Archiv: Volker Türk


27.10.2024 - 21:00 [ Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) ]

Türk says world must act as darkest moment of Gaza conflict unfolds

(October 25, 2024)

“Under the Geneva Conventions, States have an obligation to act when a serious violation of international humanitarian law has been committed,” Türk said. “Under the Genocide Convention, State parties also have the responsibility to act to prevent such a crime, when risk becomes apparent.

“For months, I have pleaded with all parties to the conflict, as well as all States, particularly those with influence in the region, to act to stop the carnage and destruction, to ensure the prompt and unconditional release of all hostages, and to ensure international humanitarian and international human rights law are respected. But still this goes on and on and on.

“Now, the international rule of law is being progressively dismantled,” he added. “Either the world ashamedly fails those who so desperately need help, or we stand united and put a stop to this.

27.10.2024 - 20:44 [ TRTdeutsch.com ]

Gaza-Krieg: UN-Kommissar fordert Maßnahmen zur Verhinderung von Genozid

(October 25, 2024)

Türk erinnerte daran, dass Staaten nicht nur verpflichtet sind, gegen Kriegsverbrechen vorzugehen. „Nach der Völkermordkonvention sind die Vertragsstaaten auch dafür verantwortlich, Maßnahmen zu ergreifen, um ein solches Verbrechen zu verhindern, wenn eine Gefahr erkennbar wird“, sagte er. „Ich flehe Sie an, den Schutz der Zivilbevölkerung und die Menschenrechte an erste Stelle zu setzen und dieses Minimum an Menschlichkeit nicht aufzugeben“, appellierte er an Staats- und Regierungschefs.

19.09.2024 - 22:17 [ Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) / Büro des Hohen Kommissars für Menschenrechte ]

Comment by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk on explosions across Lebanon and in Syria

Geneva, 18 September 2024

Widespread simultaneous explosions across Lebanon and in Syria yesterday, where detonating pagers killed at least 12 people – including two children – and left thousands of people injured, are shocking, and their impact on civilians unacceptable. The fear and terror unleashed is profound.

At this extremely volatile time, I appeal to all States with influence in the region and beyond to take immediate measures to avert further widening of the current conflicts – enough of the daily horrors, enough of the suffering. It is high time leaders stepped up in defence of the rights of all people to live in peace and security. The protection of civilians must be the paramount priority. De-escalation is today more crucial than ever.

Simultaneous targeting of thousands of individuals, whether civilians or members of armed groups, without knowledge as to who was in possession of the targeted devices, their location and their surroundings at the time of the attack, violates international human rights law and, to the extent applicable, international humanitarian law.

There must be an independent, thorough and transparent investigation as to the circumstances of these mass explosions, and those who ordered and carried out such an attack must be held to account.

24.04.2024 - 02:43 [ New York Times ]

U.N. Calls for Inquiry Into Mass Graves at 2 Gaza Hospitals

Mahmoud Basal, a spokesman for Palestinian Civil Defense, an emergency services organization, said some of the bodies found in Khan Younis were handcuffed, shot in the head or wearing detainee uniforms. He accused Israeli forces of killing and burying them. Israel’s military declined to address those claims on Tuesday, and they could not be independently verified.

On Tuesday, hours after the top U.N. human rights official called for an inquiry into the mass graves, the Israeli military said that its forces had exhumed bodies that were buried by Palestinians “in the area” of Nasser Hospital and examined them as part of an effort to locate hostages. It did not comment on the report of the mass grave at Al-Shifa.

24.04.2024 - 02:24 [ United Nations ]

Mass graves in Gaza show victims’ hands were tied, says UN rights office

The development follows the recovery of hundreds of bodies “buried deep in the ground and covered with waste” over the weekend at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, central Gaza, and at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City in the north. A total of 283 bodies were recovered at Nasser Hospital, of which 42 were identified.

“Among the deceased were allegedly older people, women and wounded, while others were found tied with their hands…tied and stripped of their clothes,” said Ravina Shamdasani, spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Citing the local health authorities in Gaza, Ms. Shamdasani added that more bodies had been found at Al-Shifa Hospital.

24.04.2024 - 02:14 [ theNationalNews.com ]

UN ‚horrified‘ after more than 300 bodies found in mass grave at Nasser Hospital in Gaza

The UN voiced its alarm at the reports, with the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, saying he was „horrified“.

He called for an independent investigation into the killing of civilians at Nasser Hospital and what was Gaza‘s largest medical complex, Al Shifa Hospital.

“The intentional killing of civilians, detainees and others who are ‚hors de combat‘ is a war crime,” Mr Turk said.

“We feel the need to raise the alarm because clearly there have been multiple bodies discovered,” Mr Turk‘s representative Ravina Shamdasani said.

18.12.2023 - 18:02 [ UN humanitarian affairs coordination office (OCHA) ]

Chile: Operation Condor judgment major win for accountability – Türk

GENEVA (15 December 2023) – UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk today hailed Chile’s Supreme Court judgement on Operation Condor – a notorious campaign coordinated among South America’s dictatorships in the 70s and 80s to persecute political opponents and dissidents – as a major step towards accountability for thousands of victims.

The former dictatorships in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay implemented Operation Condor to search for, persecute, torture, summarily kill and forcibly disappear people perceived as dissidents across the region. They used a myriad of tactics to eliminate them, including throwing people out of aeroplanes and helicopters.

On 14 December, in a unanimous ruling, Chile’s Supreme Court confirmed the convictions of 22 agents of the dissolved Directorate of National Intelligence (DINA) for the kidnappings and qualified homicides of some victims of the Operation Condor, and ordered reparation measures.

27.04.2023 - 17:49 [ Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights ]

UN Human Rights Chief urges UK to reverse ‘deeply troubling’ Public Order Bill

The Public Order Bill, which has now been passed by Parliament in the United Kingdom, is deeply troubling legislation that is incompatible with the UK’s international human rights obligations regarding people’s rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk warned on Thursday.

“This new law imposes serious and undue restrictions on these rights that are neither necessary nor proportionate to achieve a legitimate purpose as defined under international law. This law is wholly unnecessary as UK police already have the powers to act against violent and disruptive demonstrations,” Türk said.

19.04.2023 - 10:11 [ Sudan Tribune ]

UNHCR commissioner calls immediate cessation of hostilities in Sudan

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, has called for an immediate end to hostilities in Sudan and urged the Sudan Armed Forces and Rapid Support Forces to return to negotiations.