Human rights under assault worldwide: UN chief
Geneva: UN chief Antonio Guterres launched a "call to action" on Monday against rising attacks on human rights worldwide, highlighting the persecution of minorities and "alarming levels of femicide".
"Human rights are under assault," said the secretary general as he opened the UN Human Rights Council's main annual session in Geneva.
"People are being left behind. Fears are growing," he said, pointing to swelling divisions and political polarisation in many countries.
"A perverse political arithmetic has taken hold: divide people to multiply votes," he said, warning that "the rule of law is being eroded".
Guterres said civilians were being "trapped in war-torn enclaves, starved and bombarded in clear violation of international law" as well as "human trafficking, affecting every region in the world, preying on vulnerability and despair".
He also said women and girls were being "enslaved, exploited and abused", "activists tossed in jail, and religious and ethnic minorities groups persecuted" and "minorities, indigenous people, migrants, refugees, the LGBTI community vilified as the 'other' and tormented by acts of hate".
Guterres launched a "call to action" to the entire UN system, to governments, parliamentarians, the private sector, civil society and to "people everywhere".
He laid out seven areas where he said concrete action could "achieve a quantum leap in progress or avert the risk of backsliding", including boosting efforts to halt violence against women and girls -- "the world's most pervasive human rights abuse".
"We see a pushback against women's rights, alarming levels of femicide, attacks on women human rights defenders, and the persistence of laws and policies that perpetuate subjugation and exclusion," Guterres said.
"We also continue to see chronic stagnation in women's participation in political leadership roles, peace processes and economic inclusion," he said.
He stressed that work towards gender equality "starts within", pointing out that as of January 1 this year, the UN achieved "gender parity across our senior-most ranks".
"We pledge to reach gender parity throughout the UN system at all levels by 2028," he said, adding that the UN would apply "a gender perspective" to all its work.
Other areas of specific human rights focus, he said, included offering broader protections for people trapped in conflict situations, increased efforts to protect civic space, including free expression and assembly, and to recognise the rights challenges posed by the climate crisis and new technologies. (AFP)
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Three booked as crackers burst during election campaign trigger fire in Mumbai
Mumbai (PTI): A case has been registered against three Shiv Sena (UBT) workers for allegedly violating campaign conditions after they burst firecrackers at an election rally, sparking a fire in Mumbai, officials said on Sunday.
The incident occurred on Saturday evening near the Govardhan building in central Mumbai’s N M Joshi Marg area, they said.
Sena (UBT) leader and former mayor Kishor Pednekar, who is contesting from ward no. 1999, was taking out a rally at the time. Sena (UBT) worker Ramchandra Yesode had organised the rally, and it had been granted police permission with certain conditions.
As Pednekar began visiting houses as part of the campaign for the upcoming Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation polls, some of her supporters burst firecrackers on the road despite objections from policemen deployed for the rally, an official said.
The firecrackers exploded in all directions, triggering a fire in a room on the fifth floor of Irani Chawl and in three other houses, he said.
Police later identified Soham Sarwankar (21) and Omsai Pansare (20) as those who burst the firecrackers.
A case was then registered under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and Maharashtra Police Act against organiser Yesode, Sarwankar and Pansare at the N M Joshi Marg police station, he said, adding that further probe is underway.
