Activities of Secretary-General in Switzerland, 27-28 February
The Secretary-General travelled to Geneva on Monday, 27 February, to deliver remarks at the high-level segment of the fifty-second session of the Human Rights Council.
In those remarks the Secretary-General highlighted that, as we mark the Universal Declaration of Human Rights’ seventy-fifth anniversary, human rights are under assault from all sides. He called on the international community to revitalize the Universal Declaration and ensure its full implementation to face the new challenges of today and tomorrow.
He added that the Russian invasion of Ukraine has triggered the most massive violations of human rights we are living today.
Turning to climate, the Secretary-General said that legal challenges against climate-wrecking corporations are an important step forward. Fossil fuel producers and their financiers must understand one simple truth he added: pursuing mega-profits when so many people are losing their lives and rights, now and in the future, is totally unacceptable. (See Press Release SG/SM/21700.)
In the afternoon, the Secretary-General delivered remarks at the high-level pledging event for the humanitarian crisis in Yemen. He reminded participants that today, more than 21 million people — two in three Yemeni children, women, and men — need assistance and protection.
The people of Yemen deserve our support, he said, but more than that, they deserve a credible path out of perpetual conflict and a chance to rebuild their communities and country.
He called for the generosity of the Yemeni people to be matched by our own solidarity with them. (See Press Release SG/SM/21701.)
While in Geneva, the Secretary-General also held several bilateral meetings. These included, in order,
Sheikh Salem Abdullah Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, Foreign Minister of the State of Kuwait; Maeen Abdulmalik Saeed, Prime Minister of the Republic of Yemen; Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Iran Hossein Amir Abdollahian; President Milo Dukanović of Montenegro; and President Félix-Antoine Tshisekedi Tshilombo of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Mr. Guterres departed Switzerland for Iraq on Tuesday, 28 February.