People inspect damage after an Israeli strike in the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah, on Dec. 4, 2023. (Photo by Khaled Omar/Xinhua)
UN human rights chief Volker Turk addressed the dire situation in Gaza, calling for a ceasefire.
GENEVA, Dec. 6 (Xinhua) -- The current conflicts and crises around the world should be a wake-up call for the international community, the United Nations (UN) High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk emphasized on Wednesday.
"Human rights have not failed. It is the cynical disregard for human rights, and the failure to respect and heed warnings on human rights that has got us here," Turk told a news conference in Geneva, ahead of Human Rights Day on Dec. 10.
The UN human rights chief addressed the dire situation in Gaza, calling for a ceasefire. He emphasized the foreseeable and preventable nature of the crisis, and called for international unity on humanitarian grounds.
A wounded child is pictured at a hospital in central Gaza Strip city of Deir el-Balah, Dec. 3, 2023. (Xinhua)
Turk raised the alarm over the unnecessary use of force in the occupied West Bank, settler violence and increased arrests, stressing the immediate need to end impunity for these violations.
He also mentioned some of the world's major humanitarian crises, including in Sudan, where more than 7,000 civilians have been killed and 6.3 million displaced since April 2023.
Turk is expected to host a high-level event marking the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights from Dec. 11-12.
South Sudanese displaced by conflict in Sudan are seen at the reception center in Renk County, Upper Nile State, South Sudan, on April 30, 2023. (Photo by Denis Elamu/Xinhua)■
