The United Nations human rights chief warned on Monday that international law and the rules of war — the foundation of peace and global order — are being ripped up.
In his opening address to the United Nations Human Rights Council’s 60th session, Volker Turk warned that “disturbing trends that undercut our rights are gaining ground across the world”.
He condemned a “troubling erosion of international law”, warning that “around the world, the long-established rules of war are being shredded, with virtually no accountability”.
He pointed to a blatant disregard for international law in conflicts, including Russia’s war in Ukraine, the civil war in Sudan and the devastating war Israel is waging on Gaza.
Turk also voiced alarm at a broader “glorification of violence”.
Speaking just days after China hosted a massive military parade and after US President Donald Trump ordered the Department of Defence to be renamed the Department of War, Turk lamented that “pro-war propaganda is everywhere, from military parades to ramped up rhetoric”.
“Sadly, there are no Peace parades or Ministries of Peace”.
The UN rights chief stressed that international law is “the foundation of peace, our global order, and our daily lives, from trade rules to the global internet, to our fundamental rights”.
“But several governments are disregarding, disrespecting and disengaging from it,” he said, cautioning that “when states ignore violations of the law, they become normalised”.
Without naming countries, Turk also warned that “some states are becoming an extension of their ruler’s personal power”.
At the same time, he condemned “the retreat by some states from multilateral frameworks, institutions and international agreements”.
He highlighted, among other things, sanctions imposed by Washington on judges and prosecutors of the International Criminal Court and Russia’s issuing of arrest warrants against them — as well as US sanctions on the UN special rapporteur on the rights situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
And he described the US decision to withdraw from the Paris climate accord and from several UN bodies, including the rights council, as “deeply regrettable”.
“Gradually, the web of global and regional cooperation, carefully crafted over decades for the common good, is being weakened,” he warned.
“We cannot return to the outdated thinking and approaches that led to two World Wars and the Holocaust.”
