Overview

• Volker Türk opened the Human Rights Council’s 60th session by saying international humanitarian law is eroding and that pro‑war propaganda and the glorification of violence are spreading.
• Highlighting conflict zones, he cited worsening civilian harm in Ukraine, mass suffering in Sudan, and Gaza’s devastation, urging states to halt arms transfers to Israel that risk violating the laws of war and questioning the absence of decisive genocide‑prevention steps.
• He warned that actions weakening accountability include US sanctions on International Criminal Court personnel, Russia’s counter‑warrants targeting them, and US sanctions on the UN special rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
• He criticized retreats from multilateral commitments, noting the United States’ withdrawals from the Paris climate accord and UN bodies, the illegal detention of UN staff in Yemen, and decisions by Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland to leave the landmine treaty.
• Detailing the UN response, Türk described new UN80 phases to engage even dissenting governments, form partnerships with tech and AI companies, and adopt new funding models, alongside an audit of roughly 4,000 UN resolutions to improve impact.