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GENEVA / HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL OPENING
STORY: GENEVA / HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL OPENING
TRT: 3:10
SOURCE: UNTV CH
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 27 FEBRUARY 2017 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
1. Exterior, Palais des Nations
2. Wide shot, Human Rights Council meeting room
3. SOUNDBITE (English)- António Guterres, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“We are increasingly seeing the perverse phenomenon of populism and extremism feeding off each other in a frenzy of growing racism, xenophobia, anti-Semitism, anti-Muslim hatred and other forms of intolerance. Minorities, indigenous communities and others face discrimination and abuse across the world. The same applies to members of the LGBTI community. The rights of refugees and migrants are under attack. Human trafficking is on the rise. With so many people escaping war, the international community must not escape its responsibilities.”
4. Med shot, delegates
5. SOUNDBITE (English)- António Guterres, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“Our world is becoming more dangerous, less predictable, more chaotic. New conflicts are multiplying. Old ones never die. And both are more and more interconnected with the threat of global terrorism and violent extremism. Again and again, we see violations of human rights as early and leading indicators of crisis. Again and again, we have seen human rights abuses play into the hands of extremists. At the same time, violations of economic rights - such as massive inequalities within and between States - are a growing source of social unrest. If we are to truly address these challenges, we must make prevention our priority, tackle root causes of conflict, and react earlier and more effectively in addressing human rights concerns.”
6. Close up, Syrian delegate
7. Med shot, Russian delegate
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, High Commissioner for Human Rights, United Nations:
“To those political actors who, as in the days of the League, threaten the multilateral system or intend to withdraw from parts of it, the sirens of historical experience ought to ring clear. We will not sit idly by. For we have so much to lose, so much to protect. And our rights, the rights of others, the very future of our planet cannot, must not be thrown aside by these reckless political profiteers.”
9. Med shot, US delegate
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, High Commissioner for Human Rights, United Nations:
“For political leaders who today wage campaigns against universal human rights, or threaten withdrawal from international or regional treaties and the institutions which uphold them, it is worth recalling what the world has achieved over seven decades – and what we all stand to lose if their threats succeed in choking off universal human rights.”
11. Med shot, delegates
12. SOUNDBITE (English) Peter Thomson, President of the General Assembly, United Nations:
“Here in Geneva we must focus on how human rights is also integral to a world of sustained peace. We know from experience, for example, that abuse of human rights is at the centre of almost all armed conflicts that afflict us.”
13. Wide shot, delegates
14. Med shots, delegates
At the opening session of the Human Rights Council, Secretary-General António Guterres said “we are increasingly seeing the perverse phenomenon of populism and extremism feeding off each other in a frenzy of growing racism, xenophobia, anti-Semitism, anti-Muslim hatred and other forms of intolerance.”
Addressing today (27 Feb) in Geneva the top UN human rights body for the first time since becoming Secretary-General, Guterres noted that he came at a time of urgency. He said “minorities, indigenous communities and others face discrimination and abuse across the world. The same applies to members of the LGBTI community. The rights of refugees and migrants are under attack. Human trafficking is on the rise. With so many people escaping war, the international community must not escape its responsibilities.”
Guterres stressed disregard for human rights is a disease, and it is a disease that is spreading – north, south, east and west, adding that the Human Rights Council must be part of the cure.
He also said, “Our world is becoming more dangerous, less predictable, more chaotic. New conflicts are multiplying. Old ones never die. And both are more and more interconnected with the threat of global terrorism and violent extremism. Again and again, we see violations of human rights as early and leading indicators of crisis. Again and again, we have seen human rights abuses play into the hands of extremists. At the same time, violations of economic rights - such as massive inequalities within and between States - are a growing source of social unrest. If we are to truly address these challenges, we must make prevention our priority, tackle root causes of conflict, and react earlier and more effectively in addressing human rights concerns.”
The UN Secretary-General went on to say that we must speak up for human rights in an impartial way without double standards. And he added that we must invest in human rights and recognize human rights as values and goals unto themselves – not allowing them to be instrumentalized as a political tool.
The High Commissioner for Human Rights also spoke to the Council, and noted that some political leaders today wage campaigns against universal human rights, or threaten withdrawal from international or regional treaties and [the] institutions which uphold them.
He said to those leaders that it is worth recalling what the world has achieved over seven decades – and what we all stand to lose if their threats succeed in choking off universal human rights.
Also speaking at the opening session, the president of the UN General Assembly, Peter Thomson, called for greater dialogue and cooperation for peace among Governments, the UN system, civil society and the private sector. He also said, “Here in Geneva we must focus on how human rights is also integral to a world of sustained peace. We know from experience, for example, that abuse of human rights is at the centre of almost all armed conflicts that afflict us.”
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