Volker Türk, human rights anchored in the body

He settled on October 17 at the Palais Wilson in Geneva. The new UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, however, did not wait long before confronting the harsh reality on the ground. First in Sudan, in Darfur, then in Khartoum, where he spoke with the generals in power, urging them to switch to a civilian government. This week he was in Ukraine. In kyiv, this pleasant 57-year-old Austrian who grew up in Linz was shocked by the disregard he saw for human rights in a war where serious violations of fundamental rights will undoubtedly amount to war crimes, or even crimes once morest humanity. He went to Boutcha, then took the train to go to Izium and Kharkiv. On Friday, in front of the press at the Palais des Nations, he expressed his horror at the “urgency”. Regarding Boutcha, he learned of the findings of investigators from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) sent to Ukraine: 441 people summarily executed at least by Russian forces, perhaps even 200 more. He castigated the practices of torture and enforced disappearances. “These facts, he says, have a huge impact on the survivors.” Meeting human rights defenders in kyiv, the high commissioner had to take shelter in a shelter to avoid Russian missiles. “What I experienced there, he blurts out, almost fatalistic, others experience it regularly. This is a war and it must end.”