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OHCHR / HUMAN RIGHTS GLOBAL UPDATE
STORY: OHCHR / HUMAN RIGHTS GLOBAL UPDATE
TRT: 4:20
SOURCE: OHCHR
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 26 FEBRUARY 2021, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
RECENT – GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
1. Zoom out, sign for United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
26 FEBRUARY 2021, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Michelle Bachelet, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights:
“In China, strong progress has been made over the last year in reducing the prevalence of COVID 19 and its severe impact on the enjoyment of a broad range of human rights. At the same time, fundamental rights and civic freedoms continue to be curtailed in the name of national security and the COVID-19 response. Activists, lawyers and human rights defenders – as well as some foreign nationals – face arbitrary criminal charges, detention or unfair trials.”
RECENT – GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
3. Wide shot, Palais Wilson exterior
26 FEBRUARY 2021, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Michelle Bachelet, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights:
“In the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, information that is in the public domain indicates the need for independent and comprehensive assessment of the human rights situation. My Office continues to assess the alleged patterns of human rights violations, including reports of arbitrary detention, ill-treatment and sexual violence in institutions; coercive labour practises; and erosion of social and cultural rights. I am confident that through our ongoing dialogue we will find mutually agreeable parameters for my visit to China.”
RECENT – GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
5. Tilt down, Palais Wilson exterior
26 FEBRUARY 2021, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Michelle Bachelet, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights:
“In the United States of America, we welcome broad new measures to tackle structural inequalities and systemic racism. These include executive actions to redress racially discriminatory federal housing policies; combat xenophobia; and reaffirm commitments to tribal sovereignty and the full consultation of indigenous peoples. To adequately address systemic inequalities and injustices, social and economic rights must be placed at the core of the response. We also welcome new steps to end several migration policies that violated the human rights of migrants and refugees, including executive orders to end the family separation policy. I encourage further measures to tackle remaining issues, such as the massive detention of migrants, through the implementation of alternatives to detention.”
RECENT – GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
7. Zoom out, Palais Wilson exterior
26 FEBRUARY 2021, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Michelle Bachelet, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights:
“In Iran, an apparently coordinated campaign has been targeting minority groups since December, including in Sistan and Baluchestan; Khuzestan; and in the Kurdish provinces. Mass arrests and enforced disappearances have been reported, as well as increasing numbers of executions, following deeply flawed processes. Across the country, the exercise of civic freedoms and political or critical expression continue to be targeted through national security laws, criminal prosecution and intimidation. I am concerned at persistent impunity for human rights violations, including violations that occurred in the contexts of protests in 2018 and 2019.”
RECENT – GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
9. Tilt up, Palais Wilson exterior
26 FEBRUARY 2021, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Michelle Bachelet, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights:
“In Ethiopia, it is crucial that full and unimpeded access be immediately given to the whole of the Tigray region, for both humanitarian and human rights workers. Alarming allegations of serious violations committed by all parties during more than three months of conflict include mass killings, extrajudicial executions, and other attacks on civilians, including sexual violence. Credible investigation into all these allegations is vital, with accountability for perpetrators, and my Office stands ready to support. I am also disturbed by reported abductions and forcible returns of Eritrean refugees living in Tigray – some reportedly at the hands of Eritrean forces.”
RECENT – GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
11. Wide shot, Palais Wilson exterior
26 FEBRUARY 2021, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
12. SOUNDBITE (English) Michelle Bachelet, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights:
“Protecting civic space and the right of all people to participate are threshold rights: they open up further impacts that build resilience, prosperity and peace. Today, in every region of the world, people are being left behind – or pushed even further behind – as the coronavirus pandemic continues to gather pace. They are being excluded, not only from development, and from opportunities, but from participation in the decisions that profoundly shape their lives and futures. This makes us all weaker. It heightens grievances that are destabilizing. It means we miss perspectives and expertise that could inform and strengthen our initiatives. It shields corruption and abuses, by silencing feedback.”
RECENT – GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
13. Pan right, Palais Wilson exterior
In her global update to the Human Rights Council, UN High Commissioner Michelle Bachelet welcomed new measures in the United States “to tackle structural inequalities and systemic racism” and encouraged authorities to find alternative to “the massive detention of migrants.”
In a video address today (26 Feb), Bachelet welcomed measures including “executive actions to redress racially discriminatory federal housing policies; combat xenophobia; and reaffirm commitments to tribal sovereignty and the full consultation of indigenous peoples.” She said social and economic rights must be placed at the core of the response to “adequately address systemic inequalities and injustices.”
She also welcomed new steps to end “several migration policies that violated the human rights of migrants and refugees, including executive orders to end the family separation policy.” She added, “I encourage further measures to tackle remaining issues, such as the massive detention of migrants, through the implementation of alternatives to detention.”
On China, Bachelet said “strong progress” had been made over the last year in reducing the prevalence of COVID 19 and its severe impact on the enjoyment of a broad range of human rights; “at the same time, fundamental rights and civic freedoms continue to be curtailed in the name of national security and the COVID-19 response.” She said activists, lawyers and human rights defenders – as well as some foreign nationals – “face arbitrary criminal charges, detention or unfair trials.”
The High Commissioner said, “In the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, information that is in the public domain indicates the need for independent and comprehensive assessment of the human rights situation. My Office continues to assess the alleged patterns of human rights violations, including reports of arbitrary detention, ill-treatment and sexual violence in institutions; coercive labour practises; and erosion of social and cultural rights. I am confident that through our ongoing dialogue we will find mutually agreeable parameters for my visit to China.”
Turning to Iran, Bachelet said an “apparently coordinated campaign has been targeting minority groups since December, including in Sistan and Baluchestan; Khuzestan; and in the Kurdish provinces.” She said mass arrests and enforced disappearances have been reported, as well as “increasing numbers of executions, following deeply flawed processes.” She noted that the exercise of civic freedoms and political or critical expression “continue to be targeted” across the country through national security laws, criminal prosecution and intimidation. She expressed her concern at “persistent impunity for human rights violations, including violations that occurred in the contexts of protests in 2018 and 2019.”
Bachelet also stressed the importance of giving “full and unimpeded access” to humanitarian and human rights workers in Ethiopia’s Tigray region. She said, “Alarming allegations of serious violations committed by all parties during more than three months of conflict include mass killings, extrajudicial executions, and other attacks on civilians, including sexual violence.” She stressed that a credible investigation into all these allegations “is vital, with accountability for perpetrators,” adding that her Office stands ready to support.
The High Commissioner said she was also disturbed by reported abductions and forcible returns of Eritrean refugees living in Tigray – “some reportedly at the hands of Eritrean forces.” She said at least 15,000 Eritreans who had taken refuge in the region are unaccounted for following the destruction of their shelters. Bachelet underscored that the conflict in Tigray, coupled with growing insecurity in other parts of Ethiopia, could have serious impact on regional stability and human rights and called for a peaceful resolution to the conflict.
The human rights chief emphasised the need to protect civic space and the right of all people to participate, which she described as “threshold rights.” She said, “They open up further impacts that build resilience, prosperity and peace.”
She added, “Today, in every region of the world, people are being left behind – or pushed even further behind – as the coronavirus pandemic continues to gather pace. They are being excluded, not only from development, and from opportunities, but from participation in the decisions that profoundly shape their lives and futures. This makes us all weaker. It heightens grievances that are destabilizing. It means we miss perspectives and expertise that could inform and strengthen our initiatives. It shields corruption and abuses, by silencing feedback.”
Bachelet said all stakeholders in the UN system, in regional organisations and around the world, must speak out against measures that silence civil society because working to defend human rights and standing up to support human rights defenders is vital to humanity's future.
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