Russia-Ukraine war key in reversal of human rights gains: UN

Longest-ever session of UN’s Human Rights Council has opened amid rights ‘under assault from all sides’ including war, hunger, climate disasters

Geneva session comes days after UN General Assembly voted overwhelmingly to demand Russia withdraw from Ukraine

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Sophia, holding a Ukrainian flag, cries above the grave of her father, a soldier, during a funeral at Lviv cemetery, western Ukraine. Photo: AP

Published: 2:33pm, 27 Feb 2023Updated: 6:46pm, 27 Feb 2023

The United Nations Human Rights chief Volker Turk warned on Monday that human rights gains made in recent decades were being reined back and even reversed, citing Russia’s “senseless” invasion of Ukraine as a current example of oppression.

“Much of the progress made over decades is being reined back and even reversed in some parts,” High Commissioner Turk said in a speech on the opening day of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, attended by more than 100 ministers and heads of state.

He called for countries to work to overcome their differences and create a “new worldwide consensus on human rights”.

Russia’s war in Ukraine is looming large as the council meets from this week, with calls for unity in condemning Moscow and extending a probe into war crimes in the conflict.

Days after the United Nations General Assembly in New York voted overwhelmingly to demand Russia immediately withdraw from Ukraine, Moscow’s war was expected to dominate the opening of the top UN rights body’s main annual session.

“We’re looking for this session to show, as the UN General Assembly showed … that the world stands side-by-side with Ukraine,” British ambassador Simon Manley said at an event on Friday marking the one-year anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion.