POLITICS

UN chief Guterres says human rights are being suffocated by autocrats and warmongers

Feb 24, 2025, 1:14 AM

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres attends the High-Level Segment of the 58th session of the H...

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres attends the High-Level Segment of the 58th session of the Human Rights Council at the European headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, Monday, Feb. 24, 2025. (Salvatore Di Nolfi/Keystone via AP)
Credit: ASSOCIATED PRESS

(Salvatore Di Nolfi/Keystone via AP)

GENEVA (AP) — U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres says human rights are being “suffocated” around the world, lashing out at voices of division and anger who see them as a barrier to their quest for power and profit.

In a speech to the Human Rights Council, Guterres decried Russia’s full-scale war in Ukraine that marked its third anniversary Monday, appealed for a permanent cease-fire between Palestinian militants and Israel, and urged respect for Congo’s territorial integrity, among other things.

While reiterating many of his concerns about conflict and climate change, the U.N. chief said he would propose new ideas to the Security Council aimed to bring greater stability and security for the people of Haiti, where a multinational security support mission has been deployed.

Guterres depicted a world where human rights were “on the ropes and being pummeled hard” by warmongers, a “morally bankrupt global financial system” that favors profits over planet protections, those who might exploit artificial intelligence to harm people, and leaders who seek to demonize migrants or restrict women’s rights.

Human rights, he said, “are being suffocated by autocrats, crushing opposition because they fear what the truly empowered people would do,” and “by voices of division and anger who view human rights not as a boon to humanity, but as a barrier to the power, profit and control they seek.”

Three weeks ago, U.S. President Donald Trump announced a U.S. pullout from the council, though the Biden administration had already decided the United States would not seek a seat on the 47-member-country body when its latest three-year term expired at the end of last year.

The council meets three times a year and the session that opened Monday was set to run until April 4.

Politics

FILE - The community of Geismar is seen in the shadow of a chemical and petroleum industrial corrid...

Associated Press

Louisiana stifles community air monitoring with threat of million-dollar fines, federal lawsuit says

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — On days of heavy pollution in Sulphur, a southwest Louisiana town surrounded by more than 16 industrial plants, Cynthia “Cindy” Robertson once flew a red flag outside her home so her community knew they faced health hazards from high levels of soot and other pollutants. But she stopped flying the flag […]

58 minutes ago

FILE - The Harvard University logo is displayed on a building at the school, Tuesday, April 15, 202...

Associated Press

How the Trump administration’s move will affect Harvard’s international students

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s administration escalated its standoff with Harvard University on Thursday, revoking the school’s ability to enroll international students. The government told Harvard’s thousands of current foreign students that they must transfer to other schools or they will lose their legal permission to be in the U.S. The move could significantly […]

3 hours ago

Badar Khan Suri poses for a portrait, Thursday, May 22, 2025, in Arlington, Va. (AP Photo/Julia Dem...

Associated Press

Georgetown scholar recalls terror and ‘mockery of due process’ in immigration jail

ARLINGTON, Va. (AP) — One of the lowest moments of Badar Khan Suri’s two months in federal custody was being crammed onto an airplane with hundreds of other shackled prisoners. The Trump administration was trying to deport the Georgetown University scholar over statements he made against Israel’s war in Gaza. The guards wouldn’t say where […]

4 hours ago

FILE - In this photo taken May 16, 2011, the Pepsi logo is seen on a delivery truck at Walmart in S...

Associated Press

FTC dismisses lawsuit against PepsiCo that was filed by Biden-era FTC

The Republican-controlled Federal Trade Commission voted Thursday to dismiss a lawsuit against PepsiCo that the previous commission filed in the waning days of the Biden administration. The lawsuit, filed in January, alleged that PepsiCo was giving unfair price advantages to Walmart at the expense of other vendors and consumers. The lawsuit had relied on the […]

5 hours ago

FILE - The Los Angeles City Hall building is seen in downtown Los Angeles on Jan. 8, 2020. (AP Phot...

Associated Press

Ex-Los Angeles deputy mayor will plead guilty in fake bomb threat to city hall

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A former Los Angeles deputy mayor will plead guilty to reporting a bomb had been placed in city hall last year to law enforcement, federal prosecutors said Thursday. Brian K. Williams, 31, who was employed as the deputy mayor of public safety in October 2024, was charged with one felony count […]

5 hours ago

FILE - Senate Armed Services Committee member Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., questions retired Air ...

Associated Press

GOP US Sen. Tommy Tuberville is expected to announce run for Alabama governor, associates say

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Republican U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville, who entered politics after retiring as a college football coach, plans to run for governor of Alabama in 2026, according to people familiar with his plans. Two people who have spoken with Tuberville about his plans said Thursday they expect him to announce a gubernatorial bid. […]

6 hours ago

UN chief Guterres says human rights are being suffocated by autocrats and warmongers