U.N. human rights chief Volker Türk on Monday urged voters to be wary of “strongman” politicians and personalities, especially those who “scapegoat migrants, refugees and minorities.”
The unelected official further declared the world needed to change paths to avoid a future filled military escalation, repression, disinformation deepening inequality and rampant climate change.
Türk didn’t mention leaders or countries by name, but alluded to a schedule that includes votes to come in countries like Georgia, Tunisia and the United States, AP reports.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres (L) and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk talk as they arrive for the opening of 55th session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva on February 26, 2024. (GABRIEL MONNET/AFP via Getty Images)
The Austrian lawyer turned career civil servant denounced some politicians who “scapegoat migrants, refugees and minorities” around electoral periods allegedly in places like France, Germany, Hungary, the United Kingdom and the U.S..
Türk told his elite audience in Geneva, Switzerland:
I urge voters to ask themselves which of the political platforms or candidates will work for the human rights of everyone.
And I urge all voters to be vigilant. Be wary of the shrill voices, the ‘strongman’ types that throw glitter in our eyes, offering illusory solutions that deny reality.
He noted a “positive trend” toward the abolition of the death penalty worldwide, but a rise in executions in Iran and Saudi Arabia.
Using a broad address marking the mid-way point of his four-year term as U.N. rights chief, Türk hailed a shift toward decriminalization of same-sex relations in many places, but decried “a spate of laws” that aimed to penalize them in countries like Ghana, Indonesia, Iraq and Uganda.
Türk spoke 48-hours after U.K. and U.S. spy chiefs together warned the international world order is “under threat in a way we haven’t seen since the Cold War,” as Breitbart News reported.
Sir Richard Moore and William Burns – head of the UK Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) and director of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) respectively – delivered their cautionary tale in a Financial Times opinion piece, adding they saw the war in Ukraine coming “and were able to warn the international community”, in part by declassifying secrets to help Kyiv.