Secretary-General Guterres calls for a global reset, «to recover better, guided by human rights»
Distinguished President of the Human Rights Council,
Madam High Commissioner,
Excellencies,
Ladies and gentlemen,
Human rights are our bloodline; they connect us to one another, as equals.
Human rights are our lifeline; they are the pathway to resolving tensions and
forging lasting peace.
Human rights are on the frontline; they are the building blocks of a world of dignity and opportunity for all – and they are under fire every day.
The Human Rights Council is the global locus for tackling the full range of human rights challenges.
I thank you for that vital work — and welcome the engagement of all Member
States and civil society.
One year ago, I came before you to launch a Call to Action for Human Rights.
We named this values-based and dignity-driven appeal “The Highest Aspiration” — drawing from the words of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights itself.
That phrase is a reminder that securing human rights is both essential and a constant work in progress.
Gains can be easily undone.
Perils can strike in an instant.
Soon after our gathering last year, COVID-19 hit the world without mercy.
The pandemic revealed the interconnectedness of our human family — and of the full spectrum of human rights — civil, cultural, economic, political and social.
COVID-19 has deepened pre-existing divides, vulnerabilities and inequalities, as well as opened up new fractures, including fault-lines in human rights.
We are seeing a vicious circle of violations.
The lives of hundreds of millions of families have been turned upside down —
with lost jobs, mounting debt and steep falls in income.
The disease has taken a disproportionate toll on women, minorities, persons with disabilities, older persons, refugees, migrants and indigenous peoples.
Progress on gender equality has been set back years.
Extreme poverty is rising for the first time in decades.
Young people are struggling, out of school and often with limited access to technology.
The latest moral outrage is the failure to ensure equity in vaccination efforts.
Just ten countries have administered 75 per cent of all COVID-19 vaccines. Meanwhile, more than 130 countries have not received a single dose.
Vaccine equity affirms human rights. Vaccine nationalism denies it.
Vaccines must be a global public good, accessible and affordable for all.
The virus is also infecting political and civil rights and further shrinking civic
space.
Using the pandemic as a pretext, authorities in some countries have deployed heavy-handed security responses and emergency measures to crush dissent, criminalize basic freedoms, silence independent reporting and curtail the activities of non-governmental organisations.
Human rights defenders, journalists, lawyers, political activists — and even
medical professionals — are being detained, prosecuted and subjected to
intimidation and surveillance for criticizing government pandemic responses — or the lack thereof.
Pandemic-related restrictions are being used to subvert electoral processes, weaken opposition voices and suppress criticism.
At times, access to life-saving COVID-19 information has been concealed— while deadly misinformation has been amplified — including by those in power.
The COVID-19 infodemic has raised alarms more generally about the growing reach of digital platforms and the use and abuse of data.
A vast library of information is being assembled about each of us. Yet we don’t really have the keys to that library.
We don’t know how this information has been collected, by whom or for what purposes.
That data is being used commercially — for advertising, for marketing and for beefing up corporate bottom lines.
Behavior patterns are being commodified and sold like futures contracts.
This has created new business models and entirely new industries that have contributed to an ever-greater concentration of wealth and inequality.
Our data is also being used to shape and manipulate our perceptions, without our ever realizing it.
Governments can exploit that data to control the behavior of their own citizens, violating human rights of individuals or groups.
