Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg (ÖVP) has called for the UN Human Rights Council to punish war crimes and human rights violations in the war in Ukraine. “We must ensure that the perpetrators are held accountable. There should be no impunity for these war crimes,” he stressed in his speech in Geneva on Tuesday.
On the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Secretary of State has drawn attention to human rights violations in many countries around the world. “Not even 13 percent of all countries in the world are fully-fledged democracies. We are a minority and we must be prepared to fight for our way of life.”
Precarious situation for women and girls under the Taliban
Schallenberg specifically referred, among other things, to the situation of women and girls under the rule of the Islamist Taliban in Afghanistan and to the suppression of anti-government protests in Iran. “Women and girls should be able to participate in public life on an equal basis with men. Young people need to know that they can peacefully express their views without fear of arrest and imprisonment,” he stressed.
Schallenberg commemorates the UN World Conference in Vienna 30 years ago
On Tuesday, the minister also recalled the UN world conference on human rights thirty years ago, in June 1993 in Vienna. “30 years after the Vienna Declaration (conference final statement, note) Austria remains a staunch supporter of the universality of human rights!” he tweeted.
In his speech, he also announced a high-level symposium on human rights in Vienna on June 6, which Austria is co-hosting with the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Austrian diplomat Volker Türk.
The UN Human Rights Council meets three times a year. He cannot punish countries, but he can set up commissions of inquiry, as he did a year ago after the Russian attack on Ukraine. Among the 47 Member States elected for three years, there are always countries with questionable respect for human rights.
Source: Krone
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