UN expresses deep doubts about human rights

UN High Commissioner Volker Türk expresses widespread concerns about threats to human rights

March 2024

Volker Türk, addressing the 58th Human Rights Council, has expressed a range of concerns about the state of human rights today. As we said in our last post celebrating the 50th year since the formation of the Salisbury group, any idea that we were on a slow path to a better future with wider and deeper respect for rights in countries and communities around the world, is no longer believed. Not only are old threats still in existence, but new threats are appearing and gaining ground.

He begins by something of a tour d’horizon of conflicts around the world of which there are now 130

according to the Red Cross. In addition to the familiar which appear on our screens most days, there are conflicts in the Congo, Yemen (which has dropped out of the news recently), Myanmar and Haiti. He is concerned that in each of these wars, civilians are deliberately attacked and subject to sexual violence, and famine used as weapons of war.

Health care workers have suffered grievously and in 2023, 480 were killed, double the number of the previous year. Humanitarian workers are also being killed with 356 dying in 2024.

The new threat comes from individuals and corporations which have never had so much control and influence over our lives as they do today. This is something of a new phenomenon which has emerged in the last two decades or so. “A handful of unelected tech oligarchs have our data: they know where we live, what we do, our genes and our health conditions, our thoughts, our habits, our desires and our fears. They know us better than we know ourselves“. Several of these ‘techbros’ as they are called played a significant role in the recent US presidential election. Either by manipulating their algorithms, by direct financial aid or in the case of Jeff Bezos, his control over the Washington Post, they were able to play a hugely influential part in the result.

Unregulated power

Türk says that any form of unregulated power can lead to oppression, subjugation, and even tyranny – the playbook of the autocrat. We should be very concerned at the activities of the tech companies. Virtually all are American based and as we have seen in the last few days, the post-war consensus has been shattered by the new administration’s statements and policy changes.

President Putin of Russia, a demonstrable tyrant, who’s regime has murdered journalists and sent Navalny to a remote Siberian camp where he subsequently died for reasons unknown, is now being courted by the US president Donald Trump even having invaded Ukraine.

Governments seem unwilling or unable to control the companies’ activities. One by one, the companies have dropped their internal controls used to moderate content. A prime example of the effects – the murderous effects – of the tech companies was Myanmar. Hate speech and posts against religious minorities was widely spread on Facebook leading to considerable violence. Facebook was slow to remove posts and did so only after much damage was done.

Speed and scale of mis and disinformation can have dramatic and far reaching effects on people’s lives and rights. The tech companies have shown a remarkable lack of concern to control the content on their sites. They exhibit an almost mystical belief in their platforms and with the current belief in America in liberty and free speech absolutism, the risks for ordinary people are considerable. They cannot be voted out except by shareholders whose concern is profits not the effects their platforms might have.

We should be very concerned that a group of American companies, closely aligned to the politics of the White House, are able to have profound influence over the lives of millions yet are subject to almost no controls, certainly not from outside the US.

#Facebook #techbro #UN #VolkerTurk

İran'da Afgan Vatandaşının İdamı Öfkeye Yol Açtı

#İran, #Afganistan, #İdam, #İnsanHakları, #Hengaw, #SardarMohammad, #BandarAbbas, #UluslararasıÇağrılar, #UyuşturucuSuçları, #BM, #VolkerTurk, #Adalet, #Hukuk, #SiyasiTutuklamalar, #İnsaniHukuk, #İnfaz, #DışPolitika, #GöçmenHakları, #HukukunÜstünlüğü, #SosyalAdalet, #Uluslararasıİlişkiler, #CezaiYargı, #DünyaGündemi, #SiyasalGelişmeler, #İnsanHaklarıİhlalleri, #Cezalandırma, #Çatışma, #UluslararasıDestek, #Eğitim,…

https://afganhaber.com.tr/32770/iranda-afgan-vatandasinin-idami-ofkeye-yol-acti/?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=jetpack_social

‘Atrocity Crimes’ – UN Rights Chief Urges Probe into Israel’s Attacks on Gaza Hospitals

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://www.palestinechronicle.com/atrocity-crimes-un-rights-chief-urges-probe-into-israels-attacks-on-gaza-hospitals/

[10:41] UN condemns Taliban ban on Afghan women working at NGOs

UN human rights chief Volker Turk has said that Afghanistan's governing Taliban authorities must reverse their ban on Afghan women working for NGOs.

https://www.rte.ie/news/world/2024/1231/1488610-afghanistan/

#UN #VolkerTurk #Afghanistan #Taliban #Afghan

THE WORLD IS WATCHING and the imperial, genocidal, #zionist, colonialist, ethno-supremacist terrorist regime admitted to turning consumer #electronics in #Lebanon into bombs yesterday.

https://www.rt.com/news/607448-netanyahu-admits-pager-attack/

btw i understand that it was not just pagers and walkie talkies, but some laptops and phones also, as was reported by a journalist i follow. not only has #EdwardSnowden labeled that attack #terrorism, but....

>UN Human Rights Commissioner #VolkerTurk [hashtag added] [labeled] it a “shocking” and “unacceptable” act that violates human rights laws.

>“Another glaring example of terrorist methods as a means of achieving political aims is the inhumane attack on Lebanon that transformed civilian technology into a lethal weapon,” Lavrov said, calling for an immediate international investigation.

The above list is far from complete, with condemnations from a number of countries for the perpetrators of this attack,,,, the world is watching.