediate halt to violence, for unfettered humanitarian access to all those in need, for safe evacuation of civilians trapped in areas of fighting and for urgent protection of civilians and respect for human rights in accordance with international norms.   The conflict has already taken many thousands of lives, caused untold destruction, displaced millions of people, resulted in unacceptable violations of human rights and is inflaming a three-dimensional global crisis – food, energy and finance – that is pummeling the most vulnerable people, countries and economies.   The UN is committed to the humanitarian effort. But as I have stressed from the beginning, resolving this conflict will require negotiations and dialogue. The sooner the parties engage in good-faith diplomatic efforts to end this war, the better for the sake of Ukraine, Russia and the world".   United Nations Crisis Coordinator for Ukraine, Amin Awad:   "This war has taken an unacceptable toll on people and engulfed virtually all aspects of civilian life. This war has and will have no winner. Rather, we have witnessed for 100 days what is lost: lives, homes, jobs and prospects. We have witnessed destruction and devastation across cities, towns and villages. Schools, hospitals and shelters have not been spared.   Families and communities have been disrupted and uprooted. In just over three months, nearly 14 million Ukrainians have been forced to flee their homes, the majority women and children – a scale and speed of displacement not witnessed in history.   More than 3 million children saw their education suspended – an entire generation of children whose future hangs in the balance. All over the country, hundreds of thousands of people do not have access to water and electricity, and millions do not know where their next meal is coming from. 15.7 million people are in need of humanitarian support now, with numbers growing.   One hundred days on, the war ravages unabated especially in the east of the country. And with winter coming, millions of civilian lives could be in peril.   UN agencies and humanitarian partners in Ukraine continue to work to support those whose lives have been shattered by war. In the past 100 days, we have provided humanitarian aid to some 8 million people across the country, including in besieged cities in the east of Ukraine. Our efforts to respond to the war’s devastating impact will continue. But above all we need peace. The war must end now".   ICRC director-general Robert Mardini:   "It would be hard to exaggerate the toll that the international armed conflict in Ukraine has had on civilians over the last 100 days. The scale of destruction in cities defies comprehension. Homes, schools and hospitals have been destroyed and civilians have suffered the horrors of conflict, with lives lost and families torn apart".   100 days of war in Ukraine have left 5.2 million children in need. (Unicef)   100 days of war in Ukraine have wrought devastating consequences for children at a scale and speed not seen since World War II. Three million children inside Ukraine and over 2.2 million children in refugee-hosting countries are now in need of humanitarian assistance. Almost two out of every three children have been displaced by fighting.   On average more than two children are killed and more than four injured each day in Ukraine – mostly in attacks using explosive weapons in populated areas. Civilian infrastructure on which children depend continues to be damaged or destroyed; this includes at least 256 health facilities and one in six UNICEF-supported ‘Safe Schools’ in the country’s east. Hundreds of other schools across the country have also been damaged or destroyed. Conditions for children in eastern and southern Ukraine where fighting has intensified are increasingly desperate.   UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell said, "the war has shattered the lives of millions of children. Without an urgent ceasefire and negotiated peace, children will continue to suffer – and fallout from the war will impact vulnerable children around the world.”   "The war and mass displacement are devastating livelihoods and economic opportunities, leaving many families without sufficient income to meet basic needs and unable to provide adequate support for their children.   UNICEF continues to call for an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine and to protect all children from harm. This includes ending the use of explosive weapons in populated areas and attacks on civilian infrastructure. UNICEF is appealing for full humanitarian access to safely and quickly reach children in need wherever they may be".   269 verified attacks on health care facilities. (WHO)   “In 100 days of war, there have been over 260 verified attacks on health care in Ukraine. These attacks are not justifiable, they are never ok, and they must be investigated. No health professional should have to deliver health care on a knife edge, but this is just what nurses, doctors, ambulance drivers, the medical teams in Ukraine are doing,” said Dr Hans Henri Kluge, WHO Regional Director for Europe.   “I have been privileged to meet many health workers during my visits to Ukraine. They are keeping vital services and hope alive in the face of unbelievable sorrow and suffering,” he added. Some health facilities have been completely destroyed, while others have been overwhelmed by people seeking care for trauma and injuries resulting directly from the war".   Matilda Bogner, Head of UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (HRMMU):   "The UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (HRMMU) has been able to verify the deaths of 4,183 civilians and 5,014 civilians injured, but we know that the actual numbers are considerably higher.   Most of the civilian casualties recorded were caused by the use of explosive weapons with wide-area effects. To date, we have documented the deaths of 3,524 civilians from the use of artillery and tank shelling, multiple launch rocket systems, missile and air strikes. The extent of civilian death and damage and destruction of civilian infrustructure, strongly suggests that there have been violations of international humanitarian law, some of which may amount to war crimes.   The Mission has also documented the devastating impact of the war on other human rights. Among them we recorded unlawful killings, including summary executions, torture, ill-treatment, and conflict-related sexual violence. Parties to the conflict should put an end to civilian suffering, and fully respect obligations under international human rights law and international humanitarian law".   Intense and ongoing hostilities continue to cause suffering, deaths and massive destruction of civilian infrastructure across Ukraine, particularly affecting people in the east and south of the country. Hundreds of thousands of people continue to be uprooted by the war, while in the worst-impacted areas people have lived for over two months without adequate access to food, water and electricity or gas, with limited health services, while enduring the constant threat of bombardment.   http://news.un.org/en/story/2022/06/1119672 http://ukraine.un.org/en/press-centre/press-releases http://reports.unocha.org/en/country/ukraine/ http://reliefweb.int/country/ukr http://www.unicef.org/emergencies/war-ukraine-pose-immediate-threat-children http://www.savethechildren.net/news/ukraine-twice-many-schools-attacked-past-100-days-during-first-7-years-conflict http://www.icrc.org/en/humanitarian-crisis-ukraine http://www.wfp.org/stories/war-ukraine-wfp-renews-call-open-black-sea-ports-amid-fears-global-hunger http://www.unhcr.org/en-au/news/briefing/2022/6/6299c8f14/100-days-anguish-unhcr-focused-protection-shelter-ukrainians.html http://storyteller.iom.int/stories/scorched-dreams-100-days-war-ukraine http://www.un.org/sexualviolenceinconflict/statement/briefing-of-srsg-patten-about-ukraine-to-the-security-council-6-june-2022/   25 Apr. 2022 (OCHA)   The war in Ukraine, which began on 24 February, has caused death and suffering on a dramatic scale and left at least 15.7 million people in urgent need of humanitarian assistance and protection.   By 21 April, at least 2,345 civilians had been killed, including 177 children, according to the latest estimates by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.   However, the actual death toll is likely to be much higher. In Mariupol alone, local authorities estimate that tens of thousands of people have been killed, while the recent revelations of mass graves in Bucha, Irpin and other areas surrounding Kyiv highlight the likelihood of many more deaths that have not been counted.   The war has seen the use of explosive weapons with a wide impact area in urban settings, including shelling from heavy artillery and multiple-launch rocket systems, and missile and air strikes. The presence of landmines and unexploded explosive ordnance is also a major concern. Even before this war, eastern Ukraine was one of the most mine-contaminated regions in the world.   The conflict has caused the world’s fastest growing displacement crisis since World War II, with nearly 13 million people uprooted in less than two months. Over a quarter of Ukraine’s population have fled their homes, including more than 7.7 million people now estimated to be internally displaced and over 5.2 million people who have crossed borders to seek security and safety in other countries, most of them women and children.   Nearly two-thirds of the children in Ukraine have been displaced.   Massive devastation in urban centres, and the destruction of civilian infrastructure, have made life unbearable for millions of people and severely disrupted critical services, especially healthcare.   In besieged areas, people have lived for weeks without access to food, water and heat, while under the constant threat of bombardment. More than half of all attacks against healthcare facilities in the world this year—119 out of 182 by 11 April—have occurred in Ukraine.   These attacks have decimated access to healthcare at a time when people need it most—women have been forced to deliver babies in basements, injured people have had no access to care and ill children have lost access to life-saving treatments.   Roughly 300 health facilities are in conflict areas and 1,000 health facilities are in areas that have changed control. Nearly 50 per cent of Ukraine’s pharmacies are presumed to be closed and many health workers are either displaced or unable to work.   Other civilian infrastructure has also been severely impacted: more than 869 educational facilities have been damaged and 88 destroyed, according to the Ministry of Education, although these figures are not verified.   Millions of people—including women and small children—have been left without access to safe water or sanitation, drastically heightening the risk of waterborne disease as well as dehydration. Due to attacks on water system infrastructure and power outages an estimated 1.4 million people in eastern Ukraine do not have access to water, and another 4.6 million people across the country have only limited access.   There are mounting allegations of sexual violence perpetrated against women and girls during the war. The threat of gender-based violence—including conflict-related sexual violence, sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA) and human trafficking—has risen exponentially since the war began. Women from groups in vulnerable situations are being left behind and disproportionately affected by disruptions caused by war.   The armed conflict may prevent farmers from accessing their fields, harvesting, and marketing current crops, planting new crops, or sustaining livestock production. Between 20 and 30 per cent of areas under winter cereal, maize and sunflower production will remain unharvested in July/August, or not be planted this spring, according to the Government and FAO. About half of winter wheat and a third of rye due to be harvested in July–August 2022 are currently in war-affected areas. There are also concerns over damage to standing crops and risk of mines and unexploded ordnance impacting the ability to harvest in the period ahead.   The war has also devastated Ukraine’s economy. The Prime Minister of Ukraine, Denys Shmyhal, has said that economic losses due to the ongoing military offensive may exceed $1 trillion, while some 53 per cent of employed Ukrainians have lost their jobs since the war began, according to a nation-wide survey conducted by the Rating Group in March.   http://reliefweb.int/report/ukraine/ukraine-flash-appeal-march-august-2022 http://reliefweb.int/report/ukraine/ukraine-millions-displaced-traumatised-and-urgently-need-help-say-experts http://reliefweb.int/country/ukr http://news.un.org/en/tags/ukraine   8 Apr. 2022   International NGO statement on the targeting of civilians and civilian infrastructure   We, the undersigned humanitarian organizations, are shocked and disturbed by the level of humanitarian needs and mass civilian deaths, casualties, and sexual violence against women and girls witnessed in different regions across Ukraine.   Targeting densely populated areas and collectively depriving civilians of their right to access basic needs, essential services, humanitarian assistance, protection, and safe evacuation - as well as targeting civilian objects such as hospitals, learning institutions and residential buildings are blatant violations of International Humanitarian Law.   As humanitarian organizations following the principles of neutrality, independence, and impartiality, we are seriously concerned about the ongoing hostilities and the international community's unsuccessful efforts at negotiating and securing a ceasefire. The cessation of hostilities is urgently needed to stop the killing of civilians and the suffering of people in Ukraine. We are closely monitoring the ongoing UN-led high-level negotiations and demand that they have a positive outcome on the humanitarian situation on the ground.   Nothing can justify the ongoing suffering of civilians, particularly children and women, older women and men, and people with disability in Bucha, Irpin, Hostomel, Borodianka, Mariupol, and in other Ukrainian regions. All parties to the conflict must uphold their international obligations, including not targeting civilians and vital public infrastructure such as hospitals, schools, and water and electricity supplies. All parties to the conflict must not tolerate in their ranks sexual violence. Such serious violations of the laws and customs applicable in armed conflicts could amount to war crimes.   "I will never forget the day I tried to get out of Irpin. I was outside when my neighbor's car was shelled. The father died, and the mother and her child were wounded. It is difficult to accept this and impossible to understand. I desperately want this war to come to an end," - Olha, a senior from Irpin, currently displaced in western Ukraine.   We call for a serious political agreement for the protection of civilians, including safe and voluntary passage to people who want to leave high-risk areas across Ukraine. At the same time their right to determine their destination of choice for evacuation must be respected in line with the Fourth Geneva Convention.   Parties to the conflict must urgently facilitate unimpeded humanitarian access allowing relief workers and volunteers to urgently deliver life-saving assistance and medical support to people in need. Under the IV Geneva Convention and the UN Security Council Resolution 2286, health personnel and health facilities, such as hospitals and other facilities that have been set up for medical purposes, must be respected and protected in all circumstances. Medical units may not be attacked and access to them may not be limited.   The international community, including the UN Security Council and the UN General Assembly, must take sterner measures to bring hostilities to an end, and reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights and conditions under which respect for the obligations from treaties and other sources of international law can be maintained.   We add to and reiterate our demands from March 4, 2022:   An immediate cessation of hostilities and targeting of civilians, civilian objects and infrastructure;   All parties to the conflict must abide by International Humanitarian Law (IHL). Attacks targeting civilians and public infrastructure, including facilities that are indispensable for the survival of the civilians are prohibited under IHL. At no time should hostilities jeopardize the rights, well-being and safety of civilians or civilian objects such as schools, health centers, markets or farmlands, among others;   Safe and unhindered humanitarian access, including across conflict lines for humanitarian assistance to reach all those in need, particularly those in vulnerable situations, with respect to the independence and neutrality of humanitarian agencies and the protection of humanitarian personnel and volunteers;   All children have the right to enjoy provisions under the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which urges all persons to consider the best interests of the child. During armed conflict, IHL provides general protection for children as persons not taking part in hostilities and special protection as particularly vulnerable persons. Protocol I, Article 77: "Children shall be the object of special respect and shall be protected against all forms of indecent assault. The parties to the conflict shall provide them with such care and assistance as they may require, whether on account of their age or for any other reason";   All parties must abide by their obligations under Security Council resolutions on Children and Armed Conflict, and prevent the killing and maiming, recruitment, use, sexual exploitation and sexual violence against girls, boys and adolescents who are at risk of suffering the six grave violations against children in conflict;   All parties to the conflict must recall the fundamental Principle of Distinction and the Safe Schools Declaration to ensure the protection of all children and facilities including schools, kindergartens and hospitals where children are present. The full range of duty bearers and armed actors must ensure that children and their caregivers remain safe, regardless of the prevailing circumstances;   The United Nations Security Council to uphold their mandate, ensure the protection of civilians and maintain international peace and security away from political disputes;   A serious political agreement for the protection of every civilian trapped in high-risk areas anywhere in Ukraine, including safe and voluntary passage to people who want to leave, humanitarian access, and protection. At the same time their right to determine their destination of choice for evacuation must be respected in line with the Fourth Geneva Convention;   Ensure full cooperation with the United Nations and the ICRC to facilitate the implementation and monitoring of safe and systematic passages enabling the swift passage of humanitarian cargos and convoys including the safe passage of all civilians and relief workers;   All countries to equally welcome all foreign nationals and stateless persons fleeing Ukraine regardless of their nationality, sexual orientation, gender identity, country of origin, religious background, race or ethnicity;   All funds to alleviate the suffering, and for people affected by the conflict in Ukraine must be additional and flexible, or new funding streams adapted to local actors. They must not be diverted from other under-funded humanitarian crises taking place globally.   http://www.nrc.no/news/2022/april/ukraine-ingo-statement-on-the-targeting-of-civilians-and-civilian-infrastructure/ http://www.actionagainsthunger.org/story/ukraine-ngo-statement-targeting-civilians-and-civilian-infrastructure http://reliefweb.int/report/ukraine/joint-ingo-statement-humanitarian-protection-and-access-ukraine-enruuk http://www.unicef.org/press-releases/every-day-war-continues-children-will-continue-suffer http://www.unicef.org/emergencies/war-ukraine-pose-immediate-threat-children   * OCHA Humanitarian updates: http://bit.ly/3ClCh5g   22 Mar. 2022   UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres's remarks to press on the war in Ukraine:   One month ago, the Russian Federation launched a massive invasion of the sovereign territory of Ukraine in violation of the UN Charter.   It was done after months of building up a military force of overwhelming proportion along the Ukrainian border. Since then, we have seen appalling human suffering and destruction in cities, towns and villages. Systematic bombardments that terrorise civilians. The shelling of hospitals, schools, apartment buildings and shelters.   And all of it is intensifying -- getting more destructive and more unpredictable by the hour. Ten million Ukrainians have been forced from their homes and are on the move. But the war is going nowhere, fast. For more than two weeks, Mariupol has been encircled by the Russian army and relentlessly bombed, shelled and attacked. For what? Even if Mariupol falls, Ukraine cannot be conquered city by city, street by street, house by house. The only outcome to all this is more suffering, more destruction, and more horror as far as the eye can see.   The Ukrainian people are enduring a living hell – and the reverberations are being felt worldwide with skyrocketing food, energy and fertilizer prices threatening to spiral into a global hunger crisis.   Developing countries were already suffocating under the burden of COVID and lack of access to adequate financing. Now they are also paying a heavy price as a result of this war.   At the same time, we cannot lose hope. From my outreach with various actors, elements of diplomatic progress are coming into view on several key issues. There is enough on the table to cease hostilities – now … and seriously negotiate -- now.   This war is unwinnable. Sooner or later, it will have to move from the battlefield to the peace table. That is inevitable. The only question is: How many more lives must be lost? How many more bombs must fall? How many Mariupols must be destroyed? How many Ukrainians and Russians will be killed before everyone realizes that this war has no winners — only losers?   How many more people will have to die in Ukraine, and how many people around the world will have to face hunger for this to stop?   Continuing the war in Ukraine is morally unacceptable, politically indefensible and militarily nonsensical.   What I said from this podium almost one month ago should be even more evident today. By any measure – by even the shrewdest calculation -- it is time to stop the fighting now and give peace a chance. It is time to end this absurd war.   http://www.un.org/sg/en/node/262541 http://news.un.org/en/story/2022/03/1114392 Visit the related web page
	The human rights movement is an affirmation of our basic humanity by UN Human Rights Council, agencies   28 Feb. 20   UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ remarks at the opening of the forty-ninth regular session of the UN Human Rights Council:   Human rights are under assault, everywhere. Autocracies are in the ascendant. Populism, nativism, racism and extremism are undermining societies. The COVID-19 pandemic, inequalities and the climate crisis are crushing the social and economic rights of entire continents and regions.   Divisions are deepening. Suspicion and self-interest are on the rise. We are here today to talk about solutions. Solutions that are anchored in our fundamental and enduring human rights and freedoms. Solutions rooted in the indivisible and interlinked political, civil, economic, social and cultural rights that are inherent and intrinsic to being human.   Human rights cannot be confiscated by dictators or erased by poverty. Nor are they a luxury that can be left for later. They are inescapable — and powerful. People everywhere know that intuitively. And autocrats, especially, know that human rights pose the greatest threat to their rule. That’s why they stop at nothing to deny, dismiss and distract people, as they trample on basic rights and freedoms.   Closing down a celebrated human rights organization with a proud history and global links is not the sign of a strong State. It is the sign of a State that fears the power of human rights. Abducting women’s rights activists and beating women on the street are the actions of a suffocating patriarchy that fears for its survival.   Oppressing and controlling minorities, denying them the freedom to speak in their own language and practise their religion in peace, demonstrates a State’s weakness, not its strength.   People are hard-wired to claim their rights and freedoms. Every march against oppression, every liberation movement, every protest against injustice is an affirmation of human rights. That’s why the United Nations works every day, everywhere, to uphold and promote human rights for all.   Last month, I presented my priorities to the General Assembly in the form of five alarms: COVID-19, global finance, climate action, lawlessness in cyberspace, and peace and security. The solutions to these crises are all rooted in human rights.   First, COVID-19. The pandemic is a clear demonstration of the universality and indivisibility of all human rights — civil, political, social, economic and cultural. The vulnerable and marginalized continue to suffer most. High-income countries have administered 13 times more doses per person than low-income countries. Vaccine inequality demonstrates an utter disregard for the human rights of entire countries and regions.   Health-care rights are human rights. Vaccines developed with public money must be used equitably for the public good. I urge all Governments, pharmaceutical companies, and partners, to give urgent political and financial support to the World Health Organization’s (WHO) global strategy to vaccinate 70 per cent of people in all countries. And I urge them to act now on patent waivers and technology transfers.   Meanwhile, the pandemic continues to undermine the economic and social rights of people everywhere, pushing hundreds of millions of people into hunger and poverty. It has also been used as cover for a pandemic of civil and political rights violations, from mass surveillance to discrimination and curbs on freedom of expression.   We can best address these human-rights abuses by centring our response around rights themselves — an approach set out in my Call to Action on Human Rights, the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). We need rights-based solutions and inclusive, sustainable development, rooted in rights and opportunities for all.   Second, the unequal recovery from the pandemic has revealed the moral bankruptcy of our global financial system. That system has failed to protect the rights of millions of people in the global South. The pandemic has squeezed developing economies dry. Many face debt defaults. Few will be able to invest in a strong and sustainable recovery. Education is a crisis within a crisis. Years out of school could affect hundreds of millions of children for their entire lives.   The solutions to these self-defeating injustices lie in human rights. A new global deal that ensures power, wealth and opportunities are shared more broadly and fairly, is a human-rights imperative. This must include an overhaul of the global financial system so that developing countries can invest in the SDGs.   A renewed social contract, based on rights and opportunities for all, is essential to tackle poverty and hunger, invest in education and lifelong learning, and rebuild trust and social cohesion.   The rights of women and girls must be at the forefront. The recovery is an opportunity for targeted investments in women’s education, employment, training and decent work, to make up ground lost during the pandemic.   Third, the climate crisis is a human rights crisis. The triple planetary emergency of climate change, pollution and nature loss poses a threat to all human rights. Today’s report on adaptation from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is another death knell for the world we know.   Floods, droughts and rising sea levels will lead to even greater humanitarian catastrophes, food shortages and migration. Up to one fifth of the planet could be too hot for humans to survive. Let’s be clear: a few countries are trampling on the rights of the rest of the world. A few companies are reaping rich rewards, while ignoring the rights of the poorest and most vulnerable.   Young people, women and girls, small island States and indigenous communities are leading the fight back. We stand with them. I welcome this Council’s recognition of the right to a healthy environment — an important tool for accountability and climate justice.   The Paris Agreement is intrinsically linked to human rights. Its limit of 1.5 degrees of warming is essential to preventing human suffering on a scale far greater than the worst crimes against humanity.   Fourth, digital technology is the wild west for human rights. From a yawning digital divide of 2.9 billion people to Internet shutdowns, disinformation campaigns and the proliferation of spyware, digital technology is often discriminatory and detrimental to human rights. Censorship and online attacks have been normalized, particularly against ethnic and religious minorities, members of the LGBTIQ+ community, young people, indigenous communities and women’s rights activists. Artificial intelligence (AI) enables algorithms to discriminate and exclude.   Science and reason are under siege as lies and conspiracy theories spread like wildfire. Cyberwarfare and the development of AI-enabled weapons pose an unprecedented threat to human rights. The Internet must be treated as a global public good. It should benefit everyone, everywhere. We need a digital public square that is inclusive and safe for all, and social media platforms that support human rights and freedoms.   While guardrails are essential, they must never be used to shut down legitimate debate. That is why regulatory frameworks must be anchored in human rights and agreed through inclusive consultations. This is the approach taken in my proposed global code of conduct to promote integrity in public information and my proposed global digital compact.   Fifth, the expansion of violence and conflicts around the world denies the human rights of millions of people. The escalation of military operations by the Russian Federation in Ukraine is leading to escalating human rights violations. We know the inevitable result of war: civilian casualties; women, children and men forced from their homes; hunger; poverty; and huge economic disruption.   Conflict is the utter negation of human rights across the board. Freedom of expression is under attack with reports of journalists and activists arrested. I have consistently called for the end of the offensive and return to the path of dialogue and diplomacy. Meanwhile, our Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine is continuing its work and our humanitarian agencies will step up their operations. We must show all people in Ukraine that we stand by them in their time of need.   Civilians caught up in conflict suffer not only violations of their rights to safety and protection, but often their rights to food, clean water, health care, education and jobs. The grim irony is that these conflicts are themselves frequently rooted in the denial of human rights, from discrimination against minorities to gaping inequalities and injustice. Protecting minorities and promoting their economic, social, cultural, civil and political rights are among the most important conflict-prevention tools we have.   Diversity defines the richness of human civilization. Around the world, we need a much sharper and more sustained focus on minority rights. I urge the authorities in countries from Myanmar to Afghanistan, Ethiopia and beyond to step up the protection of minorities and respect the equal rights of all their people, during and after war.   Refugees and migrants are a group that need special protection. More than 5,200 people died on migration routes in 2021. Hostile asylum and migration policies, and the xenophobic rhetoric that often accompanies them, threaten the lives of migrants and refugees and make hypocrites of those who purport to lead by example on human rights. Effective migration policies must be based on cooperation between States and on full respect for the rights and dignity of all.   I want once again to express my strong support for the work of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, to enhance human rights everywhere.   The human rights movement is an affirmation of our basic humanity. Most human-rights work happens in cramped offices, courtrooms and newsrooms, detention centres and prisons. It happens wherever people are working to promote access to health care, education, shelter, food security, water and sanitation for the most vulnerable people in the world.   Environmental campaigners, many of them women and young people, are on the front lines of human-rights work. Through the daily grind of advocacy, monitoring and investigation, human-rights defenders — including journalists and lawyers — are standing up for our common humanity, often at great personal risk. Together, they are helping to build a world of dignity and equality for all.   28 Feb. 2022   49th session of the UN Human Rights Council - Statement by Michelle Bachelet, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights:   This Council session takes place at a time that calls for strong leadership. Throughout history, there have been moments of profound gravity, that cut the course of events between a "before" – and a very different, more harmful, "after". We are at such a tipping point.   Real progress that has been made over two decades in every region – in decreasing conflict, reducing poverty and expanding access to education and other rights – is in jeopardy.   Depleted by the pandemic, divided by growing polarisation, undermined by growing environmental harm and corroded by digital disinformation, hatred and distortions of democracy, and disregard of the rule of law, many societies are evolving – or plunging – into increased repression and violence; rising poverty; anger; and conflict.   The military attack on Ukraine is putting at risk countless lives. Between Thursday morning and last night, our Office has recorded 406 civilian casualties, including 102 killed –including 7 children – and 304 injured. Most of these civilians were killed by explosive weapons with a wide impact area, including shelling from heavy artillery and multi-launch rocket systems, and air strikes. The real figures are, I fear, considerably higher.   Meanwhile, millions of civilians, including vulnerable and older people, are forced to huddle in different forms of bomb shelters, such as underground stations, to escape explosions. UNHCR reported that 422,000 people have fled the country – and many more are internally displaced. My thoughts go out to them and to all those across the world who suffer.   The calls for peace and human rights that are coming from individuals all over the world warn us that our future must not be a world that has become unmoored from the jointly agreed obligations of international human rights law, and from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.   Over the next three days, an unprecedented number of officials will participate in this high-level segment. This is a vital opportunity to come together and meet this grave and pivotal moment with action. I ask that as we do so, all of us place, first and foremost, the world's people – their shared, and universal, aspirations and rights – at the centre of our deliberations.   It is precisely at a tipping point, or time of crisis, when investment in multilateral and human rights-based action brings swift and effective solutions – as well as laying out the path towards greater, more shared development and peace.   Our constant refrain has been that more needs to be done to prevent conflict and human rights crises. It is time, now, for strong preventive action that will match our words.   Action to end conflict, respect the UN Charter, and abide by international law.   Action to establish the fundamental justice, services, opportunities and rights that build development, resolve grievances and re-establish trust.   Action to eradicate discrimination, which impedes people's exercise of every kind of right, and is at the root of so much misery and despair.   Action to ensure that digital technology advances rights – rather than undermining them – everywhere.   Action to enable the full participation of the people in decision-making – so that they can believe in and trust their institutions.   Action to revive the health of our planet, whose destruction is at the root of growing poverty, displacement and harm.   We must also, with unprecedented vigor, fight corruption, which robs the public treasury for private gain – creating predatory élites whose interests may sharply diverge from the well-being of the people.   Tackling the root causes of grievances and instability, and investing in justice and human dignity is urgent to the task of guiding societies – in every region – away from reckless, and escalating, violence.   It will help create deep and long-term solutions to the harm that has been done by the pandemic. This preventive work is also essential to meeting the challenge of climate change, and the scourges of extreme poverty and forced displacement.   There are no winners and no losers here. We are all diminished by conflict. Already, conflict is creating humanitarian need on a scale that far exceeds our capacity for assistance. It is shattering lives and economies, driving people from their homes and creating both bitter grievances, and despair.   We know that once violence begins to escalate, options for solutions become increasingly difficult. This is true both within societies, and between countries.   Decisions that are taken at this crucial time will have lasting impact. We can, and we must, re-establish a trajectory that benefits all of us. One that will establish a sound and shared basis for development and stability, in line with fundamental principles of international law, and human rights.   This is a call that demands solidarity. There are no sidelines to sit on, and there is no room for mixed signals. The UN Charter, the Agenda for Sustainable Development, our shared environmental crisis, and the pandemic all require global responses that live up to the commitments we have made.   Every day that passes while both conflict and the pandemic are allowed to inflict senseless deaths and despair is a day that moves us further away from creating the better world we have all committed to achieving.   http://www.ohchr.org/en/statements/2022/06/oral-update-global-human-rights-developments-and-activities-un-human-rights http://www.ohchr.org/en/hr-bodies/hrc/regular-sessions/session50/list-reports http://ishr.ch/latest-updates/hrc50-civil-society-presents-key-takeaways-from-human-rights-council/ http://www.gi-escr.org/latest-news/gi-escr-at-the-50th-human-rights-council http://reliefweb.int/report/afghanistan/49th-session-human-rights-council-item-2-annual-report-and-oral-update-high http://reliefweb.int/report/ukraine/we-stand-those-fighting-back-few-companies-reap-rich-rewards-while-ignoring-rights http://www.ipcc.ch/2022/02/28/pr-wgii-ar6/ http://www.ipcc.ch/report/sixth-assessment-report-working-group-ii/ http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/HRC/RegularSessions/Session49/Pages/ListReports.aspx http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Pages/Home.aspx Visit the related web page
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