UN High Commissioners for Human Rights and Refugees Talk on Current World Challenges; Miss to Mention Eritrea by Name
2015-03-14 09:22:34 Written by EPDP Information Office Published in EPDP News Read 3294 times-
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Messrs Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein and Antonio Guterres, High Commissioners for Human Rights and refugees, respectively, held a joint public meeting in the evening hours of 12 March in Geneva in which they warned all repressive regimes in the world to be mindful of what they are doing now because the sword of law will always hang over their heads until “justice is done”. They referred to Syria and many other notorious refugee producing regions of the world but failed to mention Eritrea and dictator Isayas Afeworki by name.
UN High Commissioners al Hussein of Jordan and Guterres of Portugal talking to public in Geneva
Held at the UN General Assembly hall in Geneva with over 1,000 people attending, the public meeting was moderated by CNN’s Christiane Amanpour. The theme of the meeting was “leadership challenges in a world in turmoil”.
High Commissioner Guterres said the world now has 51 million refugees and displaced people, a figure that was reached only during World War II. He said “people move (out of home) only because they are desperate” and know well that there are high risks like death in the Mediterranean Sea.
Mr. al-Hussein said he was heartbroken by the magnitude of suffering of peoples but promised victims that “total impunity will not be allowed” anywhere and at any time in the future.
Both UN officials stressed that resources are declining at a time when the needs for refugees are sky-rocketing everywhere.
Some Eritreans, including Dr. Daniel Rezene, democracy activist, and Woldeyesus Ammar of EPDP, attended the meeting but could not obtain access to the mic at the event crowded mainly by students from the post-graduate institute for higher studies in Geneva which organized the debate together with the Sergio Viera de Mello Foundation. The late Sérgio Vieira de Mello was a Brazilian United Nations diplomat who was killed in Iraq in 2003. He worked for the UN for more than 34 years, earning respect and praise around the world for his efforts in the humanitarian and political programs of the UN. He was posthumously awarded a United Nations Prize in the Field of Human Rights in 2003.
