In the debate at the United Nations Human Rights Council held this Wednesday in Geneva and urgently convened by the Persian Gulf states, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has warned that we are reaching a dangerous phase, and even more so after the attacks on nuclear power plants in both Iran and Israel. An escalation that includes attacks on densely populated areas and oil and gas facilities, Volker Türk adding that “the states involved in this war are flirting with an unmitigated catastrophe.”
The UN High Commissioner reminds the parties that harsh reality does not justify the violation of human rights, in addition to describing the human cost of the war as reckless and alarming, especially because he denounces that hostilities are being carried out without taking into account the immediate consequences for the civilian population.
The United Nations also insists that the interruption of maritime transport in the Strait of Hormuz affects global supply chains, with dire consequences for the world’s poorest people.
The UN World Food Program warns that nearly 45 million more people in the world could suffer from acute malnutrition if the war continues longer.
