UN chief on future of Human Rights declaration

The UN's Secretary-General and High Commissioner for Human Rights on Monday issued a stark warning that human rights were being abused by governments worldwide, urging that leaders "rekindle the spirit, the impulse and the vitality that led to the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights 75 years ago".

Speaking in Geneva, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres listed a litany of concerns, including religious persecution, racism, the denial of women's rights and a lack of social cohesion and trust. He said that the pandemic left them with a pandemic of abuses of civil and political rights, and that laid bare routine violations of economic and social rights.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, said that "much of the progress made over decades is being reined back and even reversed in some parts", but governments had the chance to "forge a new worldwide consensus on human rights".