Volker Türk advocates a “reasonable and factual discussion” on migration. The human rights situation in Afghanistan and Syria is precarious. He also criticizes the outsourcing of asylum procedures to third countries.
UN Human Rights Commissioner Volker Türk warns against deportations to Syria and Afghanistan, as Interior Minister Gerhard Karner (ÖVP) recently called for. “In Afghanistan we see the human rights situation deteriorating every week, in Syria the human rights situation is still extremely precarious. I don’t think that forced returns can be initiated there”, says Türk. He also criticizes the outsourcing of asylum procedures to third countries.
With regard to migration policy in Europe, the Austrian-born UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, who is in Vienna this week, would like “to have a reasonable and factual discussion and also based on human rights work and the regulations of refugees and does not deviate from it removed”.
UN Human Rights Commissioner Volker Türk (c) Portal (LEONARDO FERNANDEZ VILORIA)
In Türk’s opinion, transferring asylum procedures to third countries based on the British model is not compatible with human rights. Britain’s agreement with Rwanda is based on ideas similar to those of Australia’s refugee policy. “You don’t want to have anything to do with the people, they can no longer enter my territory”, criticized the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
Climate change and digitization as a challenge
In the case of Australia’s refugee policy, Türk speaks of “a policy of cruelty that violates human rights, violates refugee law” and warns of the effects on the population: “If I isolate a group of people like that, it can also contribute to brutalizing a society and that worries me.”
Referring to the situation of human rights in the world, Türk expressed concern that, due to growing geopolitical tensions, human rights are being forgotten. “That it’s not just ping-pong in geopolitical disputes, but also something that actually happens in everyday life.” He also sees dealing with climate change and digitization as major human rights challenges of our time.
Situation aggravated by armed conflicts
According to the UN High Commissioner, the human rights situation is currently worse in armed conflicts, as recently in Sudan. “If more than 60 hospitals are no longer functioning, you can see that they really don’t care what happens to people if it’s just about the power of two men,” Türk said, referring to the power struggle between the Sudanese army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and militia chief Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo.
The global human rights situation has deteriorated recently, also as a result of rising global poverty. As a result of the corona pandemic and the subsequent crisis caused by the war in Ukraine, the number of people in extreme poverty has increased significantly. “The 300 million people who have now fallen into extreme poverty is obviously also a human rights issue and is often not seen that way,” says Türk. In Europe and also in Austria, the proportion of the population at risk of poverty and exclusion has increased in recent years.
Fake news as another challenge
Harmful misinformation on social platforms or hate speech against dissidents and misogyny spread by some influencers is also a human rights issue.
Regarding the repression of ethnic minorities in China, Türk was optimistic: “These conversations gave me the impression that there is at least a perception, that some of these laws need to be examined more carefully, that there is a need for reform,” he said. Türk, adding: “Hope dies last.”
Complains about lack of resources
Faced with the various challenges, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights complains of insufficient funding for its office. There is “a lot of small talk”, but the support is disproportionate to “how it should be and how effective it would be”, says Türk. He has been to many countries and “I just see opportunities where we could do more, where we could get people out of prison, if we had more of a local presence, where we could also comment on proposed legislation.”
Starting this anniversary year – 30 years of the Vienna World Conference on Human Rights, which gave the impetus for the creation of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, and 75 years of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights – Türk hopes “that there is a new spirit of optimism, also in my institution”.