UN rights chief urges voters to beware 'strongman' politicians who 'throw glitter in our eyes'
By JAMEY KEATEN
Posted 9/9/24
GENEVA (AP) — The U.N. human rights chief is urging voters to be wary of “strongman” politicians and personalities "that throw glitter in our eyes” as more elections loom in a busy electoral …
You must be a member to read this story.
Join our family of readers for as little as $5 per month and support local, unbiased journalism.
Current print subscribers can create a free account by clicking here
Otherwise, follow the link below to join.
To Our Valued Readers –
Visitors to our website will be limited to five stories per month unless they opt to subscribe. The five stories do not include our exclusive content written by our journalists.
For $6.99, less than 20 cents a day, digital subscribers will receive unlimited access to YourValley.net, including exclusive content from our newsroom and access to our Daily Independent e-edition.
Our commitment to balanced, fair reporting and local coverage provides insight and perspective not found anywhere else.
Your financial commitment will help to preserve the kind of honest journalism produced by our reporters and editors. We trust you agree that independent journalism is an essential component of our democracy. Please click here to subscribe.
Need to set up your free e-Newspaper all-access account? click here.
Non-subscribers
Click here to see your options for becoming a subscriber.
Register to comment
Click here create a free account for posting comments.
Note that free accounts do not include access to premium content on this site.
I am anchor
UN rights chief urges voters to beware 'strongman' politicians who 'throw glitter in our eyes'
U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk, presents a global update on human rights in the world, during the opening of the 57th session of the Human Rights Council at the European headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, Monday, Sept. 9, 2024. (Salvatore Di Nolfi/Keystone via AP)
Posted
By JAMEY KEATEN
GENEVA (AP) — The U.N. human rights chief is urging voters to be wary of “strongman” politicians and personalities "that throw glitter in our eyes” as more elections loom in a busy electoral calendar this year.
Volker Türk didn't mention leaders or countries by name, but alluded to a schedule that includes votes to come in countries like Georgia, Tunisia and the United States.
The rights chief spoke Monday in his traditional opening remarks to sessions of the Human Rights Council, which typically list a wide array of rights concerns globally. The 47-country body — whose membership changes each year — was opening a five-week autumn session.
“I urge voters to ask themselves which of the political platforms or candidates will work for the human rights of everyone,” Türk said. “And I urge all voters to be vigilant. Be wary of the shrill voices, the ‘strongman’ types that throw glitter in our eyes, offering illusory solutions that deny reality.”
He denounced some politicians who “scapegoat migrants, refugees and minorities” around electoral periods in places like France, Germany, Hungary, the United Kingdom and the U.S.
The Austrian-born U.N. veteran contrasted both hopeful and worrying developments. He noted a “positive trend” toward the abolition of the death penalty worldwide, but a rise in executions in Iran and Saudi Arabia.
He hailed a shift toward decriminalization of same-sex relations in many places, but decried “a spate of laws” that aimed to penalize them in countries like Ghana, Indonesia, Iraq and Uganda.
Türk blasted “attempts to muzzle” freedoms of expression and assembly and a free press, pointing to detentions of journalists in Azerbaijan — which hosts a U.N. climate conference in November — arrests of opposition leaders in Tunisia, and “undue restrictions on civic space” in China, among others.
Also Monday, the rights council was taking up discussions on rights situations in Afghanistan, Myanmar and Sri Lanka.