“The dystopian future is already here,” the UN human rights chief lamented on Monday, warning of climate change triggering fires, floods and devastating heatwaves and forcing growing numbers of migrants to flee.
“Climate change is plunging millions of people into famine. It destroys hopes, opportunities, homes and lives. In recent months, urgent warnings have repeatedly become a deadly reality around the world,” said Volker Türk at the opening of the 54th session of the Human Rights Council.
“We don’t need any more warnings. The dystopian future is already here. We must act urgently now. And we know what to do. The real question is: “What’s stopping us?” he said.
His alarm follows the G20’s failure to call for a phase-out of fossil fuels this weekend, contrary to the hopes of several observers.
- Listen to international political expert Loïc Tassé on Benoit Dutrizac’s show QUB radio :
As climate change increases population movements, the High Commissioner for Human Rights denounces “indifference” to the tragedy of migrants dying on migration routes.
“I am shocked at the nonchalance given the more than 2,300 people who have been declared dead or missing in the Mediterranean this year,” including more than 600 in a single shipwreck off the coast of Greece in June, he said. he says.
“It is clear that far more migrants and refugees are dying” elsewhere in the world, “including in the English Channel, the Bay of Bengal and the Caribbean, where those seeking protection are constantly being pushed back and displaced,” he denounced.
He also referred to situations “along the United States-Mexico border, where expulsions and expedited deportation procedures raise serious questions,” as well as “at the border of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, where my services are urgently seeking clarification on allegations of murder and mistreatment.”
In his speech, the High Commissioner also listed a long list of human rights violations around the world and criticized many countries, including China, Iran and Pakistan.
Turning to China, he stressed that the country’s “recent economic challenges underline the need for a more participatory approach that respects all human rights – including the rights of members of ethnic minorities, residents of rural communities, internal migrant workers, the elderly and people with disabilities. “Disabilities.