World must not normalise use of force: UN rights chief

The UN rights chief voiced alarm Friday at the normalisation of the use of force to resolve disputes, saying armed conflicts had almost doubled since 2010.

"We must not revert to violence as an organising principle," Volker Turk said as he provided an update on rights situations around the world to the United Nations Human Rights Council.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights warned that "the threat and use of force to solve disputes is becoming more frequent and normalised".

"The number of armed conflicts has almost doubled since 2010, to around 60," he said. "The world really is becoming a more dangerous place".

Turk said there was the increasingly relentless competition for power for power's sake, to the detriment of rights everywhere.

"Players compete for control over land, energy, attention. But to what end?" he asked.

"Dominating the global economy? Accumulating more power? Putting AI into space? Surely power must serve other purposes."

Turk slammed leaders who "use power for their own ends, (who) exploit and subjugate," adding that it was "baffling that political leaders are not taking urgent steps to reverse (current) trends".

Instead some were actually "attacking the institutions designed to keep us safe - the United Nations, including International Court of Justice; the International Criminal Court; this Council, and its mechanisms".

Turk said a decade ago, "an attack on a hospital triggered a global outcry... (But) recent figures show there are now an average of 10 attacks per day on healthcare".

"The world cannot stand by as the edifice of international humanitarian and human rights law is dismantled before our eyes". 

AFP