Antonio Guterres warns against threat to Pillars of Humanity

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday (February 25) warned against the rise of hate speech around the world and the threat to “the pillars of humanity” as he opened the U.N. Human Rights Council’s main annual session in Geneva.

Guterres said “hate is moving into the mainstream in liberal democracies and authoritarian states alike”.

While the 47-member Council’s resolutions are not binding, all countries work hard to avoid its “naming and shaming”. 

U.N. High Commissioner for Human rights Michelle Bachelet also addressed the council and said she hoped the violence in Venezuela would end, after Venezuelan troops repelled foreign aid convoys.

As host country, Switzerland represented by Ignazio Cassis, head of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, raised concerns about the violations of the right to free speech, citing journalists Jamal Khashoggi and Jan Kuciak, both killed in 2018.

Saudi Arabia will face criticism for the murder of Khashoggi and its failure to cooperate with a U.N.-led inquiry.