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UN High Commissioner for Human Rights

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk speaks to the media during a press conference in Seoul, South Korea, May 13, 2026. (AP/Lee Jin-man)
July 25, 2026, 3:17 am
UN human rights chief Turk wins unprecedented 2nd term despite opposition from US, Israel
Foreign Ministry denounces move as a ‘moral failure’; Washington warns of ‘consequences’ for what its envoy calls ‘procedural overreach, backroom deals and misuse of UN posts’
By ToI Staff and AP
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk speaks to the media during a press conference in Seoul, South Korea, May 13, 2026. (AP/Lee Jin-man)
July 24, 2026, 5:11 am
Israel, Russia oppose electing UN human rights chief Volker Turk to a new term
Diplomats say Jerusalem has expressed opposition to renewing four-year term ahead of Friday vote, but there are no other known candidates for the position
By Reuters and ToI Staff
Palestinians accused of collaboration with Israel are seen blindfolded moments before their execution by Hamas gunmen in a Gaza street, September 22, 2025. (Social media)
June 9, 2026, 11:39 pm
Hamas members executed and maimed dozens of Palestinians in Gaza, UN report says
Human rights office finds extrajudicial punishments carried out during war include ‘executions, kneecapping, bone-breaking with metal pipes or cement bricks and beatings’; says acts ‘amount to war crime’
By AP
Bedouins stand in front of houses that, according to local residents, were heavily damaged the previous day during an attack by extremist Israeli settlers in Al-Dyouk Al-Tahta area, on the outskirts of the West Bank city of Jericho, February 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
March 17, 2026, 5:12 pm
UN raises concerns of ‘ethnic cleansing’ in mass displacement of West Bank Palestinians
Office of human rights says 36,000 Palestinians displaced in October 2024-October 2025, charges Israel played ‘central role’; Israel says office is ‘epicenter of vile anti-Israel activism’
By Agencies and ToI Staff
A candle is placed at the Holocaust memorial, covered with ice, on the eve of the International Holocaust Memorial Day in Berlin, Germany, January 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)
January 27, 2026, 2:14 am
On eve of International Holocaust Day, UN rights chief urges world to reject hatred
Slaughter began with apathy, not gas chambers, says Volker Türk; warns of ‘disturbing trend’ of antisemitism and ‘dehumanization creeping into our daily lives’
By AFP
Children queue with pots to receive meals from a charity kitchen in Gaza City on July 14, 2025. (BASHAR TALEB / AFP)
July 15, 2025, 4:39 pm
1 in 10 Gazan children tested in UNRWA clinics malnourished, agency says
Refugee agency says rates of condition rising, acute malnutrition rarely seen in Strip before war; UN says 875 slain at aid points in past 6 weeks, most of them at GHF sites
By Reuters and ToI Staff
Palestinian terrorists carry to the Red Cross one of four coffins said to hold a body of a slain Israeli hostage, in the southern Gaza Strip's Khan Younis, February 20, 2025. (Eyad Baba / AFP)
February 20, 2025, 6:22 pm
UN human rights chief: Hamas ‘parading’ of hostages’ bodies is ‘abhorrent and cruel’
Volker Turk says terror group’s treatment of remains ‘flies in the face of international law’; Germany laments families being ‘exposed to Hamas’s limitless terror’ during handover
By Agencies and ToI Staff
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk, presents a global update on human rights in the world, during the opening of the 57th session of the Human Rights Council at the European headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, Monday, Sept. 9, 2024. (Salvatore Di Nolfi/Keystone via AP)
September 21, 2024, 5:41 am
UN rights chief claims detonation of Hezbollah comms devices could be a war crime
At Security Council session requested by Lebanon, Volker Turk says he’s ‘appalled by the breadth and impact of the attacks’ while Lebanese FM calls Israel a ‘rogue state’
By AFP and ToI Staff
Families attend the funeral of slain hostage Eden Yerushalmi at a cemetery in Petach Tikva, September 1, 2024. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)
September 3, 2024, 10:04 pm
UN Security Council to discuss Gaza hostages after 6 captives ‘summarily executed’
Israeli envoy Danny Danon requests debate, laments it took ‘barbaric, cold-blooded murder’ of 6 hostages to prompt meeting; UN human rights chief calls for probe
By Agencies and ToI Staff
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk listens to delegates after delivering his report of the situation in the West Bank and Gaza during the 55th session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on February 29, 2024. (Fabrice Coffrini/AFP)
June 19, 2024, 2:55 pm
UN rights office: Israeli Gaza strikes may have ‘systematically violated’ laws of war
Report does not mention Hamas’s October 7 attack, cites six incidents with high casualty counts that it calls ’emblematic’ of a pattern of behavior on Israel’s part
By ToI Staff
Palestinian laborers work at a construction site in Ma'ale Adumim, in the West Bank, on February 29, 2024. (Menahem Kahana / AFP)
March 8, 2024, 3:26 pm
UN rights chief says settlement expansion a war crime, prevents Palestinian state
Volker Turk slams ‘shocking new levels’ of settler violence since October 7, notes alignment of current hardline government’s policies with settler movement
By Reuters and ToI Staff
First Lady Michal Herzog, wife of President Isaac Herzog, attends a special prayer for the release of Israelis held hostage by Hamas terrorists in Gaza, seen in Tel Aviv, November 2, 2023. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)
November 22, 2023, 5:36 pm
First Lady Herzog decries ‘unforgivable’ silence of rights groups over Hamas rapes
Writing in Newsweek, president’s wife says unwillingness of international organizations to believe Israeli women and speak up about sexual assaults by terrorists is ‘devastating’
By ToI Staff
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk delivers a speech at the opening of the 54th UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, on September 11, 2023. (Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP)
October 10, 2023, 4:38 pm
UN human rights chief: Israel’s total siege of Gaza ‘prohibited’ by international law
High Commissioner Volker Turk says people’s dignity and lives must be respected, stresses Israeli obligation ‘to spare the civilian population and civilian objects’ during attacks
By AFP and ToI Staff
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk delivers a speech at the opening of the 54th UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, on September 11, 2023. (Fabrice COFFRINI/AFP)
September 13, 2023, 9:46 pm
UN rights chief implicitly attacks Musk’s ‘trolling campaign’ against ADL
Volker Turk also urges more action against online hate speech; billionaire says anti-defamation group makes baseless accusations of antisemitism
By AFP
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk at a news conference in Khartoum, Sudan, November 16, 2022. (Marwan Ali/AP)
February 21, 2023, 4:47 pm
UN rights chief urges ‘pause’ to Israeli judicial overhaul; PM pans ‘absurd’ remarks
High Commissioner for Human Rights warns proposals will undermine judiciary’s ability to act ‘as an effective institutional check on executive and legislative power’
By AFP and ToI Staff
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