UN chief says world ‘less safe by the day’ amid Gaza and Ukraine wars, defends UNRWA
Guterres accuses combatants in conflict zones of ‘turning a blind eye’ to international law, calls Palestinian refugee agency a ‘backbone’ of aid efforts in Strip
GENEVA – UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres claimed combatants in places such as Congo, Gaza, Myanmar, Ukraine, and Sudan were turning a “blind eye” to international law as he made a plea for greater respect for human rights and peace around the world.
Speaking as the UN’s top human rights body opened its latest session, Guterres warned Monday that the world was becoming “less safe by the day.”
“Our world is changing at warp speed,” he told the Human Rights Council. “The multiplication of conflicts is causing unprecedented suffering. But human rights are a constant.”
The UN chief said attacks on human rights take many forms and reiterated his frequent calls for debt relief for some of the world’s poorest countries and greater spending to fight climate change.
He also defended UNRWA, the agency for Palestinian refugees, as the “backbone” of aid efforts in Gaza at a time when top Israeli authorities have called for its dismantling.
The UN human rights chief, Volker Türk, also lashed out at “attempts to undermine the legitimacy and work” of the UN and its affiliates.
“The UN has become a lightning rod for manipulative propaganda and a scapegoat for policy failures,” Türk said. “This is profoundly destructive of the common good, and it callously betrays the many people whose lives rely on it.”
UNRWA fired several members last month after Israel accused them of taking part in the October 7 Hamas atrocities in which terrorists murdered some 1,200 people in Israel, mostly civilians, and kidnapped 253. As a result of the report, multiple countries including the US, UK, and Germany froze funding for the organization.
Some hostages who were released during a weeklong truce in November also claimed they had been held in the homes of UNRWA members. And throughout the war, the IDF has uncovered instances of the organization being used as a cover for Hamas. Most recently, troops found mortars hidden in UNRWA bags.
On Saturday, Foreign Minister Israel Katz accused the UN of cooperating with Hamas after a group of experts called for an arms embargo on Israel, accusing the country, not for the first time, of violating international law in its war in Gaza.
Israel has continued to maintain that it operates in accordance with international law and does its best to minimize civilian casualties.
