Der Weltumfassende Gute Wille spielt das 2030 SDGs-Spiel

27 June 2018

Im vergangenen Monat freuten sich zwei Vertreter des Weltumfassenden Guten Willens darüber, dass sie an einem Treffen in Islington, London, an einer der Auftaktveranstaltungen für die englischsprachige Ausgabe eines Brettspiels, teilnehmen konnten. Dieses war entwickelt worden für das vertiefte Verstehen der Ziele für nachhaltige Entwicklung (SDGs) der Vereinten Nationen.

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UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Speaks from the Heart

23 June 2018

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, will be resigning next year at the end of his four-year term. In his final Global Update on the state of human rights to the Human Rights Council in Geneva on June 18, he spoke from the heart.

Those of us in the UN Secretariat, originating from all the 193 Member States, work collaboratively and we do not answer to any State. In contrast, too many governments represented at the UN will often pull in the opposing direction: feigning a commitment to the common effort, yet fighting for nothing more than their thinly-thought interests, taking out as much as they can from the UN, politically, while not investing in making it a true success. The more pronounced their sense of self-importance – the more they glory in nationalism – the more unvarnished is the assault by these governments on the overall common good: on universal rights, on universal law and universal institutions, such as this one.

And as the attack on the multilateral system and its rules, including most especially international human rights law, intensifies, so too will the risk increase of further mischief on a grander scale. The UN’s collective voice must therefore be principled and strong; not weak and whining, obsessed with endless wrangling over process, the small things, as it is the case today.

If my Office, of which I am very proud, and I, have gotten one thing right over the last few years, it is our understanding that only fearlessness is adequate to our task at this point in time. Not ducking for cover, or using excuses or resorting to euphemisms, but a fearlessness approaching that shown by human rights defenders around the world – for only by speaking out can we begin to combat the growing menace of chauvinistic nationalism that stalks our future.

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