U.N. chief Guterres says human rights suffocated by autocrats, warmongers

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres attends the High-Level Segment of the 58th session of the Human Rights Council at the European headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, Monday, Feb. 24, 2025.
| Photo Credit: AP

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says human rights are being “suffocated” around the world, lashing out at voices of division and anger who see them as a barrier to their quest for power and profit.

In a speech to the Human Rights Council, Mr. Guterres decried Russia’s full-scale war in Ukraine that marked its third anniversary Monday (February 24, 2025), appealed for a permanent cease-fire between Palestinian militants and Israel, and urged respect for Congo’s territorial integrity, among other things.

While reiterating many of his concerns about conflict and climate change, the U.N. chief said he would propose new ideas to the Security Council aimed to bring greater stability and security for the people of Haiti, where a multinational security support mission has been deployed.

Mr. Guterres depicted a world where human rights were “on the ropes and being pummeled hard” by warmongers, a “morally bankrupt global financial system” that favors profits over planet protections, those who might exploit artificial intelligence to harm people, and leaders who seek to demonize migrants or restrict women’s rights.

Human rights, he said, “are being suffocated by autocrats, crushing opposition because they fear what the truly empowered people would do,” and “by voices of division and anger who view human rights not as a boon to humanity, but as a barrier to the power, profit and control they seek.”

Three weeks ago, U.S. President Donald Trump announced a U.S. pullout from the council, though the Biden administration had already decided the United States would not seek a seat on the 47-member-country body when its latest three-year term expired at the end of last year.

The council meets three times a year and the session that opened Monday was set to run until April 4.