[Bilingual as delivered; scroll down for all-English]
Mr President of the General Assembly,
Mr President of the Human Rights Council,
Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen.
Human rights are the bedrock of peace.
Today, both are under attack.
We meet at a time of turbulence for our world, for people, and for human rights.
First and foremost, conflicts are taking a terrible toll as parties to war trample on human rights and humanitarian law.
At the local level and online, many communities are riven with violent rhetoric, discrimination and hate speech.
Add to that an information war. A war on the poor. And a war on nature.
All these battles have one thing in common: they are a war on fundamental human rights.
And in every case, the path to peace begins with full respect for all human rights – civil, cultural, economic, political and social, and without double standards.
Because building a culture of human rights is building a world at peace. I commend the critical contributions of the Human Rights Council towards this goal, through its mandates and mechanisms, and its response to evolving situations.
Excellencies,
Our world is becoming less safe by the day.
After decades of stable power relations, we are transitioning into an era of multipolarity.
This creates new opportunities for leadership and justice on the international stage.
But multipolarity without strong multilateral institutions is a recipe for chaos.
As powers compete, tensions rise.
The rule of law, and the rules of war, are being undermined.
From Ukraine to Sudan to Myanmar, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Gaza, parties to conflict are turning a blind eye to international law, the Geneva Conventions and even the United Nations Charter.
The Security Council is often deadlocked, unable to act on the most significant peace and security issues of our time.
The Council’s lack of unity on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and on Israel’s military operations in Gaza following the horrific terror attacks by Hamas on 7 October, has severely – perhaps fatally – undermined its authority.
The Council needs serious reform to its composition and working methods.
Nothing can justify [Hamas’s] deliberate killing, injuring, torturing and kidnapping of civilians, the use of sexual violence – or the indiscriminate launching of rockets towards Israel.
But nothing justifies the collective punishment of the Palestinian people.
I invoked Article 99 for the first time in my mandate, to put the greatest possible pressure on the Council to do everything in its power to end the bloodshed in Gaza and prevent escalation. But it was not enough.
International Humanitarian Law remains under attack.
Tens of thousands of civilians, including women and children, have been killed in Gaza.
Humanitarian aid is still completely insufficient.
Rafah is the core of the humanitarian aid operation, and UNRWA is the backbone of that effort.
An all-out Israeli offensive on the city would not only be terrifying for more than a million Palestinian civilians sheltering there; it would put the final nail in the coffin of our aid programmes.
I repeat my call for a humanitarian ceasefire and the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages.
Excellencies,
Around the world, violence is increasing, and conflict-related human rights violations are spreading.
International human rights and humanitarian law are clear:
All parties must distinguish between civilians and combatants at all times.
Attacks on civilians or protected infrastructure, including schools and hospitals, are prohibited.
Indiscriminate attacks are prohibited.
Attacks where the likelihood of civilian death is disproportionate to the probable military advantage are prohibited.
The taking and holding of hostages is prohibited.
The use of civilians as human shields is prohibited.
Collective punishment is prohibited.
The use of sexual violence as a weapon of war is prohibited.
And violations by one party do not absolve the other from compliance.
We cannot – we must not – become numb to appalling and repeated violations of international humanitarian and human rights law.
All allegations of serious violations and abuses demand urgent investigation and accountability.
And we are determined to take such action in relation to allegations against our own staff.
Excellencies,
The Geneva Conventions, which require the protection of civilians and the humane treatment of people in enemy hands, were not the result of an outbreak of global goodwill.
These treaties were agreed because they protect everyone.
Around the world, warring parties claim exemptions, asserting that certain people or situations are uniquely dangerous.
But flouting international law only feeds insecurity and results in more bloodshed.
Human rights conventions and humanitarian law are based on cold, hard reality:
They recognize that terrorizing civilians and depriving them of food, water, and healthcare is a recipe for endless anger, alienation, extremism and conflict.
Today’s warmongers cannot erase the clear lesson of the past.
Protecting human rights protects us all.
We urgently need a new commitment to all human rights – civil, cultural, economic, political and social – as they apply to peace and security, backed by serious efforts at implementation and accountability.
States have the primary responsibility to protect and promote human rights.
To support states in meeting their obligations, I am launching a system-wide United Nations Agenda for Protection, together with the High Commissioner for Human Rights.
Under this Agenda, the United Nations, across the full spectrum of our work, will act as one to prevent human rights violations, and to identify and respond to them when they take place.
That is the Protection Pledge of all United Nations bodies: to do their utmost to protect people.
Excellencies,
Around the world, governments must step up and commit to working for peace and security rooted in human rights.
The Summit of the Future in September is our opportunity for such a re-commitment.
The New Agenda for Peace, to be discussed at the Summit, applies a human rights lens to preventing and ending violence in all its forms.
Building on our Call to Action for Human Rights, it urges an end to reflexive responses to violence, underscoring the need for strategic, comprehensive approaches that address root causes.
Successful peace processes, from Colombia to Northern Ireland, demonstrate that the full spectrum of human rights is indispensable to building peace.
The New Agenda for Peace recognizes that security policies that ignore human rights can divide communities, exacerbate inequalities, and drive people towards extremism.
It calls for all military engagement to respect human rights and humanitarian law, and to be backed by political and development strategies.
It urges security policies centred on people, with the full and equal participation of women, and the strong representation of young people.
It calls for human rights to be at the heart of the governance of new weapons technologies, including artificial intelligence, and seeks the total prohibition of lethal autonomous weapons with the power to kill without human involvement.
It affirms that human rights and humanitarian law apply in cyberspace.
And it calls for much closer collaboration between the UN’s human rights frameworks, the Security Council and the Peacebuilding Commission – to address violations, and put human rights at the core of peace operations.
Excellencies,
The New Agenda for Peace also addresses the links between human rights violations and violence at the community level.
From the epidemic of violence against women and girls, to the activities of criminal gangs, to rising antisemitism, anti-Muslim bigotry, the persecution of minority Christian communities, and discrimination against minorities of all kinds, many people do not feel safe in their own communities.
Media workers and human rights defenders are frequently targeted—sometimes as part of a strategy to reduce civic space and silence criticism.
Decades of progress on women’s and girls’ rights are being challenged and rolled back – including their fundamental right to education and healthcare, and their sexual and reproductive rights.
The New Agenda for Peace urges governments to create space in national security policies for civil society, human rights defenders, and those representing vulnerable and marginalized people. Freedom of the media, freedom of expression and an open, inclusive civic space are essential to peaceful, democratic societies.
It calls for the dismantling and transformation of power structures that discriminate against women and girls; and for concrete steps to secure women’s full, equal and meaningful participation at all levels of decision-making on peace and security.
And it presses for young people to be included as participants in decision-making on peace and security events.
We are also setting out ways to tackle online abuses of human rights and support people’s rights to connectivity and privacy online, through our forthcoming code of conduct for information integrity, and a Global Digital Compact.
Peaceful communities require an open, secure, accessible digital public space that supports human rights and freedoms.
Excellences,
Les guerres ne se limitent pas aux champs de bataille.
Certaines politiques économiques actuelles, à l’échelon national comme au niveau mondial, constituent une guerre contre les pauvres, et contre les droits humains.
De nombreuses économies en développement peinent encore à se relever du double choc de la pandémie de COVID-19 et de l’invasion russe de l’Ukraine. Les Objectifs de développement durable sont très loin d’être atteints.
Rien que cette année, les pays les plus pauvres du monde doivent verser plus de 185 milliards de dollars en service de la dette – soit plus que le total de leurs dépenses publiques en matière de santé, d’éducation et d’infrastructures.
L’absence de bouée de sauvetage face à la dette met en péril la capacité de millions de personnes à jouir de leurs droits – à l’eau potable, à une alimentation nutritive, à l’éducation, aux soins de santé et à l’emploi.
L’architecture financière mondiale est au cœur de cette crise des droits humains. Elle est obsolète, dysfonctionnelle et injuste, et doit être réformée afin de fournir des financements à long terme et à faible coût, et constituer un filet de sécurité efficace pour tous les pays qui en ont besoin.
Nous demandons l’adoption d’un Plan de relance des ODD – à la hauteur de 500 milliards de dollars par an – afin que les pays en développement puissent accéder à des financements abordables et à long terme.
Et nous appelons également de nos vœux à un nouveau Bretton Woods, afin de remodeler l’architecture financière mondiale pour qu’elle reflète le monde d’aujourd’hui – et non celui d’il y a 80 ans.
Le Sommet de l’avenir sera l’occasion d’envisager des réformes profondes visant à rendre les cadres de financement mondiaux plus inclusifs, équitables et justes, afin qu’ils puissent aider les gouvernements à donner la priorité aux dépenses sociales, au développement durable et à l’action climatique essentielle aux droits humains.
Le Sommet social mondial et la Conférence internationale sur le financement au développement qui se tiendront l’année prochaine mettront l’accent sur la manière dont les politiques économiques, y compris les budgets, les mesures fiscales et les subventions, peuvent renforcer les investissements dans les Objectifs de développement durable et les droits humains pour toutes et tous.
Excellences, chers amis,
Notre guerre contre la nature est une guerre contre les droits humains de personnes qui comptent parmi les plus vulnérables au monde : les peuples autochtones ; les communautés rurales ; les personnes marginalisées et les plus démunies.
Les crises qui frappent notre planète – le changement climatique, la perte de biodiversité et la pollution – portent toutes en elles la même injustice profonde : Ce sont les personnes qui ont le moins contribué à ces crises qui en paient le prix fort et subissent de plein fouet l’aggravation de la faim et de la famine, la dégradation des terres, les déplacements forcés, la contamination des sources d’eau ou les décès prématurés.
La reconnaissance du droit à un environnement propre, sain et durable par le Conseil des droits de l’homme en 2021 et par l’Assemblée générale en 2022 montre que les temps changent.
La justice environnementale et la justice climatique sont des cris de ralliement en faveur d’un traitement équitable et éthique du principe de responsabilité et des droits humains.
La justice climatique exige que les pays du G20 montrent la voie dans l’élimination progressive des combustibles fossiles.
Elle exige que toutes les contributions déterminées au niveau national ou plans climatiques nationaux soient alignés sur la limite maximale de 1,5 degré pour le réchauffement de la planète.
Elle exige un prix du carbone effectif et la fin des subventions accordées aux combustibles fossiles.
La justice climatique exige des pays développés qu’ils honorent leurs engagements financiers à l’égard des économies en développement, en commençant par celui de mobiliser les 100 milliards de dollars par an et de doubler le financement de l’adaptation d’ici à 2025.
Enfin, elle exige que le Fonds pour les pertes et dommages soit opérationnel le plus rapidement possible – et reçoive des contributions significatives.
Pour de nombreux pays du Sud, la justice économique, environnementale et climatique est le principal défi de notre époque en matière de droits humains.
L’Organisation des Nations Unies se joint à eux pour appeler à tous les pays pour qu’ils assument leurs responsabilités.
Excellences,
Notre monde change à une vitesse vertigineuse. La multiplication des conflits provoque des souffrances sans précédent. Mais les droits humains sont une constante. Ils donnent de la cohérence à notre quête de solutions. Ils sont fondamentaux pour nos espoirs d’un monde en paix.
Il y a quatre ans, l’Organisation des Nations Unies a célébré son soixante-quinzième anniversaire en lançant une enquête mondiale. Les citoyens du monde entier ont déclaré à une écrasante majorité qu’ils souhaitaient que les dirigeants mondiaux accordent la priorité aux droits humains et qu’ils les respectent.
Cet appel a été repris lors de la célébration du soixante-quinzième anniversaire de la Déclaration universelle des droits de l’homme en décembre dernier.
Cette année, le Sommet de l’avenir nous donne l’occasion de répondre à cette demande. Et de faire en sorte que nos institutions mondiales soient en phase avec la réalité en constante évolution d’aujourd’hui.
Et de pleinement adhérer aux valeurs immuables des droits humains.
Ensemble, saisissons cette occasion pour faire avancer la paix et les droits humains – pour toutes et pour tous.
Et je vous remercie.
**************************************************************************
[All-English]
Mr President of the General Assembly,
Mr President of the Human Rights Council,
Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen.
Human rights are the bedrock of peace.
Today, both are under attack.
We meet at a time of turbulence for our world, for people, and for human rights.
First and foremost, conflicts are taking a terrible toll as parties to war trample on human rights and humanitarian law.
At the local level and online, many communities are riven with violent rhetoric, discrimination and hate speech.
Add to that an information war. A war on the poor. And a war on nature.
All these battles have one thing in common: they are a war on fundamental human rights.
And in every case, the path to peace begins with full respect for all human rights – civil, cultural, economic, political and social, and without double standards.
Because building a culture of human rights is building a world at peace.
I commend the critical contributions of the Human Rights Council towards this goal, through its mandates and mechanisms, and its response to evolving situations.
Excellencies,
Our world is becoming less safe by the day.
After decades of stable power relations, we are transitioning into an era of multipolarity.
This creates new opportunities for leadership and justice on the international stage.
But multipolarity without strong multilateral institutions is a recipe for chaos.
As powers compete, tensions rise.
The rule of law, and the rules of war, are being undermined.
From Ukraine to Sudan to Myanmar, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Gaza, parties to conflict are turning a blind eye to international law, the Geneva Conventions and even the United Nations Charter.
The Security Council is often deadlocked, unable to act on the most significant peace and security issues of our time.
The Council’s lack of unity on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and on Israel’s military operations in Gaza following the horrific terror attacks by Hamas on 7 October, has severely – perhaps fatally – undermined its authority.
The Council needs serious reform to its composition and working methods.
Nothing can justify [Hamas’s] deliberate killing, injuring, torturing and kidnapping of civilians, the use of sexual violence – or the indiscriminate launching of rockets towards Israel.
But nothing justifies the collective punishment of the Palestinian people.
I invoked Article 99 for the first time in my mandate, to put the greatest possible pressure on the Council to do everything in its power to end the bloodshed in Gaza and prevent escalation. But it was not enough.
International Humanitarian Law remains under attack.
Tens of thousands of civilians, including women and children, have been killed in Gaza.
Humanitarian aid is still completely insufficient.
Rafah is the core of the humanitarian aid operation, and UNRWA is the backbone of that effort.
An all-out Israeli offensive on the city would not only be terrifying for more than a million Palestinian civilians sheltering there; it would put the final nail in the coffin of our aid programmes.
I repeat my call for a humanitarian ceasefire and the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages.
Excellencies,
Around the world, violence is increasing, and conflict-related human rights violations are spreading.
International human rights and humanitarian law are clear:
All parties must distinguish between civilians and combatants at all times.
Attacks on civilians or protected infrastructure, including schools and hospitals, are prohibited.
Indiscriminate attacks are prohibited.
Attacks where the likelihood of civilian death is disproportionate to the probable military advantage are prohibited.
Forced displacement is prohibited.
The taking and holding of hostages is prohibited.
The use of civilians as human shields is prohibited.
Collective punishment is prohibited.
The use of sexual violence as a weapon of war is prohibited.
And violations by one party do not absolve the other from compliance.
We cannot – we must not – become numb to appalling and repeated violations of international humanitarian and human rights law.
All allegations of serious violations and abuses demand urgent investigation and accountability.
And we are determined to take such action in relation to allegations against our own staff.
Excellencies,
The Geneva Conventions, which require the protection of civilians and the humane treatment of people in enemy hands, were not the result of an outbreak of global goodwill.
These treaties were agreed because they protect everyone.
Around the world, warring parties claim exemptions, asserting that certain people or situations are uniquely dangerous.
But flouting international law only feeds insecurity and results in more bloodshed.
Human rights conventions and humanitarian law are based on cold, hard reality:
They recognize that terrorizing civilians and depriving them of food, water, and healthcare is a recipe for endless anger, alienation, extremism and conflict.
Today’s warmongers cannot erase the clear lesson of the past.
Protecting human rights protects us all.
We urgently need a new commitment to all human rights – civil, cultural, economic, political and social – as they apply to peace and security, backed by serious efforts at implementation and accountability.
States have the primary responsibility to protect and promote human rights.
To support states in meeting their obligations, I am launching a system-wide United Nations Agenda for Protection, together with the High Commissioner for Human Rights.
Under this Agenda, the United Nations, across the full spectrum of our work, will act as one to prevent human rights violations, and to identify and respond to them when they take place.
That is the Protection Pledge of all United Nations bodies: to do their utmost to protect people.
Excellencies,
Around the world, governments must step up and commit to working for peace and security rooted in human rights.
The Summit of the Future in September is our opportunity for such a re-commitment.
The New Agenda for Peace, to be discussed at the Summit, applies a human rights lens to preventing and ending violence in all its forms.
Building on our Call to Action for Human Rights, it urges an end to reflexive responses to violence, underscoring the need for strategic, comprehensive approaches that address root causes.
Successful peace processes, from Colombia to Northern Ireland, demonstrate that the full spectrum of human rights is indispensable to building peace.
The New Agenda for Peace recognizes that security policies that ignore human rights can divide communities, exacerbate inequalities, and drive people towards extremism.
It calls for all military engagement to respect human rights and humanitarian law, and to be backed by political and development strategies.
It urges security policies centred on people, with the full and equal participation of women, and the strong representation of young people.
It calls for human rights to be at the heart of the governance of new weapons technologies, including artificial intelligence, and seeks the total prohibition of lethal autonomous weapons with the power to kill without human involvement.
It affirms that human rights and humanitarian law apply in cyberspace.
And it calls for much closer collaboration between the UN’s human rights frameworks, the Security Council and the Peacebuilding Commission – to address violations, and put human rights at the core of peace operations.
Excellencies,
The New Agenda for Peace also addresses the links between human rights violations and violence at the community level.
From the epidemic of violence against women and girls, to the activities of criminal gangs, to rising antisemitism, anti-Muslim bigotry, the persecution of minority Christian communities, and discrimination against minorities of all kinds, many people do not feel safe in their own communities.
Media workers and human rights defenders are frequently targeted—sometimes as part of a strategy to reduce civic space and silence criticism.
Decades of progress on women’s and girls’ rights are being challenged and rolled back – including their fundamental right to education and healthcare, and their sexual and reproductive rights.
The New Agenda for Peace urges governments to create space in national security policies for civil society, human rights defenders, and those representing vulnerable and marginalized people. Freedom of the media, freedom of expression and an open, inclusive civic space are essential to peaceful, democratic societies.
It calls for the dismantling and transformation of power structures that discriminate against women and girls; and for concrete steps to secure women’s full, equal and meaningful participation at all levels of decision-making on peace and security.
And it presses for young people to be included as participants in decision-making on peace and security events.
We are also setting out ways to tackle online abuses of human rights and support people’s rights to connectivity and privacy online, through our forthcoming code of conduct for information integrity, and a Global Digital Compact.
Peaceful communities require an open, secure, accessible digital public space that supports human rights and freedoms.
Excellencies,
War is not only waged on the battlefield.
Some of today’s economic policies, at both national and global levels, constitute a war on the poor – and on human rights.
Many developing economies are still struggling to recover from the double shock of the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The Sustainable Development Goals are very far off-track.
The world’s poorest countries are due to pay over $185 billion in debt services costs this year – more than their total public spending on health, education and infrastructure.
The absence of a debt lifeline jeopardises the ability of millions of people to realise their rights to clean drinking water, a nutritious diet, education, healthcare, and jobs.
The global financial architecture is at the heart of this human rights emergency.
It is outdated, dysfunctional and unjust, and it must be reformed to provide long-term, low-cost financing and an effective safety net for all countries in need.
We are pushing for an SDG Stimulus of $500 billion annually in affordable long-term finance for developing countries.
We are also calling for a new Bretton Woods moment, to reshape the global financial architecture in line with today’s reality – not the world of 80 years ago.
The Summit of the Future will consider deep reforms to make global financial frameworks more inclusive, equitable and just, so they can support governments in prioritizing social spending, sustainable development and climate action, essential to human rights.
Next year’s World Social Summit and International Conference on Financing for Development will focus on ways in which economic policies, including budgets, taxes and subsidies, can reinforce investments in the SDGs and human rights for all.
Excellencies, dear friends,
Our war on nature is a war on the human rights of some of the most vulnerable people in the world: Indigenous People; rural communities; the marginalized and dispossessed.
The crises assaulting our planet – climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution – all have a massive injustice at their core:
Those who did least to cause these crises are bearing the brunt of rising hunger and famine, land degradation, forced displacement, contaminated water sources and premature deaths.
The recognition of the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment by the Human Rights Council in 2021 and by the General Assembly in 2022 shows that times are changing.
Environmental justice and climate justice are rallying cries for ethical, equitable treatment, accountability and human rights.
Climate justice demands that G20 countries lead the progressive phase-out of fossil fuels.
It demands that all Nationally Determined Contributions, or national climate plans, align with the 1.5-degree upper limit on global heating.
It demands an effective carbon price and an end to fossil fuel subsidies.
It demands the developed countries meet their finance commitments to developing economies – starting with the $100 billion and doubling adaptation funding by 2025.
And it demands that the Loss and Damage Fund is up and running as soon as possible, with significant contributions.
For many countries of the Global South, economic, environmental and climate justice are the defining human rights challenges of our time.
The United Nations stands with them in calling on all countries to assume their responsibilities.
Excellencies,
Our world is changing at warp speed.
The multiplication of conflicts is causing unprecedented suffering.
But human rights are a constant.
They bring coherence to our search for solutions.
And they are fundamental to our hopes for a world at peace.
Four years ago, the United Nations marked its 75th anniversary with a global survey. Overwhelmingly, people everywhere said they want world leaders to prioritize and deliver human rights.
This call was echoed as we marked the 75th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights last December.
This year’s Summit of the Future is our opportunity to answer that demand.
To align our global institutions with today’s ever-changing reality.
And to embrace the unchanging values of human rights.
Together, let’s seize this opportunity to advance peace and human rights for all.
Thank you.