UN chief launches 7-point human rights plan

UN Chief Antonio Guterres has issued a “call to action” to help bolster human rights across the globe at a time when, according to the Portuguese-born secretary-general, “human rights are under assault.”
At the start of the latest Human Rights Council session in Geneva, Guterres unveiled a seven-point plan that is linked to issues like sustainable development, crisis prevention, gender equality, the development of the digital age, and freedom of expression and civil society.
“I have come to the Human Rights Council – the fulcrum for international dialogue and cooperation to advance all human rights – to launch a Call to Action,” Guterres said, before adding, “Success must be measured by the yardstick of meaningful change in people’s lives. As a United Nations family, a culture of human rights must permeate everything that we do. It would be a mistake to diminish economic, social, and cultural rights.”
His comments were seen as a reference to China’s Communist government, which has made economic and social development a key pillar of its foreign policy approach but has continuously trampled on the rights of its ethnic and religious minorities in brutal repression campaigns that the Chinese Communist Party claims are designed to root-out destabilising elements in China’s society.
The executive director of Human Rights Watch, Kenneth Roth, added that by condemning abusers like Beijing, Guterres “can stand tall against governments who commit serious rights violations – whether it’s the atrocities committed against Myanmar’s Rohingyas, the indiscriminate bombing of civilians in Idlib by Russia and Syria, or the forced separation of children from their parents at the US border”.