Switzerland concerned over US disengagement from UN human rights body

"Human rights are everyone's business," said the Swiss foreign minister at the opening of the Human Rights Council session in Geneva on Monday. Keystone-SDA

Switzerland is concerned about the disengagement of certain states from the UN Human Rights Council, said foreign minister Ignazio Cassis. The United States and Israel are currently boycotting the Geneva-based body.

On Monday in Geneva, Cassis expressed his concern that the world was losing its bearings.

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“Human rights are everyone’s business,” said the Swiss foreign minister at the opening of the Human Rights Council session running until April 4. “Every member of the United Nations must assume its responsibilities”, he added, without mentioning US President Donald Trump’s administration by name.

Cassis said he was concerned about international political tensions, shrinking democratic space, growing humanitarian crises and authoritarianism affecting more than half of the planet.

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“Voters have expressed widespread distrust of their leaders,” he said. “Young people are becoming radicalised, populist parties are gaining ground, and social networks are imposing unfiltered communication.”

Globalisation may have reduced poverty, but it has also led to de-industrialisation in the West, he said. And digitisation is disrupting the world of work, identity claims are affecting societies, social networks are fuelling divisions and climate change is aggravating mistrust of political leaders.

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To combat these problems, the foreign minister believes that “here in Geneva, we have the responsibility and the means”. He made no secret of his “pride” at Switzerland’s return to the Council at the beginning of January for a three-year term, and that the Council will be chaired for one year by Switzerland’s ambassador to the UN in Geneva, Jürg Lauber.

Translated from French with DeepL/gw

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