UN Secretary General António Guterres Seeks to “Uphold and Promote Human Rights for All”

Manon Picard

International Justice and Human Rights Researcher, 

Global Human Rights Defence.

Mr. António Guterres, the United Nation’s Secretary-General, addressed the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on the 28th of February 2022. Mr. Guterres affirmed that the world’s current problems and solutions are “all rooted in human rights” and addressed which obstacles threatened our society; namely, the “5-alarm global fire”. According to the UN Secretary-General, countries should take action in regard of “the COVID-19 pandemic, global finance, climate action, lawlessness in cyber space, and peace and security”. 

In respect of the current Covid-19 pandemic, Mr. Guterres stated that “vaccine inequality demonstrates an utter disregard for the human rights of entire countries and regions.” In particular, economic and social rights such as hunger and poverty have been exacerbated. Moreover, the pandemic has left “developing economies dry” with an inability to “invest in strong and sustainable recovery”. According to António Guterres, this is a missed “opportunity for targeted investments in women’s education, employment, training and decent work”. 

The UN Secretary-General also addressed the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine and the increasing human rights violations. During his speech Mr. Guterres stated the following: 

“We know the inevitable result of war: civilian casualties; women, children and men forced from their homes: hunger, poverty and huge economic disruption.  Conflict is the utter negation of human rights across the board”. 

António Guterres gave his support to the people of Ukraine and in a statement published on Twitter later during the day declared that “human rights cannot be confiscated by dictators or erased by poverty. They are inescapable – and powerful”. 

Sources and further reading:

United Nations. (2022, February 28). Human Rights ‘Inescapable and Powerful’: Guterres. UN News. Retrieved March 1, 2022, from https://news.un.org/en/story/2022/02/1112962