Geneva, 30 January 2024.- UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk today appealed for a significant increase in annual funding for his Office this year, warning it was still drastically short of funds needed to more effectively advance human rights globally.
“We are living in profoundly divided times. Conflict continues to spiral in many parts of the world, most recently in the Middle East. These wars are etching deep scars – breeding grievances that, without justice, will greatly harm the future of entire nations, driving more polarization, and creating deeper fractures,” said Türk in a speech to the diplomatic community in Geneva.
“Ultimately, my Office’s commitment – its mandate – is to effect meaningful change in people’s lives. I am appealing today for 500 million US dollars to boost considerably our ability to do so, and address some of the biggest human rights challenges we are facing now and will face in the future.”
The High Commissioner drew attention to notable achievements registered last year by his Office – which has 1,962 staff in 91 countries – including helping secure the release of 13,476 detainees, undertaking some 3,664 human rights monitoring missions and monitoring at least 1,088 trials, and contributing to the improvement of laws and policies in line with international human rights standards in some 43 countries. He pledged to build on these achievements to reinvigorate a global movement for human rights, foster inclusion and equality, step up efforts to prevent and mitigate human rights violations and conflicts, as well as boost human rights-centered climate action.
He also thanked Member States and other partners for their donations last year, in particular the top five contributors: the European Union, the United States of America, Sweden, Germany, and Norway.
“In 2023, Member States and other funding partners generously donated 283.2 million US dollars in voluntary contributions to the work of my Office. Yet, we are still falling drastically short of the funding we need to provide human rights solutions that are more effective and wide-reaching,” said Türk. “We need to reverse urgently the historic underfunding that has marred human rights – one of the three pillars of the UN’s work.”
The High Commissioner called on states to maintain the momentum for change witnessed as the world marked the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) last year. Nearly 80 per cent of the world’s nations made concrete promises to improve respect for human rights as part of the Office’s HumanRights75 initiative to commemorate the UDHR.
“We must resolve to act differently. To put rights at the centre of all policies and decisions and governance, to fully embrace all rights – giving as much weight to economic, social and cultural rights as we do to civil and political rights, to eliminate impunity, and to end once and for all the cycles of injustice and inequality that have defined our societies for too long,” he said.